Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Star Trek’ Script Is Inspired By His Love For Chris Pine
Quentin Tarantinoapproached his fabled R-ratedStar Trekscript like any of us would: by taking inspiration from his love forChris Pine. TheOnce Upon a Time in Hollywooddirector is not-so-secretly a fan of Pine’s depiction of Captain Kirk in the J.J. AbramsStar Trekmovies, and the result is aStar Trekscript that has “so much fun” with Kirk, according to Tarantino’s co-screenwriterMark L. Smith.
Here’s another update for you on Tarantino’s R-ratedStar Trekmovie that willdefinitelyget made one day. In an interview withSFX Magazine,The Revenantscreenwriter Mark L. Smith, who worked on the screenplay with the filmmaker based on his original idea for aStar Trekmovie (which Tarantinopreviously describedas an “earthbound” 1930s gangster movie), revealed that the film is very Captain Kirk-centric, inspired by Tarantino’s love for Chris Pine’s performance in the role:
“I wrote a Star Trek with Tarantino, and that was a sci-fi script on which I could have fun and lean into some bigger, broader things. Kirk is always just so fun. Tarantino and I had so much fun with him, because Kirk is just William Shatner, y’know? It’s like: you’re not sure who is who, so you can kinda lean into that. Because you watch Chris Pine and he’s playing Kirk, but he’s also playing William Shatner a touch.”
Tarantino has long been a fan of theWonder Woman 1984actor, recently stating inan interviewon The Ringer’s “Rewatchables” podcast that Pine was his favorite young actor working today, and admitting that it was Pine’s performance as Captain Kirk that made him interested in contributing to theStar Trekfilm franchise that launched with Abrams' 2009 reboot. The director once toldMTV,“I thought Chris Pine did a fantastic job not just playing Capt. Kirk but playing William Shatner’s captain — he is William Shatner. 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 fucking nail it. They just nail it.”
Unfortunately, the TarantinoStar Trekhas been languishing on the shelf for a while now, with the filmmakerrevealing last yearthat he’s “steering away fromStar Trek, but I haven’t had an official conversation with those guys yet.” Tarantino’s desire to retire soon contributed to that decision, and with the long process it’s taken to get theTrekmovie off the ground, it may just not be in the cards for the filmmaker — and not even a love for Chris Pine can change that.
