Wednesday, June 24 2009, 11:32am EDT

By Simon Reynolds, Movies Editor

Rex Features

After starring as Romulan villain Ayel in Star Trek, Clifton Collins Jr is back in cinemas this Friday playing one-armed store owner Winston in Sunshine Cleaning. While talking to Clifton about Christine Jeffs’s comedy drama, DS got engaged in sci-fi speak to find out about his Trek experience, possibly (probably!) working with “badass” Kenneth Branagh on Thor and getting down to the wire for a role in Christopher Nolan’s Inception.

How was the Star Trek experience for you? Were you a big Trekkie growing up?
“I wasn’t a big Trekkie and most of cast was not, albeit we were all very familiar with Star Trek because it’s part of Americana. You don’t need to be a Trekkie to love this movie. If anything you get a bigger appreciation because as kids you don’t pay attention to the complete backstory. In this one you get slices of everybody’s story and who they are and how they got there. It’s a fun, fun ride. One of the beauties of what J.J. [Abrams] did with this is that you’re able to get the whole thing, nostalgia incorporated. You get to see characters both old and young. To sit there and listen to Mr Nimoy speak, it was such a joy, I can’t describe it to you. It was very dreamlike.”

How did you feel about getting thrown to your death by Chris Pine?
“I’d like to say that…. READ MORE