Simon Pegg talked recently with comingsoon.net about his upcoming romcom, writing Star Trek, a Star Wars cameo, and more.
Of course, he didn’t reveal any interesting tid bits about the plot of upcoming Star Trek Beyond (or of Star Wars The Force Awakens for that matter), but he did talk about the pressure he and co-writer Doug Jung were under to get the script written and the movie together in a short amount of time, plus the “possibility” of more Star Trek movies in the future.
It was fantastic fun. It was emotional highs and lows all the way because we were under a lot of pressure, because the timeframe was a lot smaller than it would normally be. You write a film of that size, you usually get a year or so, but I think we started maybe six months before we went into production, if that. Just under six months and we were already in pre-production, which meant that things had to be designed and set pieces had to be created and the pressure on us to deliver was extraordinary, but me and Doug Jung, together with Justin (Lin) and our producers Leslie, just stood up to it and did it, and actually by the time we started shooting, it had become pretty fun. It was tense the whole time, but it was a pretty amazing train set to get to play with.
Simon also said that, while he doesn’t know what’s in store for Trek, more movies may be in the cards.
I’m going to be tied to a few big films for a while, because I know we’re probably going to make another “Mission: Impossible” and who knows if we make another “Star Trek”? I don’t know but it’s a possibility. I have big movies to do.
Pegg’s skilled but it’s a little sad this is a 50 year old franchise that still has to be rushed into production. Even J.J. Abrams has stated that Into Darkness shot without a completed script. http://www.gamesradar.com/jj-abrams-says-star-trek-darkness-had-fundamental-story-problems/
It’s kind of like what the original cast was up against with the 1st movie, “ST-TMP”. Where do you begin ? Where is the focus ? Gene Roddenberry had close to a decade to put something together and was given a legendary film director Robert Wise. The studio and tons of creative folks all had a say in what eventually came to be.
Now Harve Bennett came along and he wanted to “right the ship” by going back and finding what worked on the TV show. He found a TV episode, “Space Seed” that his movie would be a sequel to. Bennett/Nick Meyer/Leonard Nimoy played significant roles in the arc of Star Trek II-IV.
Star Trek V was another starting point and again, it seemed like they wanted to make something bigger than before, but it was the 1st time the series looked like it was getting long in the tooth. Star Trek VI tied itself to the real life falling of the Wall and the cold war.
So the filmmakers are and were challenged by finding a story that is compelling but is relatable and not too out there (Finding God or merging with V’ger). I think Justin Lin wants to bring many elements of the original series back, but is the story compelling ? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
2. Steve Gennarelli –
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
Ever and always the case, Steve. But we’re living in interesting Trek times these days, a half century after the start. Interesting Trek times indeed.
It really shows that Into Darkness was an unfinished / unpolished script. You can’t beam Spock up from a slow moving garbage scowl but you CAN beam down Uhura onto the same structure when only one movie ago by most of the same writers they were able to beam Kirk and Sulu in freefall at terminal velocity????????????
Harrison was a good villain as a rogue Section 31 operative who then for absolutely no reason becomes Khan.
The Enterprise is submerged underwater on a primitive world where they aren’t allowed to see it instead of just staying in orbit, they already had a shuttle down at planet level, for Kirk’s sake!!
I could go on and on but mercifully won’t …….
Obviously, movie studio heads don’t respect Star Trek in any way shape or form. Their criteria must be, does something explode? Is the hero heroic and does the bad guy do bad things? If this is covered as a summer action movie then it is greenlighted as a possible blockbuster and filming begins.
Did anyone here think that Predestination was one of the smartest, most cleverly written screenplays ever turned into a science fiction film last year? What? You haven’t heard of it? That’s probably because hardly anyone saw it! Brains in script writing don’t put bums on seats, characters that do the impossible like superheroes do!
Current market trends have already dictated that Star Trek Beyond and the new series won’t be traditional Trek. Daniel Craig is not Roger Moore. Roger Moore wasn’t Sean Connery. Peter Davison wasn’t the same Doctor Who as Tom Baker. Trek will always be a business of selling product and it will always reflect the current market. I don’t like it, you may not like it but that’s how it is.
No matter what Simon Pegg may have written in his first draft, it is the studio that has final say and don’t forget he said ages ago they want it to be “Less Trekky!”, so even the writer has warned us!
Caveat Emptor!
Now that they’ve announced a new TV show, I barely even care about the movie anymore.
Can’t wait until the next two Star Trek movies.
Star Trek lives!
I seriously could care less about a 4th Trek movie in this NuTrek timeline. I don’t necessarily want it to fail and I’ll certainly go see ST:B once and buy it on blu ray but like #4 said:
It’s all about January 2017
I just want good Trek – movies, TV, radio drama – the format doesn’t matter to me. If it’s good I’ll support it; if not I’ll walk away.
#1 – JJ didn’t say that Into Darkness didn’t have a completed script. It did indeed have a script. He just acknowledged that the script and the story had problems. That does sound like semantics in a way, but you can still lock a script that has issues.
As for why this one was rushed into production, I think there were two factors. One, after Bob Orci had been writing and planning/hoping to direct, the studio ended up going in a different direction. So Pegg and co. had less time as a result. Especially since the studio wanted the new Trek film to be out the same year as the 50th anniversary which, from a business perspective, is a really good idea.
#6 wrote:
“I seriously could care less about a 4th Trek movie”
You realize that means you DO care… right?
I believe Simon Pegg is a good writer. I can see a 7-season Star Trek Series Six show being made along with 11 more Star Trek movies.
I’m still not thrilled that Paramount threw out a “too Star Trek-ky” script. It is the 50th anniversary after all! Shouldn’t we have Star Trek on Star Trek’s 50th birthday?
But I am hopeful and optimistic for STB and the new creative team to bring us better story for the fans than STID did.
I look forward to the day when we can hear Bob Orci’s side of things; I so very much want to read the “too Star Trek-ky” script. Not long after the last movie’s release, I heard a podcast by Orci, and was very excited about his thoughts on the next movie.
Preview trailer, please!
“It was fantastic fun. It was emotional highs and lows all the way because we were under a lot of pressure, because the timeframe was a lot smaller than it would normally be. You write a film of that size, you usually get a year or so, but I think we started maybe six months before we went into production, if that. Just under six months and we were already in pre-production, which meant that things had to be designed and set pieces had to be created and the pressure on us to deliver was extraordinary, but me and Doug Jung, together with Justin (Lin) and our producers Leslie, just stood up to it and did it, and actually by the time we started shooting, it had become pretty fun. It was tense the whole time, but it was a pretty amazing train set to get to play with.”
I don’t know about the rest of you, but in my work, activities that are done with a tight, cohesive team until a tight schedule usually result in products that are better than if you had a lot of time, with a broader team, to do. This can be a huge benefit.
Keep in mind the TOS producers/writers had to church out a script a week, and those (at least the first two seasons) are still the gold standard everything else is measured against.
Of course, it also helps that if you have a clunker, the audience doesn’t have to wait 3-4 years for the next episode.
Let’s be positive. I doubt Paramount would commit another $200M on the next Trek film unless the powers that be had faith in the story and the production team in place.
They should at least have a teaser trailer to play when the new Star Wars opens. Principal photography has wrapped and optical effects have to be well on its way.
Why JJ Trek is so damn good!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GQhMdEXmMI&sns=em
@4 kor castle. Wow, man you really hit it on the nose about Into darkness. Why did the enterprise need to be at the bottom of the ocean when it could have been in orbit ? Never thought about that. You mentioned a lot that made sense. Sure, The Enterprise rising out of the ocean made for an awesome sequence….God knows how much alone that sequence cost.
But you are right that the studio heads really don’t care about trek. Into darkness for one, took too long to come to the theathers. A 4-5 year gap between the 09 movie ?
Seriously, not expecting Beyond to make the same amount of money as into darkness. If anything, it will make less, and this is sad, because the studio will respond by giving the next film a smaller budget, or in Beyond’s case a smaller budget than the 09 fil.
Into darkness would’ve been great if they kept john harrison as John harrison, and made Admiral Marcus the main antagonist. And stayed the hell away from Khan. Sorry, you just can’t touch that classic.
The studios seldom listens to fans until it hits them in the bank. I am glad Trek is returning to television /streaming.
Personally, when it comes to movies, I would do an anthology kind of thing. Make a ds9 movie, or a voyager, or better yet, why not create a brand new crew for the movies? No alternate reality….unless they wanted to do a mirror universe, which would’ve been a great thing. But hey, i’m just a trekker who’s been a fan for over 35 years….what do I know ?
@ Jonbox
WOW
WOW
WOW
It was TMP and subsequent movies that actually departed from TOS, and the JJ-Trek movies is the most TOS-like Star Trek made since 1969…and he backs it up with multiple scenes and comparisons.
What a find !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ 18 Jon boc
Awesome find! I’ve always liked JJ Trek. It’s what got me back into trek. People seem to lampoon that JJ Trek isn’t Star Trek, but that’s because they’ve been bludgeoned with BRAGA-trek over their head for the better part of a decade.
The braga-trek formula was – forehead of the week + mediocre script + preachy corny moral of the week. I thought I was a true Trekkie andI tried my absolute best to watch enterprise, tried four times, but each time couldn’t get through it. Never reached the manny coto final season.
The very vocal online (but only a small minority) community may disagree with me but the majority of trek fans did agree – they tuned off trek tv,didn’t show up for the crapfest that was nemesis,lost interest after the bore fest that was insurrection. It is because of these consistent failures from the braga trek era that we’ve now got JJ trek to deal with. In to darkness had its share of story issues, but it was eminently more watchable than the last 2 seasons of voyager, entirety of enterprise, the last 2 trek films ( from the previous era of films).
looking forward to Justin Lin’s take on trek3 for the big 50
@Jonboc
Thanks for posting that link. I have always felt that the reboot movies had a very TOS feel to them, over and above the fact they featured the same (reimagined) characters.
“romcom” What, that’s a word now? Good lord, the English language is on life support.
#22, you’re welcome, I’ve always felt the same way and I’m a hard core TOS fan. The new movies are very true to TOS and nothing like the majority of TNG and its spinoffs, and that’s a good thing!
Glad you guys enjoyed the video!
@Jonboc – excellent find on the video. So saddened by some of the comments bashing the video maker who made some excellent points but some fans will dismiss anything outside their world view.
Also does anyone know anything about a teaser trailer? I’m kind of hoping beyond hope that one will be out in time for The Force Awakens. Trek and Wars are my favorite franchises of all time and having a trailer for one before the other is sci-fi nerd heaven :)
I’m sorry but as much as I’m looking forward to seeing Star Trek Beyond, I personally do have a problem with Pegg since his latest remarks regarding people who like the Star Wars Prequels…
While I do acknowledge these movie had problems (an overload of CGI creatures, Jar Jar, convoluted plot elements, inferior ship designs), I think Pegg was out of place to say that he “doesn’t have any respect for people who think the prequels were good”…
That’s simply too much of an offense. Even if you personally hate the PT, is it too much too demand “respect” for different opinions? I personally like the PT, I even LOVE Eps II and III and while I do see the good in return Star Wars to its OT roots, a lot of elements I loved about the PT are lost in that process…
But that’s not the issue here. Pegg may still hate the PT, it’s his prerogative, but it’s one thing to hate the movies and a completely different thing to maligne their fans. This is why I’ve cancelled by copy of Absolutely Anything today and that’s why I must speak out against Pegg’s attitude…
@smike Yeah, I couldn’t help but think, “Hey, Simon, were you as direct with JJ after reading the script for Into Darkness?” Simon Pegg got very defensive after the backlash that resulted from Into Darkness so he should know better.
And now Simon Pegg is writing Beyond, wading into very dangerous waters. Sure, Star Wars fans can be merciless but Star Trek fans are a breed apart and very protective of this franchise.
It’s good to know where won’t be any new Abramstrek movies after this. Stick a fork into it, it’s done! :D
So three years between releases is rushed. Huh.
18. Jonboc
Thank you for posting that video. I remember my surprise and disappointment as an eight-year-old in 1983 watching ST:TMP because it was so different from the movie I expected. I, in my naive way, had expected a bigger version of the TV show I already loved, not something that seemed thinly connected.
And the problem I have with all Trek TV shows since is that they defer to the TMP model. I mean, TNG is basically a rewrite of the setup of ST:TMP, even down to Riker and Troi being Decker and Ilia, with a cold, distant Captain and an emotionless, android Spock equivalent.
The Trek sequel TV shows drove me away from the Star Trek fan world, because the narrative at the time seemed to be that the original show was an embarrassment and TNG was the ‘true vision.’
It wasn’t until JJ Trek that I felt any connection to the series I still love – bear in mind, in the UK, it hadn’t long finished its first run when I was born in 1975. The imagery and sounds of Trek blur back into memories so early that the episodes mix into one another. My earliest memories are of Spock’s Brain, The Lights of Zetar and Day of the Dove. Oh, and the terrifying ‘Friendly Angel!’
Perhaps because TNG (and the mythological ‘Gene’s Vision’) was allowed to seize the narrative, a lot of people who didn’t really know any better felt alienated by a Star Trek film loaded with fun, humour, action, sexy women and adventure.
My major disappointment with Into Darkness was that it wasn’t a five year mission film. I felt they could have jumped a few years between the end of the first film and the second and had everyone firmly established. Also, I didn’t see the need for Khan when the crew could have arrived at a planet far beyond explored Federation space and met a Cumberbatch opponent there – that being said, I see Admiral Marcus as the villain of STID and Khan as an antihero. Indeed, I’d be all for a Khan spinoff as a kind of Suicide Squad Trek character.
Whatever the case, I’m hugely looking forward to the new film and cautiously enthusiastic about the new show. I’ll be interested to see whether we have something like DC’s separate TV show and movie universes or any interlinking in the way Agents of SHIELD and its sister shows work with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (assuming CBS and Paramount reach some accommodation.)
#18:
Right on! This is a great analysis of why the JJ-verse works. I’ve been saying this since the first one came out!
@12. DaiMonRon,
“I’m still not thrilled that Paramount threw out a “too Star Trek-ky” script. It is the 50th anniversary after all! Shouldn’t we have Star Trek on Star Trek’s 50th birthday?”
We don’t really know if it were “too Star Trek-ky” or not, Pegg didn’t get a chance to read the rejected scripts after all. Paramount locked away Orci scripts & didn’t allow the new writing team to touch it.
===========================
Simon Pegg: “I’m Never Going to Direct a ‘Star Trek’”
The Hollywood Reporter – 9/30/2015
“We tried to read the [Orci’s] scripts, we tried to get them through various means, but failed,” claimed Pegg, adding that he didn’t “really know” what they contained.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/star-trek-beyond-simon-pegg-828301
“While I do acknowledge these movie had problems (an overload of CGI creatures, Jar Jar, convoluted plot elements, inferior ship designs), I think Pegg was out of place to say that he “doesn’t have any respect for people who think the prequels were good”…”
YOU HAVE GOT BE KIDDING ME…..worst and most disappointing movie experience of my life with the possible exception of Dune.
…and maybe, Highlander II: The Quickening
Jonboc:
My issue (and many others’) with JJTrek is that, after a great romp in 2009, they had to go and do STID. Yes, all those TOS elements are present, and I can’t recall even the naysayers not giving the JJ films their due for bringing them to the fore.
It’s just that you can tell the Khan thing was thrown in when Damon Lindelof came to rescue the stalled script. It would have been a better film without ‘Harrison’ as Khan, but just as ‘Harrison.’ The lifted TWOK scenes gave the film length, and a pre-written script, and this all despite the fact that Khan is supposed to be a Sikh (played by a Mexican), and not a pasty-white Brit. They could have tried to do the JJverse’s version of Space Seed with a proper actor.
Sure, there are plotholes and stupid suspension-of-disbelief things, but they don’t scream “lazy” the way JJ-Khan does.
Also, that’s the first time I’ve seen anyone actually dis the entire series of TOS films for not being true to the series.
“Also, that’s the first time I’ve seen anyone actually dis the entire series of TOS films for not being true to the series.”
No, that is NOT what he said. He said the critics of new films forget that in reality, TOS films were a reboot in their own right, and that they ignored a lot of TOS by design.
@4
“Did anyone here think that Predestination was one of the smartest, most cleverly written screenplays ever turned into a science fiction film last year? ”
That is honestly one of the best movies ever.
Nice find, that video about JJverse. Very interesting points. I’m yet to see TOS. What I didn’t like about JJverse was: changing the physics established in canon; starwarsifying the phaser fire; warp travel is almost instantaneous; stardate format is expressed as EarthYearAnnoDomini.DayOfYear; budgineering; the warp core. I know that TMP rebooted Star Trek, but since TNG arrived there were more or less successful attempts to make the science (and history) of Trek stick together. For 20 years. Then came the 2009 reboot and sent that to hell. That consistency that they tried to keep during 20 years was one of the things that made Trek attractive to me.
@ 33. Ahmed
Yes we do.
https://trekmovie.com/2015/05/19/pegg-talks-trek-3-says-paramount-wants-a-less-star-trek-y-film/
————————————————–
We don’t really know if it were “too Star Trek-ky” or not, Pegg didn’t get a chance to read the rejected scripts after all. Paramount locked away Orci scripts & didn’t allow the new writing team to touch it.
===========================
Simon Pegg: “I’m Never Going to Direct a ‘Star Trek’”
The Hollywood Reporter – 9/30/2015
“We tried to read the [Orci’s] scripts, we tried to get them through various means, but failed,” claimed Pegg, adding that he didn’t “really know” what they contained.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/star-trek-beyond-simon-pegg-828301
Me? I’m just looking forward to the movie and the TV series. Am I going to get bogged down in drama in the meantime. Nope. Do I have potentially unwarranted optimism about Trek’s future. Yup. And I’ve had it since 1966.
I don’t know…the first Nu-Trek *did* have elements and call-backs to the original that made it seem like they really did their homework, but the heart of it all felt really very misguided — it fell back on a destiny-based narrative in which fate required the crew to meet, which really truly bothered me. It made Kirk into a reckless womanizer, which couldn’t be farther from the truth (even if pop culture states otherwise)! It went out with guns blazing and universe-breaking tech…universe-breaking. It entertained but didn’t do much more.
At the same time the original series *did* have very deliberate, considered moments of introspection, philosophy and debate — moments that were simply focused on and expanded upon in the movies that followed. I personally think it made a lot of sense in the 70s, which had a tendency to emphasize quiet tension and realism in its filmic zeitgeist. In the case of 2009 trek that was totally thrown out the window towards the other side of the spectrum. It was like the film went too far one way(into total action-land) instead of too far the other way. It betrayed the subtlety and nuance of Trek in the same way TMP betrayed its sense of passion and adventure. I feel like what makes something like Wrath of Khan, Search For Spock or even First Contact really amazing is their tendency to balance the two elements extraordinarily well.
I personally think that TMP and ST2009 are the result of some kind of cinematic transporter accident and if they were reintegrated we’d have a truly perfect trek movie. : )
#31 Dom, you’re welcome, I felt your pain watching TMP and especially TNG and it’s spin-offs…Star Trek was in the opening and ending credits, it just wasn’t present in the minutes in between…not the Star Trek I had learned to love, anyway. Frustrating, to say the least!
Couldn’t care less about this movie. The new TV series is what counts. I think Paramount is furious at CBS for annoucing the series before the movie is released. I’m also quite convinced the new TV series won’t be set in JJ Trek’s universe…
#36 AJ “It’s just that you can tell the Khan thing was thrown in when Damon Lindelof came to rescue the stalled script. It would have been a better film without ‘Harrison’ as Khan, but just as ‘Harrison.’ The lifted TWOK scenes gave the film length, and a pre-written script, and this all despite the fact that Khan is supposed to be a Sikh (played by a Mexican), and not a pasty-white Brit. They could have tried to do the JJverse’s version of Space Seed with a proper actor.”
I can respect that. All I can say is, none of those issues bogged down the film for me. I wasn’t hung up on Khan at all, in fact, I was rather intrigued how it was all going to play out, with certain parallels to the movie, WOK and Space Seed, unflolding before me…familiar yet unfamilair. As it tuned out, I very much enjoyed this new, unknown chapter of Khan.
@Dom – I find it odd that you feel JJ films connected you to TOS. I find they have nothing remotely in common with TOS but the names.
Urban was a pretty good Bones though, at least in 09. In STID he was chewing scenery and dropping goofy one liners. I still cant believe that scene where Kirk finally tells him to knock it off made it through editing. It shouldnt have made it through the day of shooting. Just terribly bad.
To me, it would be so easy to write a GOOD story with the requisite action. Write a thought provoking film with wonderful character moments. Once you have that, you can easily go through the script and punch up the fight/action/explosion scenes to an acceptable level.
But it seems like, especially with STID, they started with a few set pieces they wanted and then set out to write a film around those.
@Jonboc – the fact the Khan reveal elicited laughter is a big problem.
Im not convinced “Harrison” as Harrison and not Khan works *that* much better. Would he still not be an enhanced human? Which would then invoke thoughts of Khan and then you’re still in the shadow of WOK.
I originally liked the idea of using Khan because I assumed they’d start with Space Seed and expand upon that in an interesting way. The fact we know what eventually happens makes the story all the more compelling since the characters dont know and are prone to making the same mistakes.
@ TUP
I think Jonboc, myself and a lot of others share Dom’s opinion — regarding at least ST-2009. Jonboc’s link covers pretty damn well the great connections between the movies and TOS.
And obviously, we all I assume agree the TMP was a major departure from any other Trek incarnation.
So unless simply disagreeing with you is odd, what’s odd about Dom’s opinion?
29 – You don’t actually know that just yet.
#48 and Jonboc, etc. I completely agree. It seems most that hate JJverse Trek are those that grew up on TNG and it’s spin offs.
Now, I enjoyed those for the most part for what they were. But they are COMPLETELY different from TOS Trek. There is no doubt. And the JJverse Trek is very true to what TOS Trek was. Which, if the only Trek you know is TNG and post-TNG Trek, then you probably don’t see that.
As for #46 TUP – as usual I completely disagree. And I think it very arrogant and presumptious to think “it would be so easy” to write a good Trek film. I can say from what I’ve seen of your suggested scripts, it would not be good at all.
Yes STID had its story problems. I enjoyed the movie, but I agree it was not as good as ST09. I’m hopeful STB will be better.