Chris Pine talks Kirk and 50 Shades of Grey

Chris Pine was at CinemaCon to promote Rise of the Guardians, and he talked a little bit about the Star Trek sequel.

Chris Pine is fully aware of the growing phenomenon surrounding the steamy novel “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and if the call came for the big screen star to play the title character, he just might say yes.

“I do know about ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ because Alice Eve, who’s in our film, [the ‘Star Trek’ sequel], has been reading it like crazy, so yeah, I’ve heard about it,” he told Access Hollywood at CinemaCon 2012 in Las Vegas on Monday.

When asked if he’d play the novel’s Christian Grey, the square-jawed hunk didn’t say no.

“It’d be a hell of a choice for me, I think,” he smiled. “It sounds like an interesting film.”

Chris is currently reprising his role as James T. Kirk in the J.J. Abrams helmed “Star Trek” sequel, and he said the film is going to impress.

“Of course I’m gonna tell you I think it’s gonna be better,” he laughed. “You pick up the characters from where they left off, and the development of the characters — I think — is just as exciting as the first one.

“And it’s relentless,” he added. “I think that’s the best adjective I can use.”

Chris said the team is actually close to wrapping up the second installment in the sci-fi reboot.

“We’re almost done,” he told Access. “It’s wrapping up very soon. It’s just as action-packed as the first one.”

Beyond talk of “Star Trek” and “The Twilight Saga”-inspired book, Chris was busy at CinemaCon promoting his upcoming movie, “Rise of the Guardians,” an animated feature, where he plays Jack Frost alongside a celebrated cast.

“It’s a great project,” he said. “I’m really happy to be a part of it… Alec Baldwin plays a crazy Russian Santa; Hugh Jackman is kind of the Australian acerbic bunny… It’s a good story about childhood and it’s a good story about belief and imagination … and what it means to believe.”

Lending his voice to Jack Frost in the upcoming animated film "Rise of the Guardians" has given Chris Pine a new appreciation of the secrecy surrounding J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek."

"Rise of the Guardians," is a 3-D DreamWorks Animation movie featuring folklore characters like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny; it's set for release near Thanksgiving. It might not seem to have much in common with "Star Trek," but Pine, 31, says working on "Guardians" has given him a better understanding of why "Star Trek" director Abrams is so adamant about keeping the plot of his films a mystery.

"J.J. is super-secretive. The scripts are color-coded, and walking to and from set we have to wear coats and everything," the actor said at the CinemaCon convention of theater owners in Las Vegas, where he was on hand to promote "Guardians." "It's such a pain in the [butt], but I think about how awesome it is, because what he's protecting is the magic of the unknown."

With the advent of the Internet, Pine says it's harder to preserve a sense of wonder among audiences, including children. Can the fantastical "Guardians" work for kids who are jaded at an early age?

"I think probably there's a certain amount of earlier cynicism because of technology and stuff -- they can look Santa Claus up online, and they'll find a blog post from some hater about he doesn't exist," he said. "I do think there's something genetically programmed in the brain of a child that wants to believe."

DreamWorks Animation screened roughly 15 minutes of the new movie to theater owners at the Caesars Palace Coliseum on Monday night, and director Peter Ramsey showed illustrations of each character and described them in elaborate detail. Pine gave an earnest speech about how his imagination ran wild as a kid. It seems the actor took his work on "Guardians" quite seriously. While Chris Rock told 24 Frames he finds doing voice work on the "Madagascar" films an easy gig, Pine said he agonizes over his delivery of every line.

"I do the voice for BMW too, and I'm always thinking, how do you paint a picture with words when the subtle nuances of just you and I sitting here together you can't display?" he said. "I'll go in sometimes and think I did a great job and hear it back and think, 'Well, that's not what I was trying to do.' It's the worst art form for an OCD perfectionist like me."