Roberto Orci Still Unconfirmed To Direct STAR TREK 3; Studio Hasn't Even Seen A Script
We got word earlier today that screenwriter Roberto Orci has departed Sony's Amazing Spider-Man franchise, and his rumoured directorial work on Star Trek 3 isn't a done deal either. He says that Paramount are yet to see his script and hence, are yet to greenlight the project.
Roberto Orci (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Transformers) penned Paramount's 2009 Star Trek reboot and its 2013 sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, alongside his long-time partner, Alex Kurtzman (Lost's Damon Lindelof also joined the pair on Into Darkness), with the former currently hard at work nailing the script of a third Trek film. We heard rustles a little while ago suggesting that Orci was interested in directing, but in a new interview with Collider, he doesn't confirm he'll be the driving force behind the project. "Well, I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch. The studio has yet to even read the script. I'm in the middle of writing it, with the talented team of [John D.] Payne and [Patrick] McKay. They are true Star Trek fans, as well. So, I can't even think anything about the future until I give them a script and they greenlight it. Until that happens, everything else is just a rumor."
Orci won't reveal whether he has signed on to direct Star Trek 3, either because Paramount will announce the news officially or because it isn't actually a done deal just yet. "If I'm lucky enough that Paramount loves the script and that we go forward, it'll be because I have loved Star Trek for so long and the idea of having seen one of the best guys in the business direct two of them already, and to have seen it from the vantage point of a producer too, I know where a lot of the challenges are and where a lot of the fun is. If we're lucky enough that everything goes right, then I'll start to feel the pressure. As a writer, I feel the pressure as the returning screenwriter to this franchise. I feel it at the story level. I can't speak for Payne and McKay, but they seem to be having a good time. They don’t look as nervous as I feel, but maybe they're just good at hiding it." While there is no confirmed release date for a new Trek film, it is expected to arrive in 2016, the franchise's 50th anniversary.