It has been a busy week for Star Trek writer/exec producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Firstly Alex talked about Star Trek over the weekend at a film festival. Plus last week they signed a new big TV deal with Fox, and today they cast an actor from Lost (and Trek) for their Hawaii Five-0 remake. Details on all of that, plus their Razzie nomination and you can watch them in a short film about robots. [UPDATED]
Kurtzman talks Nimoy’s last gunfight at SBIFF
Alex Kurtzman (flying solo) participated in a writer’s "It Starts with a Script" panel at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival over the weekend. There is a brief report available at incontention.com noting that Alex retold the story of the meeting when he and Bob pitched Star Trek to Leonard Nimoy, but he added an interesting detail. Here is the excerpt:
Kurtzman told a touching story (that he may have told elsewhere, I can’t recall) about when he and the filmmakers behind “Star Trek” approached Leonard Nimoy about reprising the role that has become synonymous with his name. Nimoy’s autobiography being titled “I Am Not Spock” made the task feel even more daunting, but as Nimoy listened to their plan, tears started to well up. “He said, ‘You have to understand, this is quite emotional for me,’” Kurtzman recalled. “And then it occurred to us we were asking a gunslinger to strap on his guns one last time.”
Kurtzman talks "Star Trek" at SBIFF (Getty)
Orci and Kurtzman hire Lost’s (and Trek’s) Kim for Hawaii 5-0 remake
Last year we reported that Bob and Alex are producing a remake of the 70s cop show Hawaii Five-0, for CBS. Today news of the first casting has been reported. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Dae Kim, a regular on the Abrams/Lindelof show Lost, has been cast as the new Detective Chin Ho Kelly. Kim also has a Trek connection, having appeared in the Voyager episode "Blink of an Eye", as well as a recurring role as MACO Corporal Chang in the third season of Enterprise. THR also reports that Moonlight’s Alex O’Loughlin is in talks for the new Steve McGarrett, but has the role has not yet been cast.
UPDATE: O’Loughlin has been cast as McGarrett
Kim on "Voyager" and "Enterprise" – now headed to "Hawaii Five-0"
O & K sign multi-year TV deal at Fox + to consult on new CGI Transformers cartoon
In other biz news for Orci and Kurtzman, last week the pair signed a three-year deal to develop TV series for 20th Century Fox (they already have a film production deal with Dreamworks). The new deal calls for the pair to put together a new TV production company under the Fox umbrella where they will produce (and write) new projects and work with other writers. 20th Century Fox TV chairman Dana Walden said of the deal "Our ideal producers are like Alex and Bob, who are incredibly versatile and talent magnets for their peers in the writing community, for actors and directors."
The THR article also revealed that Orci and Kurtzman will serve as consulting producers on the new CGI cartoon Transformers: Prime which will air on the new Hasbro/Discovery channel the Hub. [THR]
Bob and Alex nominated for Razzie + Will they go?
And some lighter news, last week Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were given the ‘honor’ of a nomination for the Razzie Award for ‘Worst Screenplay’ for mega-blockbuster Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The film actually picked up a total of seven ‘Razzie’ nominations, including Worst Picture. I haven’t checked, but there cant be too many writers who garnered a WGA nomination (which they got for Star Trek) and a Razzie nomination in the same year. Bob seems to be taking it all in with good humor. On Friday he made the following comment here at TrekMovie:
BobOrci: Should we go collect our Razzie in person?
Bob and Alex talk robots in new Honda Short film
Speaking of robots, Bob and Alex can bee seen in a new short film just put online at Honda.com. We previously reported on the pair talking about Star Trek in another short film called "Racing Against Time." The new film "Living with Robots" (below) is another short film in Honda’s Dream the Impossible series.
Bob and Alex should go and accept the Razzie, it would be funny. How can you take a movie that puts male reproductive organs on a robot seriously?
I do hope Transformers: Prime is good. I loved Animated, and long before that Beast Wars, so it’s got a lot to live up to.
It’s only fair you go, Bob. You want the good awards, you take the bad ones, too.
Congrats. I doubt this Razzie will sting too too much.
I really don’t think it’s fair to blame Kurtzman and Orci for TF2. That movie was rushed through the Writers’ Strike with Michael Bay filming based on an outline and a lot of dialogue was improvised. The actual basic plot of the movie is pretty good and strongly rooted in the Transformers mythology.
Oh Man! Wasn’t Chin Ho the big fat one?
I think they’re cool enough to show up for the Razzies.
Imagine how embarrassing for the committee if they don’t win, though – not real likely that the actual winner will be in the hall. LOL
Bob – You handle things so well with class, even in the face of criticism. Bless ya!
I actually thought the robot balls were kinda funny… (within the Transformers context)
In their defense, I’ll point out that the hopelessly unfunny and offensive twins (Mudflap and Skids) were Michael Bay’s creations and not B & A.
Out of curiosity, which of the Autobots were supposed to be hanging around with Sam and Bumblebee that middle-to-last part of the movie when they were on the lam?
Bob, it’s not your fault, Transformers 2 was shot backwards – meaning, a story filled in the visuals, rather than visuals filling in the story.
In short, axe the minstrel-show twins next time, focus on the humans, not the robots, and keep Michael Bay the hell away from character creation, story, and script.
If the description of “Hawaii Five-0” is accurate, it sounds too much like it will just be a “NCIS: Honolulu” so why bother making the lead characters McGarrett, Danno, and Chin Ho?
5… No, the big fat guy was, wait for it, Wo Fat.
Orci: I say go to the awards and hold a speech.
Just accept the award and thank everyone and how humbling it is to win a Oscar. At the very moment pause for laughter and wink. You can then thank Michael Bay and say he was the one that wrote the screenplay lol
11. Thorny: “… No, the big fat guy was, wait for it, Wo Fat.”
Actually, Wo Fat was was the Chinese spy and rogue, McGarrett’s main enemy with a snappy moustache.
I should have described Chin Ho as massively husky, not big fat.
Go Bob Go!
@Anthony: Although O & K is cool to write, I’ve noticed they themselves seem to prefer K/O. It’s a knockout! :)
Then we can call it K/O 5/O :) Funny, Mike Huckabee just had The Ventures on his weekend FNC show, and they all played the Five-O theme song again!! Book’em Danno.
@11 That was actually the name of a restaurant in Honolulu. ;)
Fascinating!
sure sounds like Nimoy is one and done
RE: KO OK
it is true that their company is ‘Kurtzman/Orci’ (alphabetical) but I always thought of them as Orci and Kurtzman, because I know bob better. So it is a bias, there i have been found out. I am biased.
maybe if Alex started posting here i will switch it around!
Great video on robots. As much as we take robotics and mechanical sophistication for granted in sci fi, the video reminds meof just how far robotics has to go. And like folks who feel uncomfortable with life-like robots, our technical advancements in this field will present us with new limits and new challenges (remember TNG’s trial of Data as “property”)? Thanks for posting this video…very thought provoking.
#10 NO! Do NOT base a Transformers movie around HUMANS. That is crap. I went to Trans 2 to see giant robots beating the ever loving crap out of each other, and that’s what I got. The only reason I’ve lost faith in Trans-3 being any good is because of Megan Fox and her “Transformers would have failed without me” philosophy. She’s such a dumb broad that it’s not funny.
As for the story, it was very grounded in classic Transformers mythology and old style stories. You know, Decepticons try to harness a power source to create energon, this process being harmful to Earth and humans, the Autobots stop them by beating them up. Plus, the Matrix of freakin Leadership!!! I wish I knew why Transformers 2 is hated so much, I think that after Star Trek, people had a certain expectation for Transformers 2, but Trans 2 was written during a writers’ strike, and for a completely different audience than Star Trek. Star Trek is serious, optimistic science fiction. Transformers is optimistic, but never completely serious action/sci-fi. Alex and Bob got that. Now, I’m not claiming Trans 2 was even in the same league as Trek. In fact, it was my least favorite movie of the past year or so, Star Trek being first, and District 9 & Avatar tying for 2nd, with Sherlock Holmes right behind it. Trans 2 could’ve been so much better, ie. actually develop the robot characters, leave out the racist references with the twins, and the stupid puerile jokes like Wheelie humping Megan Fox’s leg and Devastator’s wrecking balls. And we’re not gonna get much better since Alex and Bob have said they’re not going to do Trans 3. Which sucks, I’m sure they would’ve advocated bringing in Unicron. But no, we’re gonna get racist robots, and the black robots are gonna die by the end of the movie, and there’s gonna be lots of shots of Megan Fox’s cleavage. Trans 3 is gonna make Trans 2 look like an Oscar winning motion picture, you mark my words.
#5 & 11:
Sorry guys, you both are wrong. The heavy set police officer from H5-0 was Kono Kalakaua.
Chin Ho Kelly was McGarrett’s second in command after Danny Williams.
and….
Wo Fat was McGarrett’s nemesis from communist China.
It will be interesting to see a 21st century take in ‘Hawaii Five-0.’
The show, much as I loved it, was the teeniest tad bit racist in characterizations of the islanders… and I really do not mean that as an insult. It is merely a product of its time… and it strove to overcome those biases, which I think was a credit to its producers and actor Jack Lord.
and I especially am interested to see if Wo Fat will make a return appearance as McGarrett’s Chinese foe…. he was a fascinating, evil foe for McGarrett to counter.
Incidentally, I think casting Steve McGarrett is going to be the hardest role to cast for the updated series. I mean, how do you top or equal Jack Lord?
Good luck to Orci and Kurtzman, as I would imagine it would equally daunting doing a remake of an iconic series like H50 as it was doing ‘Star Trek.’
Any news on the sequel yet
i believe they’re looking at that guy who played the vampire detective on CBS’s Moonlight last year for the role of McGarrett
I won’t expect anyone to believe me, but for the last two years I’ve been developing an interest in Hawaii Five-O, going so far as to download from iTunes the original and other versions of it by the Ventures, et al.
The show has a special resonance with me because at the time it aired, it was one of the few programs that had a truly multiethnic cast — just like Star Trek. Even more importantly, the intro had a terrific theme song — one that oozed beachside cool.
The setting? It was a Californian’s version of California. It was Hawaii. It was a cop show. It was getting the bad guys in 54 minutes, flat. And it went well with music from the Doors AND Beach Boys…. what else could do that?
Ah, those were the days.
Thank you, O & K, for bringing them back!
they deserve the razzie for worst screenplay, Transformers 2 was an awful film.
It may a stretch, but would they ever consider putting Trek on FOX?
TRUCK NUTS!!
I love 5-O!!! I hope they do it justice.
I liked Transformers: ROTF. It certainly doesn’t seem worthy of a Razzie. Why all the hate?
When I was watching it, it occurred to me that perhaps the hate is due to it being politically incorrect, as it portrays the military in a positive light- brave, honourable etc, while the only government representative we see is a turd. Maybe that raised fashionable leftie hackles, since it’s de rigeur currently to see those things reversed.
The one thing I didn’t like was casting an anorexic as the girl who was really a decepticon. She was just upsetting to look at.
I thought Transformers 2 was lound garbage, badly fleshed out characters and racist robots. So much happening at once and so dumb a story, I felt I was having a mind rape
Transformers 2 is a truly terrible film and you would have to pay me a crap load of money to sit through it again.
when I came out of Transformers 2 I felt sad, I said to my friends “Oh God that was written by the guys who are now in charge of writing Trek movies,” My faith was lost right there.
Sorry but I feel down when people associated with Michael Bay are now involved in films from my all time favourite show.
loud garbage
It’s a movie about giant robots fighting. What were you expecting, The Remains Of The Day?
badly fleshed out characters
It’s a movie about giant robots fighting. What were you expecting, The Remains Of The Day?
racist robots
Ah, that was the PC bell going off in your head. The robots in question are a “stereotype”- that is, a recognisable type. Fiction is full of them. Using a stereotype is a good shorthand for a writer to use. Like, “nerdy white guy” or “lusty Frenchman” or “redneck hick”. Did anyone complain about the big Blackbird robot being a stereotype of a british regional type? No, they didn’t. Why no complaints about the stereotypical nerd/conspiracy theory character? Or Megan the stock sexy chick? What was actually the matter with the robots?
30
I have never liked a Michael Bay film
I have dseen many dumb films but Transformers 2 was dumb with a triple sized capital D
I just thought it was the worst film of the year
I would rather watch Batman and Robin over Transformers 2, and that’s saying something.
Truth is I guess in big spectacular effects film I do like something akin to a plot to go along with the visual effects.
The military officers had bad dialogue. In one scene one soldier just says out “That guy is a serious ass hole ” in regards to the offical in a really retarded way, he was saying something that does not need to be said.
34
It’s not meant to be intellectual. It’s a movie about giant fighting robots. Giant toy fighting robots that turn into cars and trucks, designed for eight year olds to play with. Giant toy robots with names like Megatron.
If you don’t want to lower yourself to seeing “dumb” movies, I recommend avoiding the ones about giant toy robots, because you’re probably going to be disappointed.
34. We get it. You hated it. There are only so many ways to say it.
I like Megan Fox, but not for her acting.
Also some of the acting in Transformers 2 was awful and for most of the film I could not hear what people were saying due to the lousdness of everything except the dialogue.
Corny dialogue like This is Top Secret, don’t tell my mother, this line made me cringe.
Shia LaBeof being completely bland. Only film I liked him in was Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but in Transformers he is atricious.
I can have fun with dumb action movies, I have fun with Schwaraenegger films but I do like a bit of plot to go with explosions.
37
sorry and the fact that it was written by the guys who did good character stuff in the new Trek movie adds salt to the wound for me.
Hawaii 5-0? What’s next, Barnaby Jones?
Though a Mannix remake could work. And wouldn’t it be cool to see Lost in Space…done right, of course.
36
But the Transformers Movie from 1985 was better written
I was wondering what would fan opinion be like if Michael bay directed a Star Trek movie?
It would be my worst nightmare come true. lol. But what would the consesus like?
42
Probably not his forte. But then, it wouldn’t be James Cameron’s forte either probably, or Sam Peckinpah’s or Martin Scorsese’s or Alfred Hitchcock’s.
43. Paul Greengrass? The Uhura Ultimatum?
i will be scared if fans are in favour of bay taking the helm. No pun intended.
JJ’s direction held the right tone…for me. I do hope he continues to direct.
but JJ is not the end of and be all of Star Trek.
40. rogue
If they remake ‘Barnaby Jones,’ they’re gonna have to do ‘Cannon,’ and then someone else will have to do ‘The FBI,’ and don’t forget ‘Adam 12,’ and ‘Emergency!’ So many wonderfully bad shows to regurgitate…
But I wouldn’t mind seeing ‘Lost In Space’ done properly. The original started out okay, but became more stupid than Francis the Talking Mule. And the movie stank… stunk… um, it sucked.
48
Why not remake every single film and reboot every TV show done these days .
That seems to be the remit these days
#48:
You’re right. ‘Lost in Space’ started out great and then for some reason, producer Irwin Allen felt they had to do ‘Batman’ one better… LIS wasn’t just camp, it became pure stupidity.
Reportedly, CBS president William Paley was embarrassed the ‘sterling network’ was even airing the show.
But then Irwin Allen productions had a tendency to do that. Give them points for visual flair and creativity, but a ‘F’ for logic, motivation and believability.