the first people he met. During a conversation at a barbecue Woodard said she would become Frakes' godmother, as he did not have one. Through this relationship, Frakes was able to cast Woodard in the film; he considered it a coup to land an Academy Award-nominated actress. Woodard considered Lily to be the character most like herself out of all the roles she has played. James Cromwell as Zefram Cochrane, the pilot and creator of Earth's first warp capable vessel. The character of Zefram Cochrane had first appeared in The Original Series episode "Metamorphosis", played by Glenn Corbett. Cromwell's Cochrane is much older and has no resemblance to Corbett, which did not bother the writers. They wanted to portray Cochrane as a character going through a major transition; he starts out as a cynical, selfish drunk who is changed by the characters he meets over the course of the film. Although the character was written with Cromwell in mind, Tom Hanks, a big fan of Star Trek, was considered for the role by Paramount, though producer Rick Berman stated, "I’m sure his name was floated in some capacity, but it was never really on the table." Frakes commented that it would have been a mistake to cast Hanks as Cochrane due to his being so well known. Cromwell had a long previous association with Star Trek, having played characters in The Next Generation episodes "The Hunted" and "Birthright", as well as a role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. "[Cromwell] actually came in and read for the part", Frakes said. "He nailed it." Cromwell described his method of portraying Cochrane as always playing himself. Part of the actor's interest in the film was his involvement in Steven M. Greer's Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence, which offers training for first contact scenarios. Alice Krige as the Borg Queen, the controller of the cybernetic collective. Casting for the part took time as the actress needed to be sexy, dangerous, and mysterious. Frakes cast Krige after finding that she had all of the mentioned qualities, and being impressed by her performance in Ghost Story; the director considers her the sexiest Star Trek villain of all time. Krige suffered a large amount of discomfort filming her role; her costume was too tight, causing blisters, and the painful silver contact lenses she wore could only be kept in for four minutes at a