This week, it was confirmed that a new Star Trek film starring the most recent movie cast will begin production later this year. The movie will be directed by Matt Shakman and stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, and Simon Pegg, Variety reports. For fans of the series, this is good news. For fans of Quentin Tarantino, it's bad.
In late 2017, it was reported that Star Trek producer J.J. Abrams had accepted a pitch from Tarantino on his vision for a new movie and had even started a writer's room to work on the ideas, one that included The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith.
At the time, Tarantino was finishing post-production for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, so it became Smith's job to bring his pitch to life.
Tarantino's pitch involved bringing a Pulp Fiction tone to Star Trek in a story set in the 1930s amongst a bunch of gangsters. It was inspired by the 17th episode of the original series called "A Piece of the Action." In that episode, the crew ended up on a planet that had evolved to be exactly like Earth in the 1920s if everyone was in the mob.
In an interview with Bulletproof Screenwriting, Smith said he and Tarantino worked on the idea a lot.
"I would go hang out at his house one night and we would watch old gangster films," said Smith. "We were there for hours…We were just kicking back watching gangster films, laughing at the bad dialogue, but talking about how it would bleed into what we wanted to do."
Tarantino was a big fan of the original series, but also of Chris Pine in the role of Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock.
"I thought Chris Pine did a fantastic job, not just playing Capt. Kirk but playing William Shatner’s captain — he is William Shatner," Tarantino told MTV at one point. "He’s not just another guy, he’s William Shatner’s Capt. Kirk. And Zachary Quinto is literally Leonard Nimoy’s — because they both have the same scene together — he’s his Spock. They f-cking nail it. They just nail it."
But the series starring Quinto and Pine is pretty PG-13 and Tarantino's work is known for firmly falling in the rated R category. It was never confirmed if he'd actually direct his own idea or push the limits of what audiences would be comfortable with. Then in December of 2019, Tarantino told Consequence of Sound that he was "steering away" from directing the theoretical movie.
In January 2020 he confirmed, "I think they might make that movie, but I just don’t think I’m going to direct it. It’s a good idea. They should definitely do it and I’ll be happy to come in and give them some notes on the first rough cut."
Then in July 2021, Paramount announced Shakman would be in charge of the new iteration, though it wasn't known if the Pine/Tarantino cast would return. Shakman is well known for directing TV, including Wandavision. The last movie was out in 2016, and apparently Paramount did market research to check if anyone would want the old cast back— they definitely did!
Rod Roddenberry, son of the original show's creator Gene Roddenberry and CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, told Forbes in September 2021 that he originally wasn't sure Tarantino was the right fit for the franchise.
"I struggle with that because the way I’m pretty myopic with the way I see Star Trek," Roddenberry said. "I mentioned that I grew up with fans coming up to me out saying how Star Trek inspired them and gave them hope for the future. It’s the optimism and the messaging in there that make Star Trek what it was. I truly believe that. If you create a Star Trek, that is just action; that is not Star Trek, in my opinion. That’s what makes it different than Star Wars, and I love Star Wars, but they can both coexist. And I love Tarantino’s work and the kind of films that he does. I am trying to have an open mind."
He added, "I would be curious to read a script on his take. I do not think you could say we’re going to do a Reservoir Dog-Star Trek. I’ll be honest, that doesn’t work for me, but he is a fan, and I think as a fan, he probably understands to some degree that Star Trek has to have some of this messaging."
So, while Tarantino isn't in charge of this film for various reasons, his hand did first begin to mold the idea. Will we be able to tell?
The post This Is What Happened To Quentin Tarantino’s Canceled ‘Star Trek’ Project appeared first on The Mother of All Nerds.
This Is What Happened To Quentin Tarantino’s Canceled ‘Star Trek’ Project
Source: Pinoy Inquirer News
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