A still of Alice Eve in “Star Trek Into Darkness” (TeamCoco.com)
“Star Trek Into Darkness” director J.J. Abrams proved that he was an equal-opportunist objectifier on “Conan” last night, revealing an equally gratuitous scene of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan in the shower.
Abrams and his “Into Darkness” co-writer Damon Lindelof are in the middle of mild controversy after some Trekkies complained about a “sexist” scene in which Alice Eve’s scientist character strips down to her underwear.
Abrams told Conan that the point of the scene was that Chris Pine’s Kirk – who also appears shirtless in the flick – was just checking out his colleague.
“The intent was, it’s Kirk. Who was always a sort of womanizing character,” he said.
He added, “I don’t think I quite edited the scene in the right way. To me it was a sort of balance. There’s a scene earlier where he’s not dressed, either. So it felt like it was a sort of trade-off. Some people did feel like it was exploiting her, and while she is lovely, I can also see their point of view.”
Lindelof also wrote an e-mail to MTV’s Josh Horowitz explaining (sort of) why they barely clothed the actress for the scene.
“Why is Alice Eve in her underwear, gratuitously and unnecessarily, without any real effort made as to why in God’s name she would undress in that circumstance? Well there’s a very good answer for that. But I’m not telling you what it is. Because… uh… MYSTERY?”