Before he played Doc Brown opposite Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly in the Back to the Future movies (a role first offered to Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh), Christopher Lloyd left his stamp on the science fiction genre on an established franchise. The Taxi star was cast to play Kruge, the main villain in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, which you can stream with a Paramount+ subscription. 40 years after its release in theaters, Lloyd reflected on why he enjoyed playing the Klingon baddie so much.
In an interview with Variety tied to him being nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his guest performance in Hacks (which those with a Max subscription can stream), Lloyd discussed other major milestones in his career, including taking part in the third Star Trek movie. Here’s what the actor had to say about his time on The Search for Spock, which was directed by Leonard Nimoy:
I’d come to the Paramount Studio at four in the morning to get that makeup put on — the way it built up my forehead — and then the costume. How can you not feel like you’re the character when you do all that? I loved it. I tried to find what is it about this guy that I could relate to an audience whereby they will feel something about themselves in this guy — even if it’s somebody you don’t want at your dinner table, you know? It doesn’t change his undesirable traits, but I want the audience to feel they’re not engaged with somebody off a different planet. They’re engaged with somebody they can talk to.
So in addition to feeling that Kruge was a compelling villain, Christopher Lloyd also had a blast getting to wear the makeup and prosthetics that transformed him into Kruge. Although Klingons with ridged foreheads were previously seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Search for Spock made that aspect of their appearance less pronounced. Star Trek III is one of just two movies in this film series where a Klingon character is the chief antagonist, the other being Christopher Plummer’s Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Of course, Kruge has gone down in Star Trek history as being responsible for the death of David Marcus, James Kirk’s son, and instigating the events that led to the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) being destroyed when its self-destruct sequence was activated. This all happened as a result of the Klingon looking to obtain Genesis, which was used at the end of The Wrath of Khan, and utilize the terraforming device as a weapon for the Klingon empire. Fortunately, he wasn’t successful in achieving this goal, and Kirk brought Kruge’s reign of terror to an end when he kicked him off a cliff while they were fighting.
Be sure to see where we placed The Search for Spock in our ranking of the Star Trek movies. Looking ahead, the Paramount+-exclusive movie Section 31 will arrive on the streaming platform in early 2025, and there’s also a Star Trek origins movie that’s expected to hit theaters later on the 2025 release schedule.