Benicio Del Toro declines villain role over “monetary issues” . . .

Latest Internet rumors have it that:

a.) Benicio Del Toro declined the role of the villain in Star Trek 2, due in early 2013 (maybe – who knows at this tempo?), after talks fell through over “monetary issues” on Wednesday.  (Translated: they didn’t offer Del Toro enough money and he really wants that new swimming pool!)

b.) The villain is indeed Khan (memorably played by Ricardo Montalban, who sadly passed away in 2009, in an episode of the original Trek TV series and 1982’s Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan).

None of this has been confirmed yet though.

What has been confirmed though is that Robocop actor Peter Weller will be joining cast members from J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot for the as-yet-untitled Star Trek sequel.

Making Khan will irk many hard-core Trekkies who hated Abrams’ reboot and consider Wrath of Khan to be the best of the big screen Trek movies. (One irate poster on Facebook for instance likened the 2009 film to being the “Kardashians in space”.)