Writer of ‘The Revenant’ to Pen Quentin Tarantino’s R-Rated ‘Star Trek’ Film

When last we heard about Quentin Tarantino's upcoming R-rated Star Trek film, it was in search of a writer. Well, it looks like QT liked what he heard from The Revenant writer Mark L. Smith, because according to Deadline, Smith landed the job penning the film. 

The plan right now is for Smith to write the film while Tarantino goes off to make his Manson Family movie with Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate. Apparently Paramount is hoping to broaden its flagship franchise's appeal by producing an R-rated film, much the same way Fox did with Deadpool. That seems like a gross oversimplification of the appeal of Tarantino making a Star Trek flick. 

For fanboys, it's a dream come true. A filmmaker with a totally unique and original style comes into a major franchise and churns out his or her version of a film from that universe. It's undeniable that if this formula works, Paramount will think to themselves, "Well we need to make more R-rated Star Trek films," when they should really be thinking, "We should invite more filmmakers with a unique voice to play in our sandbox."

Honestly, for me, the most exciting thing about Tarantino directing a Star Trek movie is that it opens the door to things like—to name just four examples—David Fincher directing a comic book movie or The Coen Brothers directing a Star Wars movie or Bong Joon-Ho directing a Harry Potter movie or Christopher Nolan directing a Bond movie. It's an open door to unique and interesting films that can live in these universes without messing with the chronology or timeline or any of that nonsense.

Comic readers have been used to One-Shots for years. Start doing that with films and you've got a way to keep these things going without being over-reliant on continuity and connectivity. Audiences are savvy enough to know the difference these days. Let's shake things up a bit.