Quentin Tarantino says his Star Trek project is still a big possibility

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The whole concept of Quentin Tarantino taking on Star Trek has always seemed bizarre, but as Paramount has cancelled STAR TREK 4 for the time being, Tarantino might just be the last hope for the big-screen side of the franchise. Mark L. Smith (THE REVENANT) was tasked with writing the script for the film over a year ago, and Tarantino recently provided an update on the project while speaking with /Film.

It’s a very big possibility. I haven’t been dealing with those guys for a while cause I’ve been making my movie. But we’ve talked about a story and a script. The script has been written and when I emerge my head like Punxsutawney Phil, post-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, we’ll pick up talking about it again.

With the release of Quentin Tarantino's ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD less than two months away, we'll likely be hearing more about this project before too long. Karl Urban, who plays Dr. McCoy, has previously confirmed that Tarantino's project would be using the Kelvin universe cast, and revealed that the little he knows about the project is bananas. "Quentin Tarantino went in to [producer] J.J. [Abrams]’s offices and pitched him an idea for a Star Trek movie. I know a little bit about what that is, and it’s bananas," Urban said. "So, it would be really rad to get to make a film with him. That would be a dream come true, he is definitely an auteur. Whether you like his films or not, he is a good filmmaker. And he makes interesting stuff. So, to me, that is when you get the best results." The actor also said, somewhat prophetically, that if STAR TREK 4 didn't move ahead, he'd be more than willing to wait a little longer to jump right into Tarantino's Trek.

It's also been said that Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek would be aiming for an R-rating, and Karl Urban has assured fans that it doesn't mean that the script is suddenly full of vulgarity; instead, the actor said that it will allow Tarantino to more fully explore the horrors of space.

You shouldn’t worry that it is going to be full of obscenity and stuff. He wants an R-rating to really make those beats of consequence land. If it’s not PG, if someone gets sucked out into space, which we have all seen before, we might see them get disemboweled first…It allows some some breadth…gives him some leeway to do that. To me, that was always one of the things I loved about what DeForest Kelley did. He would actually capture the horror of space. That look in his eyes of sheer terror always struck me when I was a kid.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD will hit theaters on July 26, 2019.