Pegg: Star Trek 3 Writing Pressures
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Simon Pegg finds some aspects of writing to be difficult.
First of all, Pegg knows that some people are all too ready to be critical of the next movie.
“It’s a lot of pressure and it feels like there’s a huge number of people who are waiting to tear it to pieces, but then, that’s just the world at the moment,” he said.
In addition, Pegg finds it very difficult to write for one specific group. “I find it very hard to write for women,” he said. “It’s mine and [Shaun of the Dead co-writer Edgar Wright‘s] self-confessed weakness – whenever we’ve written scripts together, the women in our films are the weakest characters. It’s hard – you can understand the opposite sex, and yet still there’s a degree of authenticity that’s hard to achieve.”
But once he gets past those hurdles, Pegg turns to romantic comedies for inspiration. Why? “Because it’s all about relationships,” he said. “Myself and Doug Jung, who are writing it together, we’re writing about characters that already exist, so there are preexisting relationships there; it’s a familial setting. It’s not a romantic comedy exactly, but there are human relationships in it, and that’s what’s at the heart of a romantic comedy, too.”
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From what I hear the plot will involve the Enterprise running into Dwayne Johnson reprising his role of the Champion from Voyager, since
Johnson is the go to guy in Hollywood when you want to revitalize your franchise. However in the new timeline after battling Spock in the arena the crew then have to race in sports cars from the late twentieth century through cities and desert. Along the way they have to deal with zombies, vampires and Sulu has a really intense lightsaber battle.
The working title is currently Star Trek: In Name Only!
Try thinking of women as PEOPLE instead of as some strange alien creature, and it might work better…
Yep. Can’t please everyone. There might even be a few of those types around here 😉
LOL. Women are simply human beings.Try a better excuse, Mr. Pegg.
And if it’s so hard to write a quality movie, then don’t. I’m so done with this guy.
Maybe you need a woman on the writing team. Dorothy Fontana knows her way around Star Trek and has taught scriptwriting classes.
Don’t be so mean!
First we’ve already been promised that this is gonna be the least Trek-y of the movies so far (or whatever the wording that was used), and now the he’s turning to rom-coms for inspiration.
Can’t wait to read what the NuTrek apologists have to say.
The same boring stuff they’ve said for years now, mixed in with some terribly unfunny Cumberbatch memes.
I bet she’d do it if asked.
I want to be excited about the next film, I really do, but after the last two, why should I?
And she wrote some great TOS episodes; “Journey to Babel” is one of the best.
You haven’t even read a single line of dialogue yet. Save the b*tching for when the first trailer comes out at least!
I’m criticizing the way Pegg tries to make excuses. It’s lame.
Btw, your tone is inappropriate, I hope you know that. 🙂
The new Star Trek Continues episode “The White Iris” premiered on May 29th. It would be nice to see news about that.
Fine, fine.
Agreed. I have no hopes of this movie being something that will reinvigorate my love of Star Trek. Thank goodness I have so many seasons of the previous shows to enjoy over and over again if I so choose. Even the first two seasons of Enterprise are better than the abomination that the last two movies have wrought. I miss the good old days of Star Trek (when TNG and DS9 were on the air, specifically) and looking forward each week to another episode of fun and adventure.
Well, you know what they say, women being from Venus and all. 😉
Don’t give them any ideas
How hard is it to write better than the worthless Carol Marcus part in the last movie? If blonde eye candy in undies is too hard to surpass, maybe he should bow out
He’s not saying anything more than that he finds it difficult, that’s all. Let’s not project that he’s actually saying Carol Marcus was done justice in that movie and he can’t do better. He should just not talk about his process at all right now and we should wait to judge until there’s a product to assess.
NOT a NuTrek apologist, since I like ALL Trek, but, please, have some charity. Pegg IS under a lot of pressure from Paramount, who simply wants to make that Guardians of the Galaxy money, so clearly they are micro-managing Pegg’s work.
Also, Star Trek 5 is STILL the worst of the Trek films, followed by Star Trek Nemesis. But even then, I’d still watch them since I have, and always will be a fan FIRST, and not a ‘Trek snob like too many other fans have become of late.
They might as well be. You know how hard it is to connect with people, let alone date, these days? Sheesh. One misstep, then BAM! You’re in the friend-zone, if you’re that lucky.
To be a fan means that you compel yourself to watch productions you believe to be awful, simply because they’re labeled “Star Trek”? I’ve never understood this mentality.
“These movies are terrible, Paramount. Now here, take my money for them.”
Pegg isn’t “making excuses”, he’s just giving some insight into the writing process. And his thinking about women and relationships shows he is conscientious about doing justice to the characters.
The only Trek movie I really can’t stand is Insurrection. The rest all have their good points – even the JJ ones.
I simply saying that I’m not a ‘Trek snob, that’s all. And as I indicated before, I enjoy even what I consider to be “bad” ‘Trek, since I am a fan FIRST. But, to each his or her or hir own.
There is nothing wrong to admit one’s fault. At least Pegg is being honest, which is refreshing when discussing the writing process. And, speaking for myself, women maybe human beings, but they have a different perspective from men, just like one race has a different perspective from another race, just like someone of one sexual orientation has a different perspective from another, etc. It is those types of differences that does make us “human”. Otherwise, we might as well be THE BORG.
Because it’s with new writers and a new director? I have never been a fan of Abrams, so just a movie with a more straightforward, less aggressive style will go a long way with me.
As I”m not a lesbian that’s not a problem
What does that even mean? I would thinking connecting with people on a romantic level is fraught with peril, regardless of sex, gender and sexual orientation.
Well I don’t think you hire Justin Lin to give you a less aggressive style. There might be fewer lens flares.
Is this movie ever going to happen? Weren’t they supposed to start shooting this summer?
Oh but she’s too television. We’re talking big here. (Kang rolls his eye in disgust.)
Having rewatched 5 for the first time since 1989, I can assure you that as corny and stupid as it is, Star Trek Into The Septic Tank is definitely worse.
NNNNNAAAAAWWW!!!!
Perhaps Mr. Pegg should stop giving interviews, or at least answering questions about the script, until the script is finished? Regardless of how the finished product turns out people are just going to savage him every time he opens his mouth.
*sigh* You’re right, that probably WOULD be the attitude. But Star Trek taught me to hope, so I still do. 🙂
Indeed. And when hope fails, there are always photon torpedoes.
Star Trek taught me to hope, too. The film industry fixed that for me.
De Kelley’s “pain” scene in the observation lounge is something the Bad Robot gang can’t approach in a million years.
Well, he is required to be out there promoting a movie no-one is going to see, so naturally reporters will ask him about the movie people are actually curious about. If he didn’t answer those questions, doubtless certain people would accuse him of being “secretive”.
I don’t know why I forgot, but I just looked it up and was reminded that she also wrote “The Way To Eden”, which if not the worst TOS episode ever, is one of them. Despite that show, she has some great episodes to her credit including “Journey to Babel” and the TAS episode, “Yesteryear”.
I loving own Final Frontier and Nemesis. While not the best Trek films per say, they have their merits and at the end of the day are still “STAR TREK”. JJ-Trek is NOT Star Trek, JJ-Trek is JJ-Trek, some horrid off shoot franchise greedily concocted by the suits at Paramount.
Justin Lin? THAT’S suppose to excite me? *sigh*
JJ Trek is the perfect antidote for fan snubbing of Rick Berman. I find it interesting how many fans ten years ago that were bashing Rick Berman and shows like Voyager and Enterprise are singing a different tune these days. Rick might not have been perfect, but he was no JJ Abrams either!
Agreed.
… well, screenplay-wise. Karl Urban can do it, if they could write him something better than injecting tribbles.
She wasn’t allowed to write “The Way to Eden” the way she wanted to, which is why she insisted that her pseudonym be put on it, rather than her real name. It was originally supposed to be about McCoy’s daughter, kind of like how “Journey to Babel” was supposed to be about Spock’s parents.
She also wrote “The Enterprise Incident” and “This Side of Paradise,” both of which are above-average episodes.
Thank you for making my point that a) you can enjoy bad ‘Trek, and b) that there is ‘Trek snobbery amongst the fans.
i appreciate Pegg’s honesty…though i *would* suggest he gets a woman on the team in some way…that way it won’t be an issue again.
I’m hopeful for his script…from someone different, and someone clearly a fan
Perhaps you haven’t heard: They’re looking to make a less “Star Trekkie” Star Trek movie. SMH.
DC Fontana would be the opposite of that.