Gambit 1138
Banned
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/12/05/roberto-orci-wont-direct-star-trek-3
ROBERTO ORCI WON’T DIRECT STAR TREK 3
The writer-producer makes an abrupt departure from the center seat.
BY SCOTT COLLURA
This is the kind of news that gets planted on a Friday afternoon: Star Trek 3 has lost its director.
Roberto Orci, a producer and writer on the first two films in the rebooted Star Trek series, has “stepped off Star Trek 3 as director,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film would’ve been his directorial debut.
It’s unclear why Orci is off the project as helmer (he will reportedly stay on in a producing capacity and presumably have some kind of writing credit), but when he took the job last May many observers questioned the first-timer’s ability to take on such a big project. Then there’s the matter that he was taking over for J.J. Abrams, who had helmed the first two films. Big shoes to fill, to be sure.
Deadline reports that Edgar Wright and others are on the short list to take over for Orci.
Not much is known about Star Trek 3's storyline, though there had been talk that William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy might return to their iconic roles of Kirk and Spock for cameos in the film (if not bigger roles).
Possible spoilers follow!
Update: Badass Digest is now reporting this afternoon that "the script Orci was working on saw the Enterprise, the Vulcans and a new alien race competing to get a time travel device. The Vulcans want to go back and stop the destruction of their planet, and the time travel schtick is what would allow Chris Pine and William Shatner to share the screen." If this is the plot of the film, who can say if it will continue to be as things shift behind the scenes.
