There are more developments on Quentin Tarantino’s R-rated Star Trek movie. Paramount has tapped Mark L. Smith to pen Quentin’s take on the classic film franchise, Deadlinereports. It’s a surprising choice, since Smith’s breakout film, The Revenant, was pretty low on dialogue, and Tarantino’s scripts have been known to be chock full of it.
Earlier this month, Tarantino held a writers room to scope out talent for the film. Amongst the running was Smith, Lindsey Beer, Drew Pearce and Megan Amram film. As Deadline reports, Tarantino had Smith in mind as the frontrunner and that Paramount is sealing the deal today.
The writer/director pairing stands to open new doors for the franchise, perhaps giving it a chance at a much needed revival. When Tarantino received the greenlight for his R-rating (like the rest of his films) from Paramount and producer JJ Abrams, it was already kind of a big deal. In light of the success of Deadpool, which raked in a global gross of $783 million, an R-rating (and the creative freedom that comes with it) could be just what the doctor ordered.
While Smith begins writing the process, Tarantino will be working on his next film about the Manson summer of 1969, which is set to release August 9th, 2019, the 50th anniversary of the murder of Sharon Tate and others by the Manson family. Tarantino has reached out to Margot Robbie to play Tate, as well as a number of A-listers–Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Brad Pitt–for other roles.
