Paramount may want to kindly advise Simon Pegg to stop talking so much about "Star Trek 3" already. The actor and screenwriter for the next installment of the sci-fi franchise recently revealed that before he came on, the studio had rejected a draft of the screenplay of the movie for being too "Star Trek"-y, and that they were aiming for something with more four-quadrant appeal (think "The Avengers"). Now Pegg reveals that, mere weeks from shooting, the script he’s co-writing with Doug Jung is only now crossing the desk of executives.
“We started again six months before we were due to start shooting, which is insane! In fact…we start shooting in Vancouver in four weeks – and we’re only handing in our first draft today,” Pegg told Radio Times. They don’t say when the interview took place, but it was presumably around the same time he made his controversial comments about geek culture to the same outlet, which was nearly two weeks ago.
READ MORE: Justin Lin To Direct ‘Star Trek 3’
In the time since, one would assume (and hope) the script has been locked down, but no one should be worried that the movie might be a disaster as a result. This kind of tinkering and deadline pushing is pretty standard on blockbusters, with some even bringing writers on set with production underway to keep working on things as the shoot continues. Remember, we live in a time when release dates come first and everything else follows. And it does seem like Pegg had too much material to start off with, as he notes part of getting that first draft done was knocking 180 pages down to 135. (It’s generally considered that one page of script is one minute on screen, and a 3-hour ‘Star Trek’ movie probably wouldn’t fly).
As for the eternal question of whether or not William Shatner will appear, a rumor that just won’t away, Pegg politely deflects it. “It’s always all about whether the story’s right. It’s pointless crowbarring these things in as a gimmick, because that does the story and the film a disservice. But I have no doubt in my mind that he could play Captain Kirk until the day he decides to goes off to the final frontier,” he told Digital Times.
"Star Trek 3" lands on July 8, 2016. If you worry the movie might be pushed, Paramount has a good reason to try and keep that date, while Pegg promises fans will be happy. "It’s fifty-years of ‘Star Trek’ next year and this ‘Star Trek’ will be as much ‘Star Trek’ as it possibly can be… and it’s important to me that it is,” he stated. More news likely coming soon as production gears up.