It seems like enlisting a star from your summer blockbuster franchise film is all the rage. We first saw it with ‘Ant-Man’, which was originally written by Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, but was rewritten by Adam McKay and Paul Rudd when the ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World’ director exited the project. Now we’re seeing it again with ‘Star Trek 3’ since original writer and director Roberto Orci was dismissed in favor of ‘Fast & Furious’ filmmaker Justin Lin. But which ‘Star Trek’ star will handle the scripting duties? Interestingly, it happens to one of Wright’s frequent collaborators.
According to an exclusive report from Deadline, Paramount has enlisted Simon Pegg to co-write the script with ‘Dark Blue’ creator Doug Jung for the studio’s third excursion with the crew of the Starship Enterprise. In addition to writing ‘Paul’, ‘Run Fatboy Run’, and Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy (‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Hot Fuzz’, and ‘The World’s End’), Pegg has appeared in the iconic franchise as engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott since 2009, so he definitely has the familiarity with the material and the proper experience necessary to craft the anticipated ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ sequel. As for Jung, he previously wrote ‘Diamond’ for Paramount and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Prodctions, who are producing the film.
In terms of what the story will be now, we have no idea. It’s uncertain if Pegg and Jung will still incorporate elements of Orci’s story into their version. Based on previous reports, the pair will likely have to start with a clean slate since it sounds like the only capacity that Orci will be involved going forward is as a producer. Regardless of the situation, ‘Star Trek 3’ is meant to start shooting in April to be released in July 2016, so the new team will probably have to work fast.
As a fan of Pegg’s work as an actor and a writer, I feel like he’ll do fine with ‘Star Trek 3.’ Not only is he a fan, but he has experience with writing sci-fi too. Without a doubt, this will be the biggest project he’s ever worked on as a writer, but I feel like he’ll be up to the challenge, even though his usual collaborators Edgar Wright and Nick Frost won’t be involved.
How do you think Simon Pegg will do as the co-writer of ‘Star Trek 3’? Are you hoping that he brings a more classic feel to the franchise? Do you think that we’ll see more Scotty this time around? Let us know in the comments below.
