The cast and production leadership of STAR TREK BEYOND appeared at a press conference in Dubai to launch the start of filming in that city back on September 30, and today the first interview from that event has hit the airwaves.

Scoop with Raya — an Arabic-language entertainment show similar to Entertainment Tonight in the United States, hosted by Raya Abirached — snagged Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, and Idris Elba for a sit-down discussion about filming in Dubai. As this interview is available online (but region-blocked in North America and much of Europe), we’ve transcribed the relevant conversation below.

RAYA: Have you ever seen Dubai in a film? Have you watched Mission: Impossible? What were your thoughts?

QUINTO: I loved it in Ghost Protocol. I mean, I remember that sandstorm – I was like, “What?! How is that…” I mean I know that happens – but not to that degree, correct? Is that my understanding?

RAYA: Well, it can be really intense, but obviously heightened for the blockbuster.

QUINTO: Yeah, heightened for the film, cinematically enhanced, as it were. I think we’re just all really excited to be here, and to learn our way around the city in the next few weeks and have the experiences of everything that it has to offer.

RAYA: And here’s my job… Middle East, or Middle Earth?

URBAN: [Laughs] Middle East! I’ll stick with reality!

ELBA: [I’ve seen Dubai] in Mission and one or two other films. I’m actually very proud that [the UAE] is committed to being a player in the film industry. It’s great.

It’s amazing, because again, you know, I’ve traveled around the world, and I think every culture offers something different in terms of how they approach film, what you can get from the different environments around the world.

Shooting in South Africa, shooting here… your camera sees something different and the camera absorbs it. I think there’s a great future in film for Dubai for sure.

PINE: I couldn’t say it any better. I think, again, it gets back to what film and art can do, which is to show the world different parts of this incredible world in which we live.

There are many different parts to this world, and the first time I ever really saw Dubai was in Mission: Impossible and seeing Tom [Cruise] hanging off the side of [the Burj Khalifa] which we’re going to see today, actually. It’s incredible.

I’m really kind of moved about how ancient this part of the world is, and yet how forward-thinking… I’ve never seen a cityscape like this, and as Idris [said] we travel everywhere doing what we do, and this cityscape, this landscape, this architecture is really stunning.

While the actors don’t offer any details to their roles in the Dubai filming, it’s nice to see them acknowledging the opportunity to shoot in such a unique location.

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One other bit of Dubai news: it looks like both John Cho and Deep Roy have finally made the journey to join the rest of the cast overseas for BEYOND, meeting Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Simon Pegg for dinner in a local Italian restaurant.

This would seem to leave Zoe Saldana as the only one left in the United States, as we saw Sofia Boutella land in the UAE last week.

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