Quentin Tarantino Is Open To Directing A Star Trek Movie…And He Has Some Ideas

There is a lot going on related to Star Trek returning to TV on Sunday but this week has a tiny bit of news in the Star Trek film area. There is still no news on progress on a new feature moving forward at Paramount, but a notable Oscar-winning writer/director has indicated he would be interested. Yesterday TMZ posted an short ambush interview with Quentin Tarantino from LAX airport asking if he would direct a Star Trek movie and he replied “It would be worth having a meeting about.” He also confirmed his previous statements that he plans to direct two more films before retiring.

Why did TMZ choose to ask Tarantino about Star Trek? Well in the last couple of weeks an audio clip of Tarantino has been buzzing around the Internet where he talks about Star Trek. The clip (below) has picked up around 180,000 views on YouTube since it was published two weeks ago, but it was actually from a 2015 Nerdist podcast interview

When asked if he would be interested in directing a Star Wars film, Tarantino told the Nerdist crew he would prefer to do a Star Trek film. He said he was a big fan of the original Star Trek series and liked the J.J. Abrams 2009 Star Trek film, but didn’t care for 2013’s Into Darkness follow-up. Tarantino also noted that many classic Star Trek episodes could be “easily expanded” into a feature film, and he specifically mentioned the TNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise” as one that could work on the big screen.

Tarantino sees feature film potential in classic Trek episodes, including “Yesterday’s Enterprise”

Talking about Tarantino doing a Star Trek film is fun, but is certainly premature and probably not very likely. Tarantino is not the kind of director who could be brought in to make a film based on an story or script developed by others, which is the most likely scenario for the next Trek feature. Plus, he is already set to write and direct a film about the Manson family which is due in 2019, so would he want to make a franchise film like Star Trek be his 10th and final film? And while Paramount hasn’t been in a rush to move forward on another Star Trek, would they want to wait until 2019 to start the next project?

Paramount not happy with Abrams, but expected to extend Bad Robot deal

It was recently announced that J.J. Abrams would return to the Star Wars franchise to co-write, produce and direct Episode IX, stepping in after director Colin Trevorrow and Disney/LucasFilm parted ways. For over ten years Abrams and his Bad Robot production company have had a production deal with Paramount Pictures. During that time Bad Robot and Abrams have delivered a number of films to Paramount including 3 Trek features, but the last one he directed for the studio was 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness. Since then he has only directed 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens for Disney

And according to a report this week from the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount’s new CEO Jim Gianopulos is not happy Abrams signed on for another Star Wars movie. Paramount is said to be seeking a one-time payment from Disney as compensation for poaching Abrams again. The Bad Robot/Paramount deal is set to expire in 2018; however, according to THR Paramount is still inclined to extend it as Abrams is still a valuable asset for the studio, just not as valuable as they had hoped back when the deal was first struck in 2006. Abrams and Bad Robot are still working on a number of Paramount projects, including the sixth Mission: Impossible film, due in the summer of 2018.  

Bad Robot would be expected to take the lead on any new Star Trek feature film, but with Abrams set to deliver Episode IX in two years (on top of all his other TV and film projects), he will likely not have a lot of time to be involved with the next Trek feature personally beyond getting it set up.

Paramount is not pleased J.J. Abrams is returing to Star Wars, but they will likely stick with him

Keep up with all the updates on the next Star Trek feature film at TrekMovie.com.

 

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I actually thought the same thing a long time ago, that they could perhaps take a theme or a story from TOS and expand it to a movie ( and steer clear on ANYTHING like STID, instead doing a big screen version of ‘Space Seed’ ).

I know he’ll never do it, but if Tarantino WERE to be attached to a Trek film ( taking on the Kelvin Universe Kirk & Co. ), it would immediately garner interest/debate/become “hot” again despite the ho-hum reaction to BEYOND.

If the fourth film is ever likely to get a go ahead ( which I fear it won’t ), it would need a visionary director attached to it, purely for the marketing value*

*Though I thought Justin Lin did a brilliant job. BEYOND’s relative failure cannot be put at his door.

–I know he’ll never do it, but if Tarantino WERE to be attached to a Trek film ( taking on the Kelvin Universe Kirk & Co. ), it would immediately garner interest/debate/become “hot” again despite the ho-hum reaction to BEYOND.–

I’m not sure about that. I mean, I’m semi-curious but it’s not something I’m leaping into the air to see.

You’d think that, given the fact that Transformers performed underwhelmingly, Paramount would try to shift focus to getting one of their other franchises, ie. Star Trek, rolling instead of starting another Transformers movie.

Shadowknight, God, yes. What with Trek being CBS’s crown “family” jewel you’d think Paramount would have a little more respect for it too.

It’s just easier to sell a dumb toy-based action movie than even an action movie about a dedicated crew serving a star service in a starship.

[a sigh at, and a hiss to, Paramount]

Love JJ, but if he keeps circling back to STAR WARS, Paramount should let another production house take on the movies – with the same cast or not, but perhaps with an aesthetic reboot.

I think the times of old when actors would be associated closely with one role are long gone, and I can see the likes of Quinto, Pine, Saldana moving on ( despite various contracts ).

It might be nice to continue the adventures of Kirk & co on the big-screen but with new actors, new setting, and a re-invigourated space adventure.

If so, and I regret this, they should wait at least five years.

Pine has certainly wasted no time in getting into other movies, and is building up to major movies [like “Wonder Woman” — though I’m bummed about his character]. Neither has Saldana, what with an unbelievable number of “Avatars” coming up like bad orange juice. I think Quinto is more interested in theatre. He hasn’t done any major movies, though played a background part in “Snowden.” Karl Urban got busy with “Ragnarok,” in a bit part; Pegg always has something going on, and Cho too. None of the actors will really be hurting.

But I am really peeved with JJ for his disregard for the Trek fans and the Trek mythos. I think Paramount should have demanded a Trek movie every 2-3 years and not let him fart around with other projects for FOUR YEARS between Trek 09 and the regrettable STID. He really hurt Trek that way.

Right now, it very much appears that Paramount has NO IDEA when the next Trek film will be.
At least, they have not bothered to schedule one at this time.
I dont blame JJ for not waiting around for that.
And I don’t think that he PLANNED to go back to SW.
It was an emergency situation kind of thing.

Quentin Tarantino’s:

Pulp Science-Fiction

The Hateful Galileo Eight

Kill Bill Shatner Vols. 1 & 2

Reservoir Lion Unicorn Space Dogs

more?

LOL!

You forgot “Spocko Unchained” and “Inglourious P’takhs”.

Lol!

Good ones!

Nyota Brown
Ingorneous Basterds
From Tosk to Gorn
Starship-Borne Killers [a Mirror Universe story]

I hope Discovery is a big hit and renews interest in the movie franchise. Star Trek is VERY poorly managed by Paramount IMO. CBS has done an outstanding job building hype and excitement about DSC. If Paramount put in half that effort, they might get something big for it.

I think it’s time to hand the reins to someone else. A fresh perspective could be good.

I blame Bad Robot and JJ for some of the mismanagement ( even though I’m a fan of two of the JJ films ) – I think waiting fours years and then giving us STID ( trying to Dark-Knight/ESB the sequel ) when they should have given us a ‘BEYOND’, was a miscalculation.

That miscalculation put a lot of people and fans off from even considering going to see BEYOND, which is a pity.

I they’d nutured and carried the momentum forward from TREK 2009, we could have been at a fourth film by now, and even had the oft-called-for, never-before-happened Kirk & co. VS The Borg.

*If they’d nurtured*

STID really hurt everything. It was terrible in so many ways.

Bad robot handcuffed the marketing by refusing to market Khan as well.

I was not against using khan if done right but they didn’t do it right. Making an expanded new version of Space seed would have made way more sense.

I thought the Kirk death scene was really uncomfortable and just ridiculously silly. Not for one moment does it have any emotional weight. It is not acted well. It is silly. I think Leonard Nimoy would have told Abrams not to do that scene had he been more engaged with the film and not as ill as he had become by that point.

Into Darkness as a film is OK. But it is not at all great, it is barely passable for me.

I hope Abrams does a better job with Episode IX than hr did with Into Darkness. Please no turning throwing Snoke down the shaft of Starkiller Base II!

Kirk’s death scene had emotional weight with me until Spock gritted his teeth, raised his head, and screamed “KHAAANNNNN!”

What a cheap feckin shot.

I think I would rather have had the Borg as the villain, than Khan….

People talk about Borg fatigue… like yeah right! They feature in ONE movie, from 1996. That was 20 years ago!

Borg fatigue came mainly from Voyager. But you’re right, it has been a long time.

It didn’t help that Voyager transformed the Borg from a menacing enemy that could destroy an entire fleet with one cube, to being easy to defeat with one ship.

SpockJ, I agree, 100%.

JJ — GRRRRRRRRRR

In my heart of hearts I’d love Paramount to do much cheaper, and reduced profits, but more regular movies in the “real” timeline. Instead of $300m budgets ever 3-4 years, $90 every 2 years. Also bringing back proper ‘Trek.

Renewing that first-look deal with Bad Robot would be a huge mistake. Hopefully they’ll realize that by next year. Paramount’s finances are not in any shape to stay in business with Abrams. He’s at a point in his career where he does not like to be constrained by pesky budgets. Even Warner Bros. Television has reluctantly accepted that to be in business with Abrams is to accept the good with the bad, and the bad can be very bad — no script review, no budget, no input on cuts. CASTLE ROCK has left the studio virtually in the dark, and will cost what it costs. As a result Bad Robot is likely to never produce another cable or network TV production for the studio, instead having been characterized as focusing exclusively on ‘high-end, premium, pay cable and streaming network’ offerings. I can’t imagine what a renewed deal with Paramount would look like. It would likely sink the studio beyond even CBS’ ability to save it.

I was always of the mindset that Abrams used Star Trek ’09 and STID as two extended demo reels for the Star Wars gig. Star Trek was never really his thing.

Yep, this is so obvious it’s kinda been accepted by fans and the industry. I really wish him and his production company had never been involved with Star Trek. We might have waited a couple more years for a new ‘Trek movie, but it would have more than likely been a proper ‘Trek movie, instead of the Apple store meets Star Wars movie

Hearing Tarantino talk about Star Trek with this much passion just a treat. Who knew he was a fan? No me anyway. Paramount should take their cues from this conversation when considering directors for the next Star Trek movie.

Andrew, It sounded to me as if Tarantino was a fan, but would definitely need to re-visit some of the better eps of Trek. Sounded like he’d forgotten some of what I feel is crucial Trek knowledge. Then again, I’m retired, not an active film auteur ;^)

The fact he picked Yesterdays Enterprise and seemed to describe the good parts of the episode rather than just an obvious episode that he just Google (like the ST: D klingon cast very obviously did recently) then it’s refreshing.

He’s referenced Star Trek in his dialogic before. He doctored the script for Crimson Tide, including the scene where Denzel Washington encourages the young ensign to get him more power by talking about Scotty.

The opening frame of KILL BILL, which quotes an ancient Klingon proverb, is a dead giveaway. :)

Perhaps, and this is just a thought, Paramount should do the opposite of Star Wars. Lucasfilm is now like any other branch of Disney (Pixar, Marvel): basically a production line churning out cookie cutter films with a preset look and feel. Directing for them must be akin to being a TV director on a daytime soap or police procedural.

Why not throw the Star Trek sandbox open? Encourage well-known and well respected writers and directors such as Tarantino to choose a facet of the Star Trek universe and put their own spin on it. Whilst there would have to be certain limitations (the basic shapes of spacecraft, wardrobe, and so on), why not let them play with lighting, camera angles, music, storyboarding, themes, and so on? What is produced would not be to everyone’s taste every time, but it would be exciting, and the diversity of storytelling would fit with the overall ethos of the show. And we may well see something original.

The Star Trek universe is arguably as wide as Star Wars, if not wider, with myriad stories to tell that need not involve any of the six main casts. Let our best play in it, as TOS did with so many well known science fiction authors back in the Sixties.

That’s a great idea! I support a Tarantino directed Trek movie. I’m sure he’d stick to a PG 13 rating, I doubt he’d want to ruin the legacy of Star Trek if he was a real fan. I also like his idea of taking an old episode and expanding it into a movie. Perhaps even mixing two together: like Galileo 7 and Balance of Terror?

Or the original TOS two-part concept: “The Naked Time” and “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”.

“The Star Trek universe is arguably as wide as Star Wars, if not wider, ”
The 6 TV series (soon 7) kinda makes it far, far bigger. Probably the largest lore playground there is.

Oh…please…no! No! Just no! I’ve known QT was a fan and I actually imagined such a rumor to pop up shortly over the last couple of weeks. Turning the next Trek movie into an R-Rated flick is probably inevitable after the success of R-Rated blockbusters lately… but Tarantino??? That’s too much to stomach.
That guy is the single-most awful director I know… No question, his movies have their moments but they are almost always destroyed by his bloodlust. Out of thin air, a major shooting…destroying the entire narrative… Letting this guy touch a Star Trek movie would be just gross…

Thank you.

Exactly. That might work for Star Wars, but not Star Trek.

Just get Nick Meyer in to write and direct… Job done!

Great idea.

I think the J.J abrams era of Star Trek is now over. Effective this weekend with launch of Discovery.

I think Paramount need to let their part of the franchise sit and rest a little while now.. a good two or three years.
Let the tv show establish itself well, give it breathing room to grow and thrive, without any oversaturation of the brand.

Then, they can do something. They could go back to the Pine and Quinto led cast, they could incorporate elements from the CBS tv show if the two sides could work together more. Or maybe they will reboot the whole thing again… which could mean anything! It could be a TNG reboot!

We are nowhere near the oversaturation of ‘Trek we once had back in the 90’s. There’s definitely room for a movie every 2-3 years and one TV series. For many traditionalists, there’s not been a proper Trek movie since Nemesis.

Cumberbatch as Khan was a bad idea. Tarantino said it, too.

Cumberbatch is great. They just should have written an original role for him.

They did, John Harrison.
That got shot to hell when some BRILLIANT individual popped up with, Khan is popular! Let’s do Khan!
G–D– it

Please no. Make it stop.

I don’t care if there is never another Star Trek feature film. I’d rather see Trek stay on tv, streaming or otherwise. Serialization allows for better story and character development. The movie plots have become about villains with a grudge.

They don’t have to be. We got “First Contact” right in the middle of DS9. Peaceful coexistence!

You comments about the show I agree with, but does not it has to be exclusive. You can have both.

I think they should wait until Discovery has aired (which I believe they are contractually obligated to do, I believe Paramount Trek and CBS Trek require a six month gap to avoid brand confusion). Then Paramount and CBS should bring the two halves back together somehow, bringing Kirk etc into an updated Trek in a single universe. Then perhaps Paramount could make movies which complement Discovery and future shows, rather than do something separate.

I think that would be feckin awesome. IF they could shoot the movie crew into the Prime Universe while allowing for a few canonical changes [I know, some people hate Spock being with Uhura, but I think it’s great]. And say what they will, I like Wee Man, I mean Keenser.

Nice idea but I’m not sure how it would be possible since there is already an enterprise in both the prime and Kelvin universes. How could you shoot the k enterprise into the prime universe and make it believable?

I have an idea that could work better. Starting with season 2 or three, they could bring captain pike’s enterprise into discovery, helping the discovery clean up the mess left over from the Klingon war. It could then tie nicely into “the cage”, explaining why pike is so tired and melancholic by that point. quite simple really – he sounds like a captain tired from years of fighting. This would explain the man he has become.

They could then do new movies based around that story arc. There has never been a star trek movie without the enterprise and her crew in the lead. They should try doing one when the time is right.

Very unlikely to happen. They both like to have their own separate IPs. A better solution is for one company to buy the other, or the rights to the other.. Some sort of acquisition like that.

I’m all for different directors with distinct individual voices & styles coming into the franchise and doing their version of Trek. As long as an official “Canon Crew” is in place, bring ’em on. JJ’s bling bling approach will have run its course eventually. And yeah, *especially* Tarantino would be a good fit. He’s such a great director, and he excels at adapting and transposing preexisting works and themes. And what he said about “Yesterday’s Enterprise” is simply true. But simply judging from his style, I’d rather see him direct Haldeman’s “The Forever War” than Trek.

It would be fun as heck to have some of Tarantino’s dialogue exchanges, but I definitely would not welcome gallons of bloodspray in my Trek.

Love that photoshop, excellent. I also love Tarantino’s ideas. Like to sit down and have a beer and talk some Trek with that guy. He gets it.

I agree with Tarantino that one of the thing that sucks about a Star Trek movie, any Star Trek movie, is that they always have to find something for all seven main characters to “do.” He was discussing the first JJ Abrams movie how they painted themselves into a corner this way with the first movie. It actually worked for the first one, how it was a Cambell hero’s journey, meeting characters along the way. But every movie after that is stuck forcing all seven into the story. They should have spaced out the seven along the 2-3 movies. It’d be something to look forward to with every new Trek movie, like “who’s gonna be Uhura?” for the next one, and so on. Also, Kirk should not have been captain by the end of the first.

That said, Tarantino seems like a HUGE Trek fan. He seem’s to really get it, which is refreshing to hear a major Hollywood player understand Star Trek. Even if he doesn’t direct it, I think it would be cool if he wrote or co-wrote the next Trek movie.

The Tarantino thing is old news, the JJ thing is great news. (For Star Trek at least… not Star Wars)

He’s way too heavy handed and “clever” in the sarcastic/bad sense of the word.

Agreed, TFA went a long way toward tarnishing JJ’s image in my mind and that he’s signed on for Ep 9 just sounds like another “safe” move. I respect JJ and all, but I don’t think he’s the wizard Hollywood initially thought.

He certainly proved to be a great copyist when it came to TFA’s tributes to previous SWars … I really hope the Deathstar idea is dead, dead, dead!

Oh, you’re upset Paramount? Mad that JJ won’t be back to do another Trek yet again? THEN MAYBE DON’T SPEND SO MUCH RIDICULOUS EFFORT BEATING THE DEAD TRANSFORMERS HORSE!!!

I for one would like to see a Tarantino directed Trek film. Being faithful to the original show, the original vision with the passion he has for that sounds like it would be more to my liking than what we’ve gotten.

“Being faithful to the original show”

How could Tarantino possibly be faithful to the original show??? I don’t remember any crazy, out-of-thin-air gorefests on TOS! Tarantino is nothing but on-screen cynicism…

At this point, I’m quite sure we’ll be getting an R-Rated Star Trek movie in the near future. I’m not sure what to think of it yet, but it’s inevitable. But Quentin Tarantino? To me, that guy is a synonym for the worst aspects that rating has to offer. It’s the only Hollywood star I wouldn’t take a selfie with…

smike,

It wasn’t explicitly shown because of the censors but in DAY OF THE DOVE the creature had the combatants spilling blood in the most gruesome sorts of manners, then healed them so they could do it bloody all over again:

“MCCOY: There. Those filthy butchers. There are rules, even in war. You don’t keep hacking at a man after he’s down.

MCCOY: Brain waves show almost paranoid mania. What happened?

KIRK: He lost control. So did I. We’re becoming animal warriors. Let’s go, Spock.

MCCOY: Orderly. Jim. Johnson’s heart wound is almost healed. Same with the other casualties. Sword wounds in the vital organs, massive trauma, shock. They’re all healing at a fantastic rate.

SPOCK: It would appear that the entity wants us alive.

KIRK: Why? So we can fight, and fight, and keep coming back for more like some bloody coliseum? What’s next, the roar of crowds?

Captain’s log, stardate Armageddon. We must find a way to defeat the alien force of hate that has taken over the Enterprise. Stop the war now, or spend eternity in futile bloody violence.” — Jerome Bixby, DAY OF THE DOVE, STAR TREK

and VOYAGER had the two parter, THE KILLING GAME.

Never have seen his version of Star Trek, so I can’t speak to it. Again, I think I’d prefer it to the movies we’ve gotten recently. IMO.

And after having listened to the interview now…..yes, you’re right Quentin. . . William Shatner is the key into the show. Always was to me.

I join in danpaine’s tribute to y’all’s Photoshopping skilz!
SCOTTY: “Why am I Mr Pink?”

Tarantino would not be a good choice for Trek.

Yeah, like no thanks.

You know after listening to him, he actually “gets” Star Trek and seems very much like a Trekkie. So my initial scepticism has mostly melted away. I’d be really interested in what he would do.

didn’t he drop a thing about warp speed into a scene in ‘crimson tide’?

IMO it would be wise for Paramount to let the Abrams deal expire but still retain the Kelvin timeline as a motion picture incarnation using all the current actor because quite frankly I like them all.
They are a group of very fine actors to portray these iconic characters.
Given the right script this end of the franchise could blossom into what it should have been.

I know others would think differently, but everyone has their different views.
I believe this is still a viable flagpole for the motion picture spectrum side to the Star Trek Multiverse.

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Anyway, I agree with him: “Into Darkness” sucks.

no more politically savvy hollywood opportunists like Jar Jar Abrams. He only sees Trek as a brand recognition cash grab. Paramount needs to stop what ever they’re doing and let Tarantino (an actual artistic director) make a Star Trek movie. Call him in today. Get this going now!

If they wanted to turn trek into a completely different thing, make it violent, cynical, depressing and pessimistic I guess the guy would be a good choice.
He also seems to get the reboot well (insert sarcasm)

The ensemble and crew family is everything and there is barely even enough of that; if handling more than one or two main characters is a problem for a director maybe his skills as storyteller are limited. He sounds like he’d pretty much turn it into kirk-luke skywalker show and consider the enterprise an optional, which is ironic for someone who prefers trek over star wars.
Honestly, he may be more fitting for the latter if he ever really wanted to try to prove himself with something completely different from his genre and get out of his comfort zone.

Ask any director in Hollywood how they’d feel about directing a Trek flick, and you’d probably get a positive response. Dusting off a two year old QT interview under the guise of suggesting activity in the film franchise is just click baiting…

Paramount hasn’t done squat with the franchise in close to a year and a half, and they’re pissed JJ took another job? It’s idiotic to believe the cast would just sit around waiting for Paramount to call (they haven’t), so why would anyone think JJ would do the same. Paramount is getting projects out of BR, I’m sure if Paramount would have told BR to make a Trek movie, they’d be making a Trek movie.

I’d love to see a world class filmmaker like QT direct a Star Trek film.

The buzz QT would bring to Star Trek would cure the poor/mediocre box office of Beyond. The second Paramount announces QT is directing the next Star Trek film the franchise would become an event again and instantly regain the momentum it lost after Star Trek 09.

Paramount…Make it so!

I don’t think Tarantino’s style would mesh with Trek but it does beg the question: what role would Samuel L. Jackson play?

I’d rather Shatner direct a prequel to Star Trek V.

Only if Uma Thurman is in it.

I would love a Tarantino Star Trek Movie. Sure he would have to keep his usual style a little bit in check but I think it could work well.