Orci and Kurtzman to end film partnership; Orci lobbying to direct Trek 3

alex-kurtzman-and-roberto-orci-at-star-trek-premiereRoberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the screenwriting and producing duo who have worked on some of Hollywood’s biggest franchises(Mission:Impossible, Transformers, Star Trek, the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man 2) have decided to end their feature film partnership so they can both pursue directing careers.  Their company, K/O Paper Products, will not dissolve, however.  The two are will continue to collaborate on various television projects, both current and upcoming.

Kurtzman is already set to direct “Venom”, a spinoff of the Spider-Man franchise.  Orci’s directorial ambitions will be of great interest to Trek fans.

from Variety:

Orci is currently laser focused on the upcoming “Star Trek 3.” He’s already been tapped to pen the picture along with Patrick McKay and John D. Payne, and he’s lobbying heavily to direct the production. The film’s co-producers, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot and David Ellison’s Skydance, appear to be in favor of Orci helming the film, but people familiar with the situation say that Paramount is being cautious. If Orci lands the assignment, “Star Trek 3” would mark his directorial debut.

–Source: Variety

TrekMovie will bring you more information as we get it.

1.3K Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Surely this can’t be serious?

“…Kurtzman is already set to direct ‘Venom’, a spinoff of the Spider-Man franchise. Orci’s directorial ambitions will be of great interest to Trek fans….

_________

…I don’t understand.

What makes you say that ?!

:)

Awesome. I think they should let him (Orci) do it. He is clearly passionate and is hear all the time listening to our feedback.

Sorry to see the band break up, man.

Awesome news! Congratulations!

Now, don’t forget us little people!

Orci has my vote to direct Star Trek XIII. His scripts have been one of the strongest aspects of the new movies, and I think that as director he’ll be more faithful at conveying story elements that were glossed over in JJ’s films. (For example, the magical transport to Kronos should’ve shown a series of transporter relays or at least indicated that it was a more complicated process.)

I’m not worried about Bob Orci directing. Whatever else you may say about him, his commitment to Star Trek cannot be called into question. I remember how nervous I was when Joseph Kosinski made his directorial debut with TRON: Legacy. It turned out to be a fine movie, and his next feature (Oblivion) was even better.

Give Bob a go I say. He seems to be the guy on the Supreme Court who pushes for the new movies to be more Trek like.

@#5…. are you like a studio plant or something?

No… just…. No.

Let them give him the job, don’t think he will do any worse than STID. After that move on to a new team, please.

Don’t think Director Bob will be popping in as often as Writer Bob was.

Good luck, and make us proud.

@#8 Nope, but I do want the studio to know that Orci has my support. My greatest complaint about the JJ films is that so much in the films have been treated like magic, from red matter to Khan’s blood. Sci-if needs a little techno-babble to distinguish it from fantasy. I think Orci can balance pacing with the need for a little science.

@ 11. ScifiKabbal – April 22, 2014

“My greatest complaint about the JJ films is that so much in the films have been treated like magic, from red matter to Khan’s blood. Sci-if needs a little techno-babble to distinguish it from fantasy. I think Orci can balance pacing with the need for a little science.”

Who do you think came up with the idea for “red matter or Khan’s blood” in the first place, JJ ?

I’d be alright with this if,

A. Roberto Orci himself didn’t call me a crack user on this very website.

and

B. Reiterate Simon Pegg’s comment that fans who didn’t like the movie should F off.

Hail, hail, fire and snow. Call the angel, we will go. Far away, for to see, friendly Angel Gene come to me.

Let Orci make it so!

If Bob wants the job, I hope he gets it. I think he’ll actually do a good job for Star Trek being the man who calls the shots, and not having things like the Shatner scene lost because he got outvoted by more people who were wrong about it than right.

At the risk of repeating myself – the idea of red matter (layman’s term), or blood containing unusual recuperative elements IS SCI-FI! and good science-fiction as well. The concepts are as good as the notion of Scotty’s transwarp transporter technology being portable. Indeed, each person having their own portable transporter device actually makes more sense than what the TOS series showed.

As has been explained in a lot of Trek (when convenient for the particular storyline…:) ), transporter technology can be dangerous. The more people/things a transporter has to teleport and the greater the distance, the greater the chances that things will go wrong and even tragedy ensue. Therefore, if each person had their own rechargeable device, specially coded to that person’s molecular/DNA structure, the less chance of a (terrible) mishap occurring. The device would go with the person, unlike that of Khan’s.

The charging power would be large, so the device would generally be used in cases of emergency. The very idea that these devices could/would replace starships is probably the DUMBEST of ideas that I have read anywhere. For a start, it goes against certain basic elements of human nature…a nature that forever seeks survival and expression – that of being and doing as part of a group.

As for who came up with the idea of red matter or Khan’s blood that enables him and others to survive being in cryostasis et al for 100’s of years, well, *we don’t know, do we? After all, these stories were put together by a team of writers, with ideas thrown in by the owner of Bad Robot himself. As for the ideas, I find them interesting, intriguing…

Well, we do know actually – TOS’s Space Seed writer. These new writers simply sought to offer an explanation for how Khan and his crew/family might survive long term cryostasis and deal with unknown disease etc they might encounter if/when awoken…

Um, how about these guys try and direct something small first so they can at least learn how to do it? I mean, just imagine how much better they’d be with a little practice first.

Just because you can write doesn’t mean you can direct.

Alex Kurtzman’s directorial debut was for People Like Us. A good movie. He was able to direct it well because he has been in the middle of the process, has seen it done and knows what it takes, for over a decade.

The same is true of Bob. If he WANTS to direct, I say he’s READY to direct.

I definitely prefer Bob Orci in the captain’s chair, especially with two relatively unknown writers on the bridge.

Paramount is being cautious? I don’t see what reason they’d have to mistrust Bob this far in the game. STID, despite its faults, made tons of money. And it’s not like they don’t know the guy.

We’re doomed
Orci should neither be writing or directing any thing Star Trek.

22. Ahmed – April 22, 2014

BOOYA! He’s already got his name on a chair.

CASE CLOSED!!!

@ 24. dmduncan – April 22, 2014

“CASE CLOSED!!!”

LOL

Orci directing? I…am not looking forward to this :( IF it’s even going to happen.

ST09 was very good for the most part. I only saw STID once and tried to forget it. Bob gets to tell his trek story how he want to, I don’t particularly like it, but that’s his choice, he loves trek and this is how he wants to do it. but it’s not for me. Not sure I’ll be seeing the third if it goes down like this.

Respect to the man, but I’m feeling like its gonna be strictly TOS for me from now on. I had a dark feeling when they wasted the character of McCoy, brought Khan in (again, but white this time), made Kirk a disrespectful, whiney boy and had Spock and Uhura making out and fighting that this franchise was gonna be a mere shadow of what Trek used to be. I know, I’m old school. I admit that freely. And regret nothing.

Anyways I know there are people who love NuTrek, so I hope for their sake this goes well. I can’t be too mad, I got loads of old trek to keep me company ;)

I hope that Orci directs it. I really do. With Abrams committed to producing the movie, he will have JJ around for back up when needed. I am sure it will be fine, in fact BETTER than fine. I’m hoping for LESS lens flares and with no Lindelof means a movie more to the spirit of Star Trek.

I’m gonna say it: with Orci directing this third Abrams-Trek it will be the best of the three.

He just needs to hire a quality science-advisor. I’d do it.

Not sure at all what to think of this. I very much like the idea of a fan in the director’s chair. And I’m always happy when the director of a film is the (or one of the) writers. But having no director credits AT ALL is reason for concern IMO. The fact of the matter though is that my opinion on this is worth no more than the paper and ink I’m using to express this opinion – zero to none!

So once again I’ll wait and see. And hope for the best. It is what it is. And it will be what it will be.

*sigh*

I would totally support Bob for directing. Wow even more pressure for him but he can handle it. Hope he still comes around here. Also hope now he can get Shatner and Nimoy to do something special for this film( like an end credit scene I have been lobbying for or something more). If he is the director and writer he can do it!! Don’t getting voted down on a Shatner scene like in 09. Have faith he can deliver a good movie. His directorial career could depend on it.

I see virtually no downside with Orci in the chair.

He has been an active producer for numerous projects. He appreciates the volume of decisions that he has to make, their relative importance, and what areas to delegate to specialists.

As the director, he is in an excellent position to protect his script from studio interference while still being a new guy and therefore perhaps more apt to listen to notes.

He is a Trekker through and through. While I have not necessarily agreed with the shoehorning of fan service into these movies, you could never accuse Bob Orci of failing to respect the Trek legacy, or looking at this project as just one more springboard to topics that are of greater interest.

Of course, it is a risk in that he has not directed. How firm or lax will he be with his actors? How much time has he spent in the editing room? Does he have the eye to tell his stories visually?

These are all obvious concerns, but I think Paramount would understand that the Trek side-boot is two films deep, is already cast, already has a certain look, sound, and musical reference, and is a franchise product with parameters drawn in by the previous five million Trek shows and books. Putting Orci in is no more of a risk than putting Nimoy in.

BUT if I was so presumptuous as to give him advice, I would urge Bob Orci to just grab a camera, even a phone, and shoot and shoot and shoot. Make something now. Make your reel. Get the feel of lighting, how depth of field changes tone. Get the feel of editing, the difference that half a second makes, the inversion of scene order, and the elimination of unnecessary scenes and dialogue (even if you love it) just to make the thing fly without extra weight.

Good luck Bob!!! We’re pulling for you. Man, I wish I could tell him.

I know some fans here have different opinions about the guy, but he’s clearly the biggest Trek fan out of the crew for the first two movies. Having a fan in the directors chair and them getting some fresh blood in the writer’s room could be good signs. If this is coming out anytime soon hopefully we get some more official statements from Paramount on all of this soon.

BobOrci, any comment?

Best of luck to you both.

6. Simon Jessey – April 22, 2014

I’m not worried about Bob Orci directing. Whatever else you may say about him, his commitment to Star Trek cannot be called into question.

Maybe not, but his ability to tell a cohesive, meaningful story certainly can be called into question.

We are so not going to get a film for the 50 th anniversary of Star Trek. The didn’t write the move yet!

29. Kenji – April 22, 2014

I see virtually no downside with Orci in the chair.

Here’s one: His writing seems like a comic book written for 10-year-olds, even when it’s not supposed to.

But, on the bright side of this news:

No more Orci/Kurtzman Star Trek scripts!!

Let them each go direct Transformers 5 and the third, fourth and fifth Spiderman reboots. I don’t care, so long as they’re not involved with Star Trek any more!

Best of luck in your new careers, fellas! I hope that you both make tons of money directing all of those lame action movies and pseudo-psychological thrillers that you’ll soon be churning out!

Since Quinto is a big fan, he should be lobbying as well to direct the movie. True that he never directed before, but so what? It is more than enough to have a fan in the directors chair to direct the 50th anniversary movie!

I think Bob should be given the job!!

26 Mad Mann, YES GET A QUALITY SCIENCE ADVISOR PLEASE

35 Ahmed, I think you jest. Now if Quinto could get J.C. Chandor to direct, that would be interesting ….

Lol,
CASE CLOSED
funniest words ever spoken on TrekMovie

26 Mad Mann, I SECOND THE OPTIMISM HERE!

27 Daystrom, I think your opinion is very close to mine though, “real world”.

32, 33, 34 Cygnus, MEEEOOWWWW … I think they should hire you as script doctor, dude.
————————————————————————————-
BobOrci if you’re checkin’ out the thread, as a fellow fan I think you will put your whole heart into it. May your director’s skills match your vision, and may you make this movie a great success, the best of the three. Good luck, Bob, sincerely. We all want a great Trek movie.

I am 100% behind Bob directing this. Just like Frakes, he’ll do a great job on movie number 1 that he directs, IMO.

I’d be interested to hear what Bob Orci has to say about this. :)

Maybe he’ll comment soon. Personally, I like the guy. He’s responded to my comments and chuckled at my #AreYouThe1701 Contest entry, even answered when I was asking about the #Super8 walk-on role contest for Star Trek Into Darkness that never went anywhere, and he’s always active and receptive on TrekMovie.com.

Bob and Alex’s plates are so full it makes perfect sense and I wish them both the best. As far as Trek goes, thats a no brainer, Boborci is the clear choice. Use your leverage Bob, and make it happen, what better way to bring your words to the screen?

#34. “Let them each go direct Transformers 5 and the third, fourth and fifth Spiderman reboots. I don’t care, so long as they’re not involved with Star Trek any more!”

don’t hold your breath, blue isn’t your color! LoL

@38. Ahmed.

Y’know, I’m a big Star Trek fan, can I direct it? Or, at least be the science-advisor?

I just wish Bob hadn’t felt he had to quit hanging out here.

@ 46. Mad Mann – April 22, 2014

“@38. Ahmed.
Y’know, I’m a big Star Trek fan, can I direct it? Or, at least be the science-advisor?”

Absolutely, no problem at all!

Provided of course that you have a friend inside BR or K/O Paper Products who will vouch for you :-)

#44

“As far as Trek goes, thats a no brainer, Boborci is the clear choice.”

A no brainer. Yep.
My thoughts exactly.

33. Cygnus-X1 – April 22, 2014

Here’s one: His writing seems like a comic book written for 10-year-olds, even when it’s not supposed to.

***

Other than the nixed Shatner scene, which was VERY well written, what other parts do we know were exclusively written by Bob? I’m talking the movies, of course, not the comic books.

Which is not to say that we would all like those parts even if we knew what they were, but I think you are underestimating the dynamics of group writing and the contribution of JJ Abrams to that dynamic.

I like the idea of Bob being able to call all the shots, not having to answer to JJ Abrams, or to endure Lindelof’s well-made arguments for bad ideas.