Quentin Tarantino Explains Why His Star Trek Has To Be R-Rated

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is (finally) hitting theaters next weekend, and the great auteur himself, Quentin Tarantino, has been making rounds at possibly his very last press junkets. But the speculation over his impending retirement has only one loophole: the rumored Tarantino Star Trek.

In the last several weeks, this possibility-of-a-film has become much less of a rumor, however, with the director behind Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained speaking very openly about its pre-production phases.

And that’s exactly what he did in a recent interview, where he confirmed, despite Simon Pegg’s suggestions, that his Star Trek film will, if he does it, boldly go where no others have gone before.

“I don’t know if I’ll do it or not. I’ve got to figure it out, but [Mark L. Smith] wrote a really cool script. I like it a lot. There’s some things I need to work on but I really, really liked it. 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.”

Love him or hate him, Tarantino’s found himself one of the few winning formulas in Hollywood. He’s developed a style – which encompasses uniquely impressive and explicit dialogue, and often equally repelling violence – that not only earns critical praise, but big box office dollars as well.

The Reservoir Dogs director’s never been shy about defending his artistic choices. And he continued to do so here, saying that his Star Trek would not just be R-rated, but would have to be R-rated.

“I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal but if I’m going to do it, then I’m going to do it my way. If you’ve seen my nine movies, you kind of know my way is an R-rated way and a way that is without certain restrictions. So that goes part and parcel. I think it would be more controversial if I said I’m going to do a PG movie and it’s going to fit exactly in the universe. It’s not me. What the fuck am I doing? I mean I didn’t even do that when I did that CSI episode.

“The thing is, when I talked to JJ about it, it’s not that radical. We’re just not worrying about stuff like that. JJ said, ‘Quentin, I love this idea because I think with Star Trek we can go any way we want to.’ Look, I’ve got a situation. As long as Paramount likes the idea and the script they almost got nothing to lose right now when it comes to Star Trek. 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.”

That’s a lot to take in, but we want to know what your thoughts are. Are you excited for this possible Tarantino Star Trek? Or do you think the gory auteur should stay away from this beloved franchise? Drop us a comment down below and state your case.