Quentin Tarantino Says His 'Star Trek' Film Will Be Like 'Pulp Fiction' In Space

Everyone is curious about Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek, and it's hard to blame them: the writer/director has never stepped into an established film franchise before, and there's also the question of whether or not a Trek film will actually be his final movie before he rides off into the sunset of retirement. We know it would be R-rated, but what would a Tarantino-directed Star Trek movie feel like?

Turns out the answer is pretty familiar. In a new interview, Tarantino says that, despite claims to the contrary, his take on the sci-fi property actually would feel like Pulp Fiction in space. Read his comments below.

In an in-depth, wide-ranging interview with Deadline to promote his new film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino spoke briefly about his much-discussed plans for a Star Trek movie. He mentioned how when he pitched the project to J.J. Abrams, Abrams responded favorably to the idea of the R-rating.

"As long as Paramount likes the idea and the script they almost got nothing to lose right now when it comes to Star Trek," Tarantino said. "Deadpool showed that you can rethink these things, do them in a different way. So really, even before JJ knew what the idea was, his feeling was, if it wants to be an R rating, fine. If it wants to be the Wild Bunch in space, fine."

But The Wild Bunch isn't the only comparison point Tarantino has in mind. He continued:

I get annoyed at Simon Pegg. He doesn't know anything about what's going on and he keeps making all these comments as if he knows about stuff. One of the comments he said, he's like "Well, look, it's not going to be Pulp Fiction in space." Yes, it is! [laughs hard]. If I do it, that's exactly what it'll be. It'll be Pulp Fiction in space. That Pulp Fiction-y aspect, when I read the script, I felt, I have never read a science fiction movie that has this sh*t in it, ever. There's no science fiction movie that has this in it. And they said, I know, that's why we want to make it. It's, at the very least, unique in that regard.

While the idea of Tarantino stepping into a familiar franchise may be disappointing for those who value him as one of the few Hollywood powerhouses capable of getting near-instantaneous greenlights for original films these days, hearing him talk about how this Trek movie would do things no science fiction movie has done before should be enough to convince even the most jaded observer to think twice.

He also followed that up by explaining that "there is a gangster element to what we're doing with the Star Trek thing that works out pretty good." So for those keeping count at home, Tarantino brought up The Wild Bunch, Pulp Fiction, and gangsters in the context of this film. Beam it directly into our brains, Scotty.