When the casting speculation was rife as to who would fill out the shoes of the cast and crew of the USS Enterprise in the build up to JJ Abrams' Star Trek reboot, one name kept surfacing over and over. And that name was Matt Damon.

Of course, when the final film was made, Damon was nowhere to be found, having been extensively linked with the role of Captain James T Kirk that was ultimately taken and filled by Chris Pine. MTV, however, has now got to the bottom of the mystery of Damon's involvement, in a chat with JJ Abrams himself on the matter.

Abrams has confirmed that he did, indeed, approach Damon and offer him a role in the film, but it wasn't as James Kirk. Instead, he was offered the part of his father.

As Abrams himself says, "I went to Damon for the role of Kirk's father, and he declined in the most gracious and understandable and logical of reasons." He went on to add that "Maybe it would have been distracting to have someone as massively famous as Matt Damon in that role. ... The decision was made very early on to have actors who were not necessarily the most famous but the most right for the role."

The role of Kirk's father was, ultimately, taken by Chris Hemsworth, who is shortly to get down to work in the title role of Kenneth Branagh's Thor.

Here's the MTV piece.