Star Trek’s new Scotty, Simon Pegg, is out doing press promoting his role in the Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, opening this week, and in an interview with Zoo magazine he made the bold prediction that the Star Trek sequel would open in 18 months. We have that and more Pegg excerpts and links below.
18 months?
Pegg’s prediction comes from an interview in the British lad magazine Zoo (link not safe for work). The interview is not online, but excerpts are via Ireland Online, including this quote about the Star Trek sequel:
I know the writers are busy thinking about it. I don’t really know anything about the story, or if I’m in a bigger role, but I’d imagine we’ll be back this time next year. That’s not official, but I reckon it’s probably about 18 months away from being in the cinema.
Doing the math, 18 months would put the release of next Star Trek movie at Christmas 2010. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are planning to have the script completed by Christmas 2009, so only one year from script to release seems a bit too ambitious. The first report for the Star Trek sequel (in Variety three months ago) cited a 2011 target and according to TrekMovie sources, the studio is eying May 2011. However, many factors can affect that date, including the decision on if JJ Abrams will or will not direct. As of now, Paramount has not set an official date for the Star Trek: Something Something sequel.
Pegg talks Trek fans
Also in an interview with MoviesOnline, Pegg talks about star Trek fans.
Were you nervous about the reaction to ‘Star Trek’?
It was quite nerve-wracking going into it because it is such a beloved story and the whole exercise was to reinvent it while, at the same time, not dismissing anything that had gone before. The writers did an incredibly smart job, a real ‘cake and eat’ it thing whereby they were able to reset the whole story without invalidating anything that happened before. They did that by having Leonard Nimoy playing Spock, which meant that everything we knew about ‘Star Trek’ had happened, because it had happened to him. But he’d just gone back and started again. It was ingenious. Still, you never like to expect that kind of major positive reaction, because you never know how the finished film will look. I have done films before where they have felt brilliant on set and then you see the finished thing and it is not quite what you expected. But I had a good feeling because I have such faith and trust in J.J. Abrams. It was so nice to see that the critics agreed.
Have you had any unusual encounters with ‘Star Trek’ fans, or indeed any of your fans?
Sadly, no. In fact, I am pretty lucky in that way. The normal people who come up to me are usually nice and polite. Things do change and you find it hard to operate in the way that perhaps you used to, even in LA for me it is different from how what it was before. But you just adapt. It’s not necessarily a positive thing. It means you have to make decisions about where you go, like at home, I can’t walk into a pub any more without getting stared at and certainly I can’t go in to a pub with Nick [Frost] because we are seen as the ‘complete set’! But that’s par for the course; it’s just something you have to take on board when you get into this game.
Other Ice Age promotional interviews with Pegg (w/ no discussion of Star Trek):
- USA Today
- Daily Telegraph [reported in yesterday’s CelebWatch]
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs opens tomorrow, July 1st.
Ice Age Clip with Pegg
Here is a clip featuring Simon Pegg’s character ‘Buck’ the weasel in Ice Age 3
‘Buck’ the weasel? Nice one, mate! heh!
Simon Pegg is awesome if you havent yet pick up or watch his UK series Spaced which is great stuff.
I doubt there will be a Star Trek in 18 months probably more like 22 months that would make the turn around 2 years that seems more realisitic.
I’ll excuse your Ice Age II part, Simon.
Eh, II? Ice Age III, that is.
Sounds like he has his head straight on his shoulders.
Doesn’t know if he’ll get a bigger part eh? And so it begins… Just how much of an ego maniac IS Chris Pine????
It would be nice to get it going that fast, but they’d have to get real busy real quick. Its not like they need to promote transformers that much anyways, considering how brainless the movie going audience seems to be on average these days, the movie sells its self on pointless Michael Bay action.
I certainly hope we will see and hear much more from Pegg/Scotty in STss.
Pegg is cool
Hey, the sooner the better! Bring it on!
Well, a lot of the pre-production is done, and many of the costumes and sets are already made, and some of the music and special effects can be re-purposed (I’m not saying “re-used”). They will not be starting from scratch this time. So I think 18 months is certainly possible, for a holiday season 2010 release. They can even shoot a two-parter. Make the first part (in 18-months) less resource intensive for post-production, with a huge second part (conclusion to the story) 18-months later for a summer 2012 release.
The only hold-up may be getting all the stars back together on shorter notice (and making sure that brewery is available).
I hope it doesn’t come out Christmas 2010, not because I don’t want to see it, but I’d really be worried about the quality of the movie. I’d rather wait another 6 months for a movie that isn’t rushed.
#11
Exactly.
And I hope they come up with a better name than “Star Trek: Something Something.” (I’m kidding, Anthony! I’m kidding!)
Any word from CBS on a new TV show? Not THAT would be news! ;)
As much as we would like to see it, I don’t think Trek will be returning to the small screen any time soon, as they learned their lesson back when TNG caused a drop in movie interest. I don’t think it can be had both ways any more.
I, for one, will be glad to see Simon reprise his role as Scotty! I think Simon’s portrayal of the most famous engineer in Starfleet was a very refreshing take on the Scotsman.
I do want to see whether or not those “brewery pods” seen in engineering are really Scotty’s hidden scotch kegs disguised as Anti-Matter pods…lol.
Great job with Scott, Simon. I can’t wait to see you on the big screen again!
Awesome performance!
Oh, by the way, Simon, are there any plans to include Scott’s famous “under-the-breath” cursing whilst heading to the turbolift to solve a malfunction which was recently repaired, mechanical problem?
I would love to see that. That is so Scotty!
There is NO WAY this movie will be out in 18 months.
I’d like to see Mr. Pegg undertake a full-on, teeth-knashing dramatic scene, like Mr. Doohan had in TWOK (‘He stayed a’ his post, while the others ran’). And I’d like to see that scene present because of Keenster’s untimely, gory death.
@ #14
I wouldn’t be too sure of that Frederick. These days, if I had a very successful film, I would definitely be using the big screen, television, webisodes on the internet, viral marketing (ARG and corporate branding,) radio, satellite, comics, magazines, online video aggregator ad placement, and more!
I am sure technology will provide additional means of delivery between now and the time the next Star Trek sequel premieres.
It’s a “WILD and NEW” universe out there my friend!
An amazing parallel is that Star Trek is doing the same with the “media paradigm shift,” “influencing popular culture,” and “converging technology,” much like the original television series did back in the 1960’s.
Excellent!
“We are at Warp Eleven, and we’ll go faster yet!”
@15:
So do I! His swearing in the TOS episode “The Doomsday Machine” whilst trying to repair the malfunctioning transporter was just so Scotty. I hope we see more of Scotty in the next film as a” miracle worker”. I would also like to see him in the command chair whilst Kirk and Spock are on a mission. The TOS episodes “A Taste of Armageddon”, “Friday’s Child” , and “Bread and Circuses” really spotlighted Scotty’s command abilities. Of course, he prefers to be in Engineering. Maybe it wouldn’t be too much to ask for the writers to include a Scotty “pub brawl” scene where he kicks some a** (preferably Klingon) or where he drinks someone “under the table”. Now that is the Scotty we all know and love.
The Ice Age 3 clip was so funny. Buck is a bit daft but lovable. I hope Simon does more voice over work in the future. I am going to see Ice Age 3 tomorrow night with my husband, niece, and nephew. I think they will love the film.
I actually hope Pegg is wrong about the 18 months – not that I don’t want to see Star Trek sooner than later, but I think a summer release makes more sense. One, for quality purposes, and two for money reasons. I really think Trek deserves to be in the “summer release crowd”, and I know that it can make at least the same $250 mil. it did this time if not double it. I mean, look at Transformers – a completely empty story with a bunch of robots and explosions, and that was just the first movie. The second one, even more questionable on the story, more explosions, and perhaps one of the longest films of it’s niche genre (aliens robots battling on Earth), and somehow it makes $200 mil. in less than a week. Come on! If Star Trek can’t do the same, then people need to get a new sense of what a good movie is.
More than anything, I think 2011 gives Paramount some much needed breathing room. The next year and a half look to be pretty crazy with all the comic/sci-fi genre films that will be hitting theaters. The whole Avengers thing alone is going to tie up the box office most of the next two years. I think 2011 at least gives Paramount the chance to wait for the craziness to wear off, and then hit hard with another great Trek movie right when people are thinking all the good stuff has passed again. Besides, given the chance to take on another Transformers movie (likely 2011 for that one too), I think Trek might give it the 1-2 punch. How can a third one really get any worse?
While I like Simon Pegg, I thought there was a little bit too much of Pegg in his performance as Scotty. By ‘too much Pegg’, I am referring to the humorous aspect of the character. In TOS, Scotty always seemed like the calmer, wiser professional. When I think of the series, other than ‘giving it all she’s got’, I remember Scotty filling in on the bridge as the ever cool and confident commander, with maybe a bit of an edge.
While I totally dig Pegg as an actor and a comedian, and I recognize the original Scotty also had humorous aspects to him, I think that the *other* parts of Scotty’s character should be brought to the foreground as well.
Nuff said.
X-mas 2010 would be a nice holiday present, but a few things are needed to be realized first. The biggest thing is quality, not only in the script content but also in acting production. Besides money input and prop quality, the biggest difference in Movies and TV shows is what the actor puts into the acting job. To quick and time not quality moves into first place. And quantity does not equal quality. I know it’s impossible but it would be nice to see the difference between a 18 month movie and a 30 month movie.
There is a good analogy comparison in things done today, this analogy is public grade school education. They shovel kids through grade by grade because of they get paid by guanity of production and not the quality of production. Just ask a student today how government works, you may get an answer that sounds correct, but you ask how it works and most likely you’ll get a duh I don’t know.
The same needs to be done with a second movie, the first one accolades because it’s new and from a new angle. But if you want a functioning future for the Trek Universe things need to be done properly and new things to be done right needs time for things to fit together correctly.
18 months would be pressing things to make things fit and earn quick one time money earnings, but if time is used to let things happen naturally you will have a future of income.
Hope Orci and Kurtzman give this man some more screen time. Like others have pointed out, when Kirk and Spock were on away missions who was it that occupied the captains chair more often than most? Come to think of it, who is the one crew member that Spock consults and takes guidance from without talking down to? That Vulcan arrogance just doesn’t wash with a ‘miracle worker’… and Spock knows it!
I would love to see more from the man with the steely determination in his eye and the almost obsessive affection for ‘his’ ship in his heart. Simon Pegg can truly excel in this role as he knows when to play it for laughs and when to play it straight. Scotty shouldn’t be all about the laughs… the man is a miracle worker who when the bridge are in a tight situation, comes good with the warp drives.
One final note, as a Scot myself, the accent is spot on… just lose the alien.
Can’t do it too quick! The script from the last one wasn’t able to even be revised due to the strike. More time for the script please! And the extra time for FX and sound was absolutely crucial. Trek fans are patient. Take the time JJ and blow our socks off!
I agree with #11. While I’m not comparing star trek to transformers in any way, shape or form, the drop in quality (a relative term when you’re talking about a michael bay movie, I realise) is apparent even in the cgi. I’d rather have a high-quality trek outing that I’ve to wait a little longer for than some quick gratification. The wait for this year’s star trek movie just added to the excitement and anticipation for me.
As for pegg as scotty – I’m a huge fan of pegg the actor. I own pretty much everything he’s ever done on DVD. But pegg the chief engineer didn’t do it much for me I’m sorry to say. For the net trek movie I think the natural course to take would be the development of the kirk/Spock/ McCoy troika. Hopefully that’ll also afford karl urban some more screen time, as I think he was the best piece of casting in a superbly casted film.
Also apologies for any haphazard capitalisation. I’m typing this on an iPhone and for some reason it sees fit to capitalise Spock, but not karl.
I do hope they wait until Summer 2011. I would rather they wait a few extra months and make sure everything is perfect and not rush the sequel into production. If they market and promote this upcoming film like the previous one, we will have another Star Trek blockbuster in 2011. It wil be well worth the wait.
@23:
My husband and I were recently re-watching TOS episodes from seasons one and two and were discussing the same thing. I noticed the relationship between Scotty and Spock. Scotty can be very determined and no nonsense. He can also be a bit obsessive when it comes to the Enterprise. Spock cannot seem to intimidate him. Spock has also been rather arrogant to him and it just dosen’t faze him. I hope more of that side of Scotty is shown in the upcoming films. Simon can play it straight very well. If you have ever seen the Dr. Who episode the “Long Game” you know what I mean. He played an evil character called ‘The Editor” and he was absolutely chilling.
My husband and I recenly moved to Scotland and I plan to become a citizen. From what I have heard, Simon did an excellent job with the accent.
18 months!? eek! Lets hope not, we don’t want to see a return to conveyor belt Trek.
I highly doubt this will be out Christmas 2010. Paramount is banking on this being a summer blockbuster franchise so it’s going to compete with that crowd now. It will either be Summer 2011 or Summer 2012.
Simon: the weak link in the film. As to his prediction:
1. The script is due in 6 months.
2. The production (filming) and post-production of the current film took about 13 months.
3. Pre-production (set design and construction, effects planning, etc.) will have to be sandwiched between the script and the commencement of filming. You TELL ME how all of the above can be accomplished within 18 months! 24 months is even somewhat of a stretch.
It’s quite interesting how so many people were whining about Star Trek being delayed six months from the original late 2008 release. Now, when Simon Pegg suggests that the next one will be out six months earlier than anyone else would have predicted, just as many people want it released six months later (for “quality” reasons).
Now that Star Trek is a power franchise again, I’m sure Paramount would like to compress the schedule as much as feasible. There’s nothing wrong with a holiday season release. Less competition from the summer action movie blockbuster schedule can produce MORE revenue for a great winter movie. A lot of the decision on release date will depend on what other movies Paramount has slotted for late 2010 or summer 2011.
20. Jtrekker
“The whole Avengers thing is going to tie up the box office for most of the next two years”. Are they rebooting Steed and Peel again? Please, no Ralph Fiennes next time! : D
@#26
From watching old episodes on Blu-ray it does seem that the Spock-Scotty relationship is different from the Spock relationship with the rest of the crew. It’s almost that they have a healthy respect for one another. What’s the first thing Spock does in The Motion Picture when he arrives on the Enterprise… ignores everyone and disappears off to visit Scotty in engineering. (lol) This understanding that Nimoy and Doohan had of this dynamic has to be picked up in the next film Quinto and Pegg.
I have mixed feelings about getting the next Trek movie in a hurry.
Trek09 is still playing in theaters, at this point, people are already talking about the sequel, and I am starting to get that feeling of Trek Overload I felt when we had a Trek film and 2 Trek tv series going all at the same time. As Kirk, himself, once said, “Too much of anything is not necessarily a good thing.”
And after reading comments from Paramount’s CEO, I can see that $$$$$$ are what’s going on inside his mind. So, I hope the film is not rushed into simply to get another Trek movie out quickly.
Of course, at the same time, I loved the new film and can’t wait to see the next. As we have seen in various threads here, there are so many possibilities, and directions for the sequel… I imagine Orci & Kurtzman will be sorting out endless lists of things for possible inclusion in the next film…
Meanwhile, I liked Simon Pegg just fine as Mr. Scott, as I liked every member of the new cast. It is just a pity (well, sort of) that Trek is so heavily hinged upon Kirk/Spock/McCoy that the supporting players must settle for lesser roles… although I’m sure they had to know what they were getting into. But Scotty is next in line behind K/S/M, so his role should be a bit beefier. It’s gotta be hard trying to give the supporting players something more to do than, “Aye, Captain,” and “Hailing frequencies open,” etc. because it really depends on the story. When I watch TMP, it is terribly apparent that Uhura, Sulu and Chekov have nothing to do. Chekov fared better in TWOK, but it really wasn’t until Nimoy took the reigns in TSFS that the supporting players got more to do. I think HE understood their significance more than the previous directors anyway… not to mention they probably felt more comfortable talking to Nimoy about their roles.
@32:
I have to agree with you there. They certainly have a healthy respect for each other. They are both brilliant in their respective fields. My huband thinks it is because Scotty and Spock are both stubborn and strong-willed individuals. Oh, I forgot about that scene in STTMP. I do hope Pegg and Quinto bring that dynamic into the next film.
14. Frederick – June 30, 2009
As much as we would like to see it, I don’t think Trek will be returning to the small screen any time soon, as they learned their lesson back when TNG caused a drop in movie interest. I don’t think it can be had both ways any more.
_________________________
I have to respectfully disagree. I don’t think TNG influenced the TOS crewed movies negatively, I think that there was just a weakness in the TOS movies of the time period. Not that they were bad per se, just not the big draw that they might have been. Movie audiences of the time weren’t terribly into Trek anyway…and like I said, the stories were more like “when can we retire from this?” instead of something like Clint Eastwood doing Gran Torino, it was Shatner & Nimoy doing Jim and Spock as Grumpy Old Men (without the laughs). I don’t blame the actors, I think the scripts were pretty much phoned in by the writers with little care for the franchise of the Aging Enterprise Crew. Too many “safe choices” not enough writing outside the expected plots.
Sure, there were moments of greatness, such as Leonard McCoy’s Sybok encounter in TFF, where he has to relive turning off his father’s life support– arguably DeForest Kelley’s best ever written scene, or at least equal to the moments after Kirk lets Edith Keeler get hit by the car to save history. Spock disarming Valeris in TUC… good stuff.
Star Trek is back in the theatres… let’s keep it there for a while. Let Lucas have TV with his new live-action series.
#33—” When I watch TMP, it is terribly apparent that Uhura, Sulu and Chekov have nothing to do.”
Nor should they have, in my opinion. They were no more important in the television episodes.
Unlike the later spinoff series, TOS was not an ensemble show. Star Trek was about Kirk, Spock, and McCoy—although Scotty and Uhura were solid secondary characters.
As for Sulu and Chekov—the bit players on the bridge could have been any random people, and often were in the Original Series. Sulu and Chekov were arguably no more significant than Chapel.
Sulu appears in only 52 episodes (one time by means of stock footage only).
Chekov appears in only 36 episodes—-mostly as injury and/or comedic fodder.
Chapel appears in 25 episodes, but usually with relevant dialogue/purpose.
The only reason for the difference in the number of actual appearances is that a great deal of the activity in many episodes occurs on the bridge. Most of the time, they (Sulu and Chekov) do not even have significant dialogue.
May of 2011 is far more likely. It would have gone into 2012 or later without the SAG approval of an interim contract running through 2011.
I won’t purchase any new media releases of any movie or TV series before 1974; I understand that the new contract pretty much throws the oldtimers under the bus and rolls the wheels back and forth over them a couple of times for good measure.
I’ve always believed an actor or his/her estate should be compensated for past performances, no matter how long ago even it is released on a new form of media.
It seems hypocritical to me that Cary Grant’s estate won’t see any money on new media releases, but it’d hit the fan if someone downloaded it without paying the studio.
Just a shame the ‘younger’ actors don’t see how this will affect them down the line too. I can just imagine George Clooney getting bummed out at 80 because he isn’t getting paid for the 3D immersive holodisk release of Ocean’s 16.
36. Closettrekker
I hear what you’re saying, and I agree to a point… that point being that I vaguely recall reading that Gene Roddenberry saw TOS becoming a show where each week a different character would get the spotlight. Of course, TOS didn’t make it that far, but it did happen in TNG, and later Treks. But I think Roddenberry may have seen them as an ensemble cast.
I also recall reading where the supporting players did lobby Nimoy to give them more to do when he took the director’s chair.
Should they have gotten better roles? I suppose if I were an actor I would want more to do than… you know… sitting, looking tense, making a rare comment. But, as you point out, the show was about K/S/M… which Shatner apparently took a lot of grief for, for tending to pull lines away from others because he felt those lines should go to Kirk. Yes, I believe we tuned in to Star Trek to see K/S/M, and not to see the others. They did not have significant story impact on the series, but they were significant characters (being African-American, Asian, Russian….) for the times. And they each developed loyal followings. When I first saw TSFS, I was really glad to see each of them get their moment, but I admit that was purely sentimental.
Now, should the new cast be given more to do? I thought they all fared pretty well in Trek09, and I wouldn’t expect them to be doing anything really juicy in the future. But, only the Supreme Court knows for sure, eh?