Star Trek, in its original incarnation, was about hope and promise through the lens of technology and science. As the culture has changed, so hasTrek, and in its current status, it’s basically a space adventure franchise. It hasn’t become “bad” per say, but it’s reached the point where die-hard fans are willing to acknowledge that theJ.J. Abramsmovie universe and the newStar Trek: Discoveryaren’t quiteTrekeven if they’re entertaining sci-fi fare.
During an extended Q&A after Collider’s IMAX screening ofMission: Impossible – Fallout, writer-directorChristopher McQuarriegave his thoughts on tacklingTrek, how’d he like to pursue it, and the challenges of making aStar Trekmovie today:
If you did have an opportunity to doStar Trek, would you rather pursue it in television, or for streaming or something like that, or as a theater film?
MCQUARRIE: Yeah, probably a feature. Probably, yeah, a feature. I feel likeStar Trekis kind of… it’s gone away from what the tenants of the series were about, which was kind of the hope and the promise and the science.
But don’t you think that when you make the feature, you have to hit the four quadrants, you gotta make it sort of an action-y, swashbuckling thing, and when it’s on television you can do more sci-fi?
MCQUARRIE: It’s simple math, you know what you have to do withStar Trek? You have to make Star Trek for a domestic audience. Star Trek does better domestically than it does internationally, so I would come toStar Trek, and go, “Realistically, how much money should I make thisStar Trekmovie for?” And you’d give me a budget, and I’d go off and make the movie. That’s what I would do. You look at any movie like that, if you just be honest with yourself about the economics, it’s just a very real part of doing that.
I like that McQuarrie’s answer is grounded in the realities of moviemaking rather than just imagining some randomStar Trekstory he would like to tell regardless of the economics of actually making it.
As for whether he’s talked withMission: Impossiblestar andStar Trek Beyondco-writerSimon PeggaboutTrek, McQuarrie says, “Only after the fact. Like, we haven’t talked about doing one. I mean, I told him, I was like, ‘I’d love to doa Star Trekmovie.’”
The current status of the nextStar Trekmovie is a big mystery. The fourth installmentmight loseChris HemsworthandChris Pineover a budget dispute, and without George Kirk and James Kirk, you don’t really have a movie. There’s alsoQuentin Tarantino’sdesire to make aTrekmovie, but he’s currently working onOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, so he’s not doingTrekanytime soon. With all this chaos, maybe it’s time for a reboot with McQuarrie taking the reins.
If you missed any of our previous breakout stories from the McQuarrie Q&A, peruse the links below. Look for the full, lengthy interview on Collider soon.
