Is the rebooted Star Trek series officially all set trade in cold blue lens flare and really go full throttle with Fast and the Furious director Justin Lin taking the reigns from J.J. Abrams?
Variety was the first to go on the record months ago that Trek producer/screenwriter Robert Orci was to inherit the series from Abrams and break his feature director’s chair cherry with the third installment (since Abrams has that little Star Wars: The Force Awakens gig on his plate). Call me crazy, but the whole Orci situation seemed be another bit of news that was reported wide all over the internet and was never officially lock, stock and barrel confirmed by Paramount.
While it may have been somewhat organic to have a member of Team Abrams inherit the gig, fans were nonetheless vocal about the screenwriter assuming the helm of what will easily be a $150+ million budgeted tentpole film set to open during the franchise’s 50th anniversary in 2016 no less. Fanboy criticism should mean nothing to a studio if they have full faith in their internal decisions, but let’s be honest, following J.J. Abrams’ visuals is no task for a journeyman if Paramount intends to keep the series at the level it has been at since the 2009 reboot.
Deadline is going on the record that Lin has indeed been set to take the series into what likely will be trans warp drive with the next adventure in the rebooted continuity starring Chris Pine as James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock. Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Moretn Tyldum (The Imitation Game) and Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) were also reportedly on Paramount’s short list for the gig.
Burdened with the approaching half century milestone, rumors of a William Shatner cameo as old Kirk in Trek 3 have been rampant, but I hope do not turn out to be true. The series needs to move past what it was, and the pointless inclusion of Leonard Nimoy in Into Darkness’ manhandled Khan storyline further locked the timeline to the classic version. Lin has more than the necessary visual chops to take Trek to a new high octane level that Paramount may have had cold feet about in regards to with Orci in the captain’s chair, which may have led him to lose the gig, if it was his at all to lose.
SOURCE: Deadline
Leave a Reply