The only thing that truly excited me about his movie was Claudio Miranda. "Life of Pi" is like one of the most visually beautiful movies I have ever watched. I was already anticipating stunning shoots in the space. Sob. Can they hire him still? A good cinematography is important.
As for Orci script, I don't know what to think for sure. The story sounds like too fan pandering (or rather haters pandering) for a guy who, when arguing with haters over trekmovie, he always preached confidence and like the haters couldn't influence him.
The whole destroying everything that makes this their own trek and restoring the timeline stuff seems so lame and so contradictory. For one, he always denied that theory as a possibility as it goes against quantum mechanics, that is the time travel theory they use (in short, if this crew went back in time to change their past they'd only create another alternate reality. Besides, tos still exists there is nothing to restore)
So I don't know, on one hand I think it's possible that Orci alone would be too weak and cave under fan pressure because truth to be told, I have noticed signs of wishy washyness from him. One moment he was like 'I don't care about tos purists hating my trek, I stand by my decisions', the next he'd placate them by saying things that even contradicted his script or things he had said previously when he was talking to a different audience. He seemed a bit of an unreliable narrator who changed his narrative, at times, to keep things still safe for the haters, especially compared to JJ and Kurtzman who kept their distance from haters and fans.
On the other hand though, I want to give him benefit of the doubt because he only talked about k/s facing a temptation so it is possible, which would make sense with his personality too, that the movie would tease haters at first giving them the illusion that everything would get back to being just like tos..only to eventually end up reinforcing the existence of the Kelvin timeline and thus their own trek. In short, the story would only show how bad as an idea the 'restoring the timeline' thing was. I could see the characters realizing that their life as it is in their own reality matters too and they can't cancel it all.
But then again, the reality where vulcan isn't destroyed and George Kirk lives already exists so the temptation is utter nonsense, to begin with.
I can see why paramount didn't like it and must have thought it was too convoluted. If even Beyond felt more solid as a story to them, then Orci's script must have truly been a mess with plot holes and inconsistencies that couldn't be resolved in one movie.
The issue for me is that his story might even have potential in terms of the characters facing a big conflict (that is what I said above about them realizing their own existence and experiences matter too), but it would most likely sideline everyone who wasn't Kirk, and thus not really let the characters get their own arc and something realistic.
This especially if Shatner were to be in the movie, and we know that he isn't up for a cameo. If Orci wanted him, he'd have to give him a big role and essentially placate all his demands...which Orci would most likely do because he's a fanboy and he'd be a first time director who'd do anything to have his favorite in the movie. We would end up getting something like the mummy reboot where Kurtzman had to modify the script according to Tom Cruise demandsbecause the studio was obsessed about having him...and it was a flop.
Shatner always plays a bit of a victim about why he isn't in the reboot but truthfully, I think JJ wasn't against him getting a role but he gave up when he saw that the Shat would only cause troubles because he wants a big role at any cost. Who wants to work with guest stars who make demands when even your main cast doesn't do that much?
Shatner has a reputation as someone who has an ego and is difficult to work with.
great pics to see - I’m really liking that corkscrew Vulcan starship design!
