Where no Aussie has gone before: Paul Hayes sat down with a guy who is just as laid back as an a-list Star as he would be in the garage with his beloved Beast.(ERIC BANA)

PLAYING A BAD GUY DOESN'T SEEM AS NATURAL a fit for Bana as it does for other Australian actors working in Hollywood. And playing an intergalactic bad-ass in a U$150 million sci-fi reboot seems even less likely.

"My agent said he was going to send me Star Trek, and I initially said 'Mate, you know I'm probably not going to want to do that" he said during the Sydney leg of the global promo tour.

The combination of Lost creator J.J. Abrams and a great script was enough to bring Bana on board as Nero, the Romulan leader and villain.

"There was this sense of fun and cheekiness to the script that I felt was irresistible," he said. "Even if you had to change the name of the film, I still would've been interested. I love that it didn't take itself so seriously.

"It was a good piece of writing and I trusted J.J. implicitly.

Playing a character fresh to the Star Trek universe was appealing to Bana, especially since he could disappear behind the make-up.

"It was a hell of a lot of fun, watching yourself disappear in front of the make up mirror and morph into someone else" he said. "There aren't a lot of opportunities in Hollywood to do that."