For years, there were rumors that Quentin Tarantino was making a Star Trek movie. Now his co-writer reveals why the director has turned his back on the promising sci-fi project
There is no shortage of new Star Trek series these days. In the movies, however, things are different. Since Star Trek Beyond, which hit the big screen in summer 2016, the franchise has been at a standstill in cinemas. Even the much-heralded Star Trek 4 with Chris Pine has since been canceled after a long back-and-forth.
But what has actually happened to Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek film? In December 2017, the rumor first made the rounds that the director behind masterpieces such as Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds had pitched a bloody sci-fi adventure to Paramount that would have taken us into the infinite expanses of space
Failed sci-fi blockbuster: Quentin Tarantino didn’t want Star Trek to be his last film
For a long time, it seemed as if Tarantino’s pitch had simply fizzled out. In an interview with Collider, screenwriter Mark L. Smith reveals the real reason why we’ll never see Tarantino’s Star Trek movie. Smith was hired by Paramount at the time after Tarantino’s pitch to write the full script.
In the interview, he says:
Quentin [Tarantino] and I [went over the script] again and again. He wanted to do a few things to it, and then he started thinking about the number [of movies], his unofficial number of movies. I remember we were talking and he said, ‘If only I could imagine that Star Trek is my last movie. The last thing I’ll ever do. Do I really want it to end like that?
Further Smith elaborates on his Tarantino encounter:
I think that was the sticking point that he could never get over. That’s why the script is still on his desk. I know he said a lot of good things about it. I wish it would happen one day. But it’s one of those things that I just can’t imagine. But it would have been the best Star Trek movie, not because of my script, but simply because of what Tarantino would make of it.
