Can you guys talk a little bit about how it’s like to finally have it as your number one assignment? Kurtzman: The studio was bullish and that is great. That is what you want. They set a date and we all felt strongly that we did not want to make the movie if we didn’t feel that we could match the enthusiasm and love that we brought to the first one. To put the movie out to just meet a date would not have been the way to make the movie. I think we owe too much to the fans and to ourselves to not do it that way. We really wanted to take our time until we felt that we had a story that we could stand behind and that we felt was worthy of a sequel.
Orci: And Damon was finishing Lost and we didn’t want to start without him. It was just a matter of everyone lining up.
Kurtzman: It was not wanting to rush.
Orci: It was also wanting to clear out everything else a little bit. I guess that is the horizon as you said. That is our next mountain to climb and we are all geared up.
Are you, for example, keeping a notepad on you at all times or what is your writing process like for something like this? Orci: We are such a part of a team on Trek in terms of how it’s a development that we share with J.J., Damon, and Bryan Burk. So, yeah, you do have to keep notes and remember your stuff because it’s a band and when you get together to practice you want everyone to have done their homework a little bit as opposed to when it is just me and Alex in an office every day usually.
Kurtzman: It is different in the sense that when we wrote the first movie J.J. was only a producer and he wasn’t going to direct the movie. We were writing to get J.J. Our secret goal was to get him to do it. But he hadn’t committed to the movie so we weren’t…
Orci: Every project is different. However the fan pressure on Trek is something unlike any other project I think.
Kurtzman: That is why we didn’t want to rush it.
Orci: Yeah. We want to take in all of the information culturally because it is a cultural icon that does require a couple of different hats that other movies don’t require.
Kurtzman: When we were first approached about doing the first one we said “No.” and it took us a year to say “Yes.” for all of the same reasons. We just did not want to mess it up. I think we feel the same responsibility on 2. Now even more so actually because expectations were low on 1. No one really knew what it was going to be. Now everybody is waiting for it to match what they felt wabout the first one. So there is that added pressure.
What are your guys’ thoughts on 3D? I’m sure you guys have maybe talked about doing Trek in 3D. Orci: It gives me a headache unless if it is animated. That is all I am going to say.
Kurtzman: I think it’s great when you have time to design your story thinking around it. I think if it’s just a matter of throwing more things at the camera I tend to personally not be much of a fan.
Orci: I bet the technology will get better and better and it will be a harder choice to decide. But for right now it is still cumbersome and it is still unbelievably expensive. Some movies wouldn’t be able to get made if it was just going to be made in 3D and some movies shouldn’t be made in 3D. With the vistas we were going to have in Cowboys & Aliens….right now with the technology my understanding is that past 50 or 100 feet you are suddenly losing this effect. So in a way you are trading that thing for the feeling of film, for seeing a real classic movie, and for seeing a natural environment. It was a debate we had on Cowboys & Aliens and we wanted to keep it true to its classic roots.
Kurtzman: We actually didn’t feel that it was as true to the story as we wanted it to be. So at the end of the day Jon certainly decided that as a filmmaker he was more interested in the 2D version and that was all we needed to hear. The last thing you want to do is force a filmmaker to do something to just make money.
I’m glad you didn’t do it in 3D. So are you guys thinking about maybe doing Star Trek 2 in 3D? Kurtzman: I don’t think we are thinking about 3D at this point. At least I am not. I am just thinking about the story.
Orci: Yeah. We are not. I’m sure it will be budgeted both ways probably and we will be able to make an assessment there, but we actually haven’t discussed that with our band mates. I actually don’t know what they think about it.
Kurtzman: If there is a great reason to do it then it’s certainly a conversation. But we are not thinking around 3D right now.
It seems to me that the release date for next summer for Trek 2 is just an impossible task. Can we all agree that it is going to be Christmas or the following summer? Kurtzman: I think we are still having that conversation. That is the truth.
So you guys think it could still reach next summer? Kurtzman: I think anything is impossible. Transformers 2 was done in post strike in 3 months from the beginning of the script to the first day of shooting. So anything is possible. But, again, we have to take into account the spirit of wanting to do it right. So time is going to be a factor.
I'm not a big fan of 3D, but I'm not opposed to it either. I believe, like the writers, certain movies should be done in the format and others should not. But, Star Trek is one of the few movies that I think should be in 3D. This will be a special effects laden sci-fi movie, why wouldn't you want to use the most advanced technology?
Besides that, I appreciated their reasons for the delay. I trust that what they said was genuine, they don't want to screw it up. Star Trek fans are very loyal and hard to please. The fans are very well versed on the canon. By altering Kirk and Spock's past like the last movie did, the writers can concentrate on the film and not the accuracy of past events. If only they could bring the green girl back from the dead.
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