Almost a full month since Justin Lin was announced as the new director or STAR TREK 3, and the script is set to get a rejiggering courtesy of one of the Enterprise’s own crew members.
Simon Pegg will co-write the latest draft for the Bad Robot production, alongside Doug Jung (2003’s CONFIDENCE). It’s uncertain how much of the draft Roberto Orci cooked up with Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne will be retained, but I’d guess Pegg and Jung will refit it as much as they can since the writer/producer completely parted ways with this project.
We’ve certainly had cast members direct these films before, but aside from Nimoy’s “Story by” credits on IV and VI, I believe this is the first time one is going to be billed as a screenwriter. Pegg’s writing work outside of his collaborations with Edgar Wright (namely RUN, FATBOY, RUN and PAUL) haven’t reached the heights of SPACED or the Cornetto Trilogy, but he consistently brings charm and wit even to his for-hire acting gigs. His last produced script was THE WORLD’S END, and that had a level of maturity, bravery, and originality that could certainly benefit this J.J. Abrams TREK-verse.
As for Jung, I remember thinking CONFIDENCE was a fun, if overly-mannered con-man movie, but I’ll leave it to anyone who watched his more recent, Dylan McDermott-starring TV series, DARK BLUE, to judge his worthiness.
Let’s see if they can get this together in time for the 50th anniversary of the show next year.
