Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Jeff Bezos appears in the new ‘Star Trek’ movie, playing a ‘Starfleet Official’

Turns out the final frontier is nbd if you’re the billionaire CEO of Amazon.

Asa Mathat
Peter Kafka
Peter Kafka covered media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.

Jeff Bezos is not in this clip from “Star Trek Beyond”, which opens next week:

But the Amazon CEO does have a role in the new movie. He has a one-scene cameo, playing a “Starfleet Official.”

IMDb, which Amazon owns, acknowledges Bezos’s part in a credit, way at the bottom of the cast list:

As anyone who has spent any time using IMDb as a research tool knows, an IMDb listing is not a rock-solid source. But “Star Trek” producer J.J. Abrams and “Star Trek” director Justin Lin both confirmed Bezos’s appearance — described as a “single tracking shot that includes his character,” which suggests he doesn’t have a speaking role — to the Associated Press on Friday.

“He was awesome,” Lin said. “It was like a president was visiting, you know? He had a big entourage! But it didn’t matter because he was so into it. He had to wait around all day because it was one day we were shooting like three different scenes, and it was also credit to Jeff because ... he just nailed it every time.”

I’ve asked Amazon PR for comment. But really, how are you going to get better than that? Update: Amazon PR got back to me and ... they declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Bezos has been quite public about his space nerd-dom. “I’ve been passionate about space and rockets since I was a 5-year-old boy,” he told Walt Mossberg at the Code Conference this year.

Of course, lots of kids get geeked out about space. But not many of them become billionaires who can finance their own space exploration companies that build recyclable rockets, like Bezos’s Blue Origin, or send teams to the bottom of the Atlantic to recover engines from Apollo 11, like his Bezos Expeditions.

And now you can add “appear in a giant Hollywood space movie” to the list.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

America, Actually
Inside the fight over America’s data centersInside the fight over America’s data centers
Podcast
America, Actually

“The ugliest thing I’ve ever seen”: How New Jersey residents feel about a data center in their backyard.

By Astead Herndon
Podcasts
Could you spot an AI-written book?Could you spot an AI-written book?
Podcast
Podcasts

An author set up an experiment to find out.

By Amina Al-Sadi and Noel King
Future Perfect
The 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAIThe 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI
Future Perfect

The Musk v. OpenAI trial is over. Here are the receipts.

By Sara Herschander
Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander