It looks like Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek movie is really happening. Deadline just announced that Paramount Pictures attached Mark L. Smith, known for his work on the Academy Award-winning movie The Revenant, to the project as a screenwriter.
For those of you unfamiliar with the project, the news about Quentin Tarantino’s desire to make a Star Trek movie surfaced in early December. According to the reports, Tarantino had an “awesome” idea for an R-rated Star Trek movie which he wanted to direct, with J.J. Abrams attached as a producer. Abrams previously directed the first two Star Trek reboot movies. The duo pitched the idea for the movie to Paramount Pictures, and the studio obviously liked it. After that, Tarantino exchanged ideas in the writer’s room with Mark L. Smith, Lindsey Beer (Chaos Walking), and Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3). Even before the announcement, Smith was reportedly the frontrunner for the position.
Although we don’t know much more about the movie, there is something Tarantino said back in 2015 that could give us an insight into his idea. Speaking to The Nerdist Podcast, Tarantino revealed that if he had to choose, he would work on Star Trek rather than Star Wars, and then said he would like to do The City on the Edge of Forever story.
“I would be more inclined to do a Star Trek kind of thing rather than Star Wars.” said Tarantino at the time. “I haven’t considered considered it, like I’m going to do it, but I did web spin a little bit about the idea…The obvious one would be The City on the Edge of Forever. That’s what everyone would go to, but there’s a reason why everyone would go to that! It’s one of the classic stories of all time. And one of the great time travel stories.”
