Cruz previously worked as a Best Boy Grip for Star Trek director of photography Dan Mindel on the films Stuck on You and The Skeleton Key. In addition, Star Trek is the fourth film in a row that Cruz has worked on which featured Pasha Lychnikoff, after Charlie Wilson's War (also featuring Cyia Batten, Rachel Nichols, and Faran Tahir), Reservations, and Paramount Pictures' Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.