Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek film would have heavily featured Captain Kirk. Despite the project's announcement three years ago, little to no progress seems to have been made on the potential film, even though a full treatment had been written. As demonstrated by his last film, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, auteur director Quentin Tarantino's knowledge and passion to accurately recreate 1960's pop culture is considerably vast. So, when it was originally announced that he would helm a Star Trek film, which originated in the '60s, fans of the series got very excited. Tarantino's Star Trek gathered even gained the support of crew members from the current iteration of Star Trek films.
When writer Mark L. Smith was hired to pen the script due to Tarantino's commitments to 2019's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, it became clear that both men were fans of Captain Kirk, originally played by William Shatner in the original 1960's series. Soon after the announcement of the project, William Shatner actually expressed interest in appearing in the film. While Kirk has existed on screen in a couple of different iterations, last being played by Chris Pine in the J.J. Abrams Star Trek trilogy, Smith and Tarantino's depiction would've toyed with the idea of the character in different ways.
Even though Tarantino's Star Trek isn't happening anymore, fans are still curious about what the movie could have been like. In an interview with SFX, screenwriter Mark L. Smith noted that he and Tarantino had a lot of fun working on story ideas involving Captain Kirk.
"I love Picard. And Kirk is always just so fun. Tarantino and I had so much fun with him, because Kirk is just William Shatner, y’know? It’s like: you’re not sure who is who, so you can kinda lean into that! Because you watch Chris Pine and he’s playing Kirk, but he’s also playing William Shatner a touch."
The current state of the cinematic side of the Star Trek franchise is up in the air. It isn't known if Star Trek 4 with Chris Pine will ever happen, which would have continued the Kelvin timeline. It's unclear as to whether Tarantino's Star Trek would've carried on in this timeline, in the original Prime timeline, or have been totally independent. As it would've been released under the Paramount Studios banner, it's possible the studio would've wanted some form of continuity, especially as Abrams was consulted on the project.
Either way, the idea that Smith and Tarantino were playing with the Star Trek franchise is exciting. Not only that, but the recreation of 1960's movie-making techniques displayed in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood indicates that it could've been a very faithful and authentic throwback to the fun of the original Star Trek series. Whether Tarantino's Star Trek will ever see the light of day, and how involved Kirk really would've been remains to be seen. If Smith's words are anything to go by, the film would've been a unique exploration into Star Trek lore and would've made for a very interesting tenth project for Tarantino.
Source: SFX