Looks like rumors that concerns over Roberto Orci’s script were central to his vacating the director’s chair on Star Trek 3 may be accurate, as Orci himself all-but-confirmed on TrekMovie‘s message boards.
“I’m producing, [nothing] more or less,” Orci states bluntly about his current role on the project, which means that his original involvement in drafting the screenplay with Patrick McKay and John D. Payne is over.
Moreover, it sounds like Orci’s enthusiasm for the film now that Fast and Furious helmer Justin Lin has taken the reigns may be tenuous at best, as a commenter asks him if fans who supported his vision for the franchise should boycott the film.
“I won’t lie, I don’t know yet, but the story we are talking about would be awesome, hang in there!” Orci writes.
Of course, Orci’s direct online contact with Trek fans has earned him both admiration and ire within that community, and even as he relinquishes control of the U.S.S. Enterprise, it hasn’t stopped him from defending his decision to create an alternate timeline for Kirk & Co.
“Stop blaming [Bad Robot],” says Orci. “It was my idea so that you would not know what was gonna happen next. Nothing more or less. I stand behind it. And it, again, is the reason why I make movies and you don’t.”
Orci may get to make movies, but how Star Trek 3 will get made by its targeted July 8, 2016 release date if the filmmakers are still negotiating the minutiae of the story remains a mystery. As another starship captain once said, “Make it so.”
Paramount Pictures’ currently untitled Star Trek 3 is expected to star Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana and John Cho as the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701.
