Star Trek: Quentin Tarantino Movie Writer Had “So Much Fun” With Captain Kirk

The future of Quentin Tarantino‘s Star Trek movie remains in question, but it seems the screenwriter a great time with Captain James T. Kirk. Tarantino conceived the movie’s plot, which is rumored to be based on the classic Star Trek episode “A Piece of the Action,” but scripting duties were passed on to Mark L. Smith. Smith is out promoting his latest work, the screenplay for George Cooney’s Netflix movie The Midnight Sky. During a conversation about it with SFX Magazine, Smith mentioned his work on the Star Trek screenplay, saying that writing Kirk in the mold of William Shatner and Chris Pine was uniquely entertaining.

“I wrote a Star Trek with Tarantino, and that was a sci-fi script on which I could have fun and lean into some bigger, broader things,” he said. “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.”

At last check, Tarantino will not direct the Star Trek film based on the idea he pitched to J.J. Abrams and Paramount Pictures. He has described the film as something akin to Pulp Fiction in space. “If I do it, that’s exactly what it’ll be,” Tarantino said in 2019. “It’ll be Pulp Fiction in space. That Pulp Fiction-y aspect, when I read the script, I felt, I have never read a science fiction movie that has this s*** in it, ever. There’s no science fiction movie that has this in it. And they said, I know, that’s why we want to make it. It’s, at the very least, unique in that regard.”

Though Tarantino won’t direct, he said before that he expects Paramount to push forward without him. “I think they might make that movie, but I just don’t think I’m going to direct it,” he said. “It’s a good idea. They should definitely do it, and I’ll be happy to come in and give them some notes on the first rough cut.”

Tarantino’s project is one of three said to be in recent development at paramount. Noah Hawley’s Star Trek 4 was close to filming when it was put on hold. The original plan for Star Trek 4, a time travel tale bringing back Christ Hemsworth as Captain Kirk’s father, is also reportedly still in the mix.