Star Trek Star Explains Why Tarantino’s R-Rated Movie Entry Was Canned

Before Reservoir Dogs launched Quentin Tarantino to become the most famous filmmaker of his generation, the director toiled in various jobs around Hollywood. Working wherever he could, Tarantino took gigs as a PA on a Dolph Lundgren workout video and even acted on shows like The Golden Girls as an Elvis impersonator. Once his film career took off, he didn’t treat TV like it was beneath him. He directed for multiple shows, including the Emmy-nominated CSI two-part season finale, “Grave Danger.” After the show’s premiere in 2001, Tarantino declared Alias one of his favorite shows on TV. J.J. Abrams responded by creating a role for him on the show as a villainous secret agent. The friendship that developed would continue for years, even after Abrams’ pilot for Lost beat Tarantino’s CSI episodes to win best director at the Emmys. The pair would eventually collaborate on another Abrams franchise, and the movie they came up with was a deep cut from television history that only Quentin Tarantino could pull.

In a recent interview with Variety for his latest film with Mahershala Ali, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, John Cho was asked about the lost Star Trek film that was supposed to be directed by Quentin Tarantino. John Cho played Commander Hikaru Sulu in all three Kelvin-timeline Star Treks. One year after the release of Star Trek Beyond, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood director pitched J.J. Abrams on a new Star Trek movie. Inspired by the 1968 Original Series episode “A Piece of the Action”, the film would send the crew of the Enterprise to a planet of gangsters. The project never came to fruition. When asked about it, Cho was more disappointed by the loss of a chance to work with Tarantino than the movie itself, but he also gives a good reason for why it didn’t happen.

“Ugh. I’m actually entering a deep depression right now that it didn’t happen. At the time, I’d heard rumors, and Simon [Pegg] is way more inside of it and was privy to information that I was not. I heard that Quentin Tarantino was interested and there was a pitch, but the details were not relayed to me. Was I crossing fingers underneath a desk? Oh yeah. I can see why people might have paused. Are we making a Star Trek movie or just using Star Trek to make a Quentin Tarantino movie? It’s a legitimate question, but I just wanted to make a Quentin Tarantino movie. That would have been a dream.”

Pulp Fiction in Space

Cho said Simon Pegg would have more details on it because Pegg was actually a writer on the Star Trek films, having written the script for the well-received, but not a mega-hit, Star Trek Beyond. After Tarantino’s pitch reached Paramount, the studio agreed to make the film R-rated and hired The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith to write the screenplay. Smith said he and Tarantino did research to prepare by watching old gangster movies. Pegg never read the script, but Abrams walked the Cornetto Trilogy co-writer through the story. Tarantino referred to it as “Pulp Fiction in space.” Simon Pegg’s reaction nails the sentiment: “Now that’s what we call in the business batshit crazy.”

Ironically, Cho would go on to do a project that has been compared to “Pulp Fiction in space” and prove the world wasn’t ready for it. Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop lasted one season for the streamer. Fan reaction to the live-action adaptation of the beloved anime was strong. Just strongly negative. The original anime was hailed as being a “Tarantino movie in space,” but Netflix couldn’t stick the landing. As far as a return to Sulu, that starship may have already sailed. A post-merger Paramount is cleaning house in the Star Trek end of things, wrapping up its current shows and heading toward a new Star Trek era. That’s not to say the franchise known for finding creative ways to bring back old favorites couldn’t find a way to revisit the character in a future iteration, much like TNG did for the original crew. Don’t expect Quentin Tarantino to revisit Star Trek anytime soon either.

The filmmaker has become quite adamant that he is only directing 10 feature films. Ignoring the feature length of his CSI two-parter, the director is quite hung up on not wasting the 10th film on something he doesn’t believe can meet the moment. This edict created work for his friend David Fincher, who directed the Hollywood follow-up The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth. But the edict also killed his Star Trek. Mark Smith said the 10-film issue was a hurdle Tarantino couldn’t get over. Perhaps it’s for the best, as Cho may have been correct. Tarantino fans might think there’s too much Trek in their peanut butter, and Trekkers might think film bros got too much feet in their chocolate.

John Cho became the face of a meme #StarringJohnCho that recast the actor in famous movies. What movie would you want to see the actor star in a remake of? Let us know in the comments below.

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