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California born and bred (Studio City, CA to be exact) Chris Pine is on the verge of exploding. The 28-year-old actor is soon to be seen on-screen as the new Captain Kirk in director J. J. Abrams‘s young-guns reboot of the original Star Trek.

Pine told Vanity Fair that Star Trek was one of three auditions that he felt as if he was in a Saturday Night Live skit. “One was for Avatar“–James Cameron‘s upcoming science-fiction epic–”which was probably the worst audition I ever gave. Another was for 10,000 bc, where I was just, like, on my haunches pretending to be in a loincloth in Burbank.” Pine laughs. “Then the other one was Star Trek. It was all this jargon talk of torpedoes and photons,” which, needless to say, didn’t quite trip off the tongue. Fortunately, he got a second chance seven months later and nailed it.

And I’d like to nail Chris.

Gallery Info: Chris Pine poses for a Vanity Fair photoshoot.