Chris Pine reveals that he never got the chance to read Quentin Tarantino's R-rated Star Trek script but is very curious for what it entailed. Pine stars in the rebooted Star Trek film franchise as James T. Kirk, the hot-headed young protagonist who must find it within himself to become the Starfleet captain he's known for in the future. The Emmy nominee debuted in the role of Kirk for 2008's Star Trek and carried it through both of its sequels, Star Trek Into Darkness and Beyond, receiving generally favorable reviews in each for his performance.
Development on a fourth Star Trek movie has languished in development hell for over five years, with Pine and Spock actor Zachary Quinto having been confirmed to be contracted for another installment and plans for Chris Hemsworth to reprise his role as Kirk's father from the first film. Multiple incarnations of the project have emerged over the years, including those set outside of J.J. Abrams' Kelvin timeline. One such version was a pitch from Quentin Tarantino for an R-rated Star Trek movie, though it's now unclear how far along the project got.
While speaking with Yahoo! Entertainment for his upcoming action-thriller The Contractor, Chris Pine opened up about Quentin Tarantino's scrapped R-rated Star Trek project. Pine revealed he never got the chance to read the script for it, but is very interested in seeing what it could've been. Pine also confirmed that he's still waiting for details on what's to come from the in-development Star Trek 4, revealed he can't say much as he hasn't received "a script or a story."
Tarantino's R-rated Star Trek pitch was set to be scripted by The Revenant's Mark L. Smith, who was part of a writers room that also included Lindsey Beer, Drew Pearce and Megan Amram, though Smith would ultimately beat out the competition. The film has been described as a gangster style movie set on an alien planet and apart from the Kelvin timeline, with the hopes of filming after Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's release. As development continued on Tarantino's Star Trek film, the director slowly began to drift away from the project, eventually opting out of directing it and Paramount later shelving the concept.
Pine isn't the only cast member who never got their hands on Tarantino's R-rated Star Trek script, with fellow Kelvin star Zoe Saldaña recently confirming she didn't get to read a page of the script but felt it could've been a "gamechanger." Though the project is seemingly dead in the stars, the fact Paramount continues to regard the pitch as a well-guarded secret should keep the hopes alive that it may see the light of day sometime in the future. In the meantime, audiences can look forward to Pine, Saldaña and the rest of Abrams' Star Trek crew returning for a fourth film slated to hit theaters on December 22, 2023.
Source: Yahoo! Entertainment