Quentin Tarantino Says His STAR TREK Will Be “PULP FICTION In Space”
You have picked up your copy of BMD Magazine's Quentin Tarantino issue, right?
The folks at Deadline have a sprawling new interview with Quentin Tarantino, one which takes a deep dive into the soon-to-be-released Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ... and also touches on the director's long-gestating (and increasingly real-sounding) Star Trek movie. We've spent the past year giving that project no small amount of side-eye - it simply seems too good to be true! - but based on the way Tarantino's talking about the film, it's really starting to sound like it might happen.
Upon being asked if he truly intends to helm the project, Tarantino says:
"I will say one thing about Star Trek that I’ve been waiting for someone to bring up. I don’t know if I’ll do it or not. I’ve got to figure it out, but Mark wrote a really cool script. I like it a lot. There’s some things I need to work on but I really, really liked it. I get annoyed at Simon Pegg. He doesn’t know anything about what’s going on and he keeps making all these comments as if he knows about stuff. One of the comments he said, he’s like “Well, look, it’s not going to be Pulp Fiction in space.” Yes, it is! [laughs hard]. If I do it, that’s exactly what it’ll be. 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 shit 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."
First of all, Tarantino's not wrong about Simon Pegg's commentary on the project thus far: looking back at the BMD Archives, we've got no less than three posts featuring quotes from Pegg about the film (that it wouldn't actually be R-rated, that he's not convinced Tarantino will actually direct the film, that it could be five or six years away). If this thing comes together quickly with Tarantino at the controls, that's gonna be one awkward first table read.
Secondly, Tarantino confirms here that The Revenant's Mark L. Smith has completed work on the script, and that he intends, at the very least, to provide a polish for it. There's long been some back and forth on this particular element, but now we know specifically where Tarantino's head is at.
And finally: Pulp Fiction in space! This is exciting! Admittedly, that could mean any number of things - Tarantino could be talking about structure, tone (dark comedy?), the inclusion of a scene where Kirk accidentally phasers a guy's head off - but in a follow-up to the question above, he does mention that the film will contain a "gangster element". Do with that information what you will.
We continue to be very excited about this one. As the weeks pass, it seems more and more likely that Tarantino's actually gonna pull the trigger on this thing. Will he? Won't he? Stay tuned to find out, and do say a prayer for Simon Pegg while we're waiting on the next update.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood hits theaters next weekend.
