Since we found out that Roberto Orci was no longer directing the pic and that Fast and the Furious film franchise director Justin Lin will take over--Rumors suggested that the suits was unhappy with the script and Orci's plans for the franchise, which is why they kicked him out of the big chair.
Lin was on the shortlist for the gig with Rupert Wyatt ("Rise of the Planet of the Apes"), Morten Tyldum ("The Imitation Game"), and Daniel Espinosa ("Safe House"). Wyatt was reportedly at the top of the list but Lin was the only one actually offered the job.
Abrams commitments to the Star Wars: Episode VII kept him from coming back. Other names like "Attack the Block" filmmaker Joe Cornish and G.I. Joe: Retaliation" director Jon M. Chu were in the mix to call action--before Orci got the gig. Jonathan Frakes, best known to Trekkers as Commander Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation, indicated he wanted to sit in the director's chair but knew it was a long shot...Edgar Wright was mentioned as well.
Orci co-wrote and produced J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" '09 and "Star Trek Into Darkness" with longtime partner Alex Kurtzman and is still involved...
Film Divider also claims that the film will introduce three new female characters - the ex-wife of Bones, a new Federation ship captain, and the female President of the United Federation of Planets. All that we know that certain at the moment is that the third film will pick up years after the events of 'Into Darkness' with the crew well into their famous five-year mission.
"Thor" and "X-Men: First Class" writers and "Fringe" producers Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz were eyed to script the sequel but opted not to do it.J.D. Payne, Patrick McKay and Orci were co-writing the next film. Orci confirmed that first draft of the screenplay was completed and would be closer in tone to the original 1960s show than the previous two films.
Taking questions on the TrekMovie.com message boards late last year, Orci answered the screenplay query saying he's "producing, nothing more or less."
Now Trek reboot co-star Simon Pegg is set to co-write the new script with with Doug Jung, creator of TNT's short-lived "Dark Blue" series and writer of the upcoming Bad Robot film "Diamond". Pegg's writing credits include co-writing Edgar Wright's Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy- "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz" and "The World's End" - along with "Run, Fatboy, Run".
Variety reports that Idris Elba is in talks to play the villain. Details of the role are being kept under wraps, though rumors have abound that the Klingons will play much bigger antagonist roles this time around. Film Divider recently suggested that former "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston has reportedly "had words with the studio" about the role. "Kingsman: The Secret Service" co-star Sofia Boutella has landed a mysterious but major role in the pic according to Variety
Pegg told MTV that the plan is to have Elba to play an original character this time out:
"It will be [an original character], yes. This is the five-year mission now, we're out there. We don't always have to keep bumping into the same people… So we're gonna try and reflect that in the movie."
Pegg went on to say that the role is a "kick ass" one. He also says the hope is the new film will bring back the spirit of the show - something not really seen in the two rebooted movies outside of moments in the first film:
"We can invest in it the spirit of the show and get back to the essence of what it is, and so what we're hoping to do is make a Star Trek for today that doesn't forget where it came from."
Pegg is now contradicting those words has saying that the next film will move even further away from the "Star Trek" mold than the two previous films.
Speaking with Radio Times (via The Guardian), Pegg discussed how he and Jung were brought onboard to work on the script after the departure of Orci:
"They had a script for Star Trek that wasn't really working for them. I think the studio was worried that it might have been a little too Star Trek-y."
Part of the problem is that the suits are looking at the returns of Marvel films and then at the numbers for "Star Trek Into Darkness" and wondering why the space franchise can't do the same:
"Avengers Assemble, which is a pretty nerdy, comic-book, supposedly niche thing, made $1.5 billion dollars. Star Trek: Into Darkness made half a billion, which is still brilliant. But it means that, according to the studio, there's still $1 billion worth of box office that don't go and see Star Trek. And they want to know why. People don't see it being a fun, brightly colored, Saturday night entertainment like the Avengers. [So they want to] make a western or a thriller or a heist movie, then populate that with Star Trek characters so it's more inclusive to an audience that might be a little bit reticent."
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Pegg, Anton Yelchin and John Cho are all expected to return to the Final Frontier in their respective roles as Kirk Spock Uhura Dr. McCoy Scotty Chekov and Sulu.
What started as rumors and then were confirmed that Star Trek-TOS star William Shatner is returning to the franchise in Trek 3. Shatner has admitted that one of the challenges of getting him into the rebooted timeline is that Kirk Prime died in 1994's Star Trek: Generations. The plan was to include a sequence in the Trek 3 script that would have reunited Shatner and Leonard Nimoy as Kirk and Spock for their first canon appearance together since 1991's "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country".Sadly Nimoy's passing prevents that---No word if Kirk Prime will still show up Shatner was originally in the script for a cameo in the '09 film but the notion was nixed.
Abrams Bryan Burke Orci and David Ellison will produce the film
Production starts in June to make a July 8, 2016 bow for Paramount--coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the "Star Trek" franchise
No comments:
Post a Comment