The Kelvin timeline’s Captain Kirk has offered an update on the long-mooted latest sequel to Star Trek.
Chris Pine is doing the press rounds for the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves in which it looks like he’ll get to do lots of Chris Pine things: look cool, be funny and endearing whilst taking us all along for the ride.
Naturally, Pine was asked about the on again/off again status of the long-gestating Star Trek 4 and well, his response smacked of anybody who has been involved in something where they feel like they’ve been messed around.
“I don’t know anything,” said Pine to Esquire, “In Star Trek land, the actors are usually the last people to find out anything. I know costume designers that have read scripts before the actors.”
A little snippy perhaps, but can you blame Pine? The development of Star Trek 4 has been something of a mess and a very public one at that. From salary negotiations being made public to the film being officially announced before the actors were consulted, the whole process has played out like an A to Z on ‘How Not to Build a Blockbuster’.
Pine would continue to air his exasperation, adding “I would say it’s frustrating. It doesn’t really foster the greatest sense of partnership, but it’s how it’s always been. I love the character. I love the people. I love the franchise. But to try to change the system in which things are created – I just can’t do it. I don’t have the energy.”
As it stands, the film isn’t on Paramount’s production slate, with the studio having pulled it when director Matt Shakman left the project to go make Fantastic Four for Marvel Studios. Series architect, JJ Abrams has claimed that the script is in good shape but given that he still hasn’t seen it, Pine clearly has yet to be convinced.
He’d finish up on the topic by returning to a theme he’s warmed to before, arguing that the Star Trek films shouldn’t be aiming to join the Billion Dollar Club like the Marvels and Star Wars movies of this world, instead saying that Star Trek 4 should be made at a good price, but without the need to compete with Marvel.
Whilst Pine’s words are unlikely to rock the boat at Paramount, for those of you who have been following the long (and often torturous) development of this project for years now, it marks another entry in Paramount’s missteps on the road to producing this film. Will somebody at the studio please give Pine a call and let him know what’s going on? Either way, with this film’s rather public production, we’ll surely find out at some point.
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