Chris Pine Recalls 'Cyclone of Insanity' Working with Lindsay Lohan

By Tim Nudd

01/03/2014 at 10:00 AM EST

Lindsay Lohan and Chris Pine, in 2005

REX USA

Chris Pine saw the craziness of fame up close while working with Lindsay Lohan. And it unnerved him.

"It was a real cyclone of insanity, like being around the Beatles," the Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit actor, 33, tells the Hollywood Reporter of costarring with Lohan, 27, almost a decade ago in Just My Luck.

"It was fascinating to watch," he says, "and in hindsight it's really a distinct moment in someone's life when you see what's really wonderful about what we get to do and what's really dangerous about it."

Pine would find himself on the cusp of megastardom a few years later, when he took on the role of James T. Kirk in Star Trek. But the circus-like atmosphere wouldn't last – and for that, he is grateful.

"The light of my flame was really bright after Star Trek [in 2009], and I had that bizarre convergence of everything's so intense for about a month, and then it died down," he says. "During that time, [the paparazzi are] f---ing chasing you, and you're driving at speeds you shouldn't be driving at. Thankfully, I don't really have much of that anymore."

Paramount is hoping that Jack Ryan, which opens Jan. 17, will become a big Hollywood franchise. But Pine, its leading man, seems disinterested in becoming a huge movie star. For starters, he distrusts the Hollywood lifestyle.

"Hollywood is like living in a weird bubble," he says. "A bunch of people take care of you and get you stuff, and you're the center of that little microcosmic world. You start believing that it is real and … you deserve it."

And don't expect him to join Twitter anytime soon. He sees no value in the medium, which many stars use as a way to communicate with fans.

"No, f--- no," he says. "What am I going to tweet about? My sneakers? Or, 'I have 140,000 friends on Facebook.' What does that even mean? I find it to be a waste of time. The Internet is so caustic; just a place where people get to spew nonsense and bullshit."

Pine declines to discuss his love life – "That's something I don't really want to talk about," he says – and is really just focused on the work.

"I love exploring ideas and throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what fits … Directing sometime in the future and writing … yeah, I can see that all in my future," he says, before adding with a smile: "But I can be incredibly lazy."