You probably knew both of these were going to happen eventually, but just in case anyone was waiting on pins and needles in anticipation, you can now relax.
Yes, JJ Abrams is officially on board to direct Star Trek 2, and Samuel L. Jackson will also be back with his favorite director, Quentin Tarantino, for Django Unchained.
Apparently Vulture, which is pretty much on top of all things Star Trek, broke the news first, and as Entertainment Weekly put it, JJ is now “ready to engage.”
The Abrams Star Trek cast with Chris Pine and Zachary Pinto are also back, as are team Abrams screenwriters Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Damon Lindelof.
According to Vulture, the movie’s already in pre-production, the script will be finished by the end of the month, and production’s slated to roll this winter.
Everyone’s been wondering what’s been the hold up with the Star Trek sequel, especially considering the first Abrams Trek was a monster hit, and Paramount’s been clamoring for a sequel ever since.
As reported previously on TG, Lindeloff told MTV Star Trek 2 has to surpass the first one, which is one reason there could have been a hold up, and the script still needed to be written. There was “a ninety-page half-script, half-treatment,” and Kurtzman’s also been busy making his directing debut, the sci-fi film Welcome to People.
Finally Abrams told the L.A. Times several months back Star Trek 2 was “making the kind of headway that frankly I wish we were able to make months ago.” Of course Paramount would love the movie to already be in production and ready for next summer, but as Abrams continued, “Nothing is more disheartening that something going in front of the camera before it’s ready. The crew can feel it and the cast can feel it.”
Now at least we know everything’s ready to roll, or close enough that Abrams is comfortable things are going to turn out alright. (And as we’ve joked on TG, there better be plenty of lens flare this time too, or the geeks will revolt.)
While there’s no official release date yet for Trek 2, the next Quentin Tarantino opus, Django Unchained, will hit theaters on Christmas Day 2012, and Samuel Jackson is also officially on board, his fifth movie for the director.
According to Variety, Jackson’s playing Stephen, who is the house slave and assistant to an evil slave owner played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Although it’s still not official, Jamie Foxx is most likely to play the title role of Django, and Variety reports that when Jackson finishes playing Martin Luther King in the The Mountaintop in mid-January, production for Django will begin “immediately thereafter in New Orleans.”
