A Friend Gives Cho a Brief Glimpse of His Great Responsibility

Actor John Cho (”Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle”) is starring as the new Sulu in J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” prequel set for a May 8, 2009 release.

Just recently it hit him how great a responsibility he has undertaken by accepting the iconic role played for 40 plus years by the legendary George Takei.

As he began shooting his segment of the “Star Trek” filming schedule a close friend of his emailed him to congratulate him on the gig. Now that Cho is wrapping up his segment of the “Star Trek” shooting schedule he reflected on that email and came to realize that it really brought it home to him just how important this role is, to not only his career and his friends, but to millions upon millions of Star Trek fans spanning nearly three generations from all across the globe.

“Right after I got the gig, a friend of a friend e-mailed me and said, you know, `Congratulations, I’m so happy for you, and also I just wanted to impart to you how great a responsibility this is,’ and, like, just went on for a while about how important it was and how `Star Trek’ changed his life and how it’s responsible for everything good in his life,” Cho said. “And he also went on to claim that `Star Trek’ is the predecessor to the iPod, cell phones and all that.

“So it is daunting, it’s scary. Frankly, I’m not used to this kind of heat,” he added. “Usually somebody asks, `What are you working on next?’ and you tell them the name of the project and they’re like, `What is it?’ and you’re like, `Uh, two guys go to a hamburger place.’ They’re like, `Yeah, right. Good luck with that.’ And this is the first time everyone knows what I’m talking about.”

Commenting on Abrams’ tight-lip policy, Cho commented, “But I think he [Abrams] sees it as a favor to fans to keep everything on the down-low because he’s a very enthusiastic moviegoer, and he wants to be surprised and he wants things to be kept from him until the last minute,” Cho said of the director. “But it’s been going great, what can I say except that it’s really thrilling. There are a few dreams that you have when you’re a little boy: It’s cowboys and Indians, it’s being on a spaceship. This is one of the great fantasies of my life.”