In the long road of development on a fourth “Star Trek” film set within the ‘Kelvin Timeline’ that began with the J.J. Abrams-directed 2009 movie, several directors have come and gone.
The most recent was Matt Shakman who exited the project a year ago to instead jump over to Marvel Studios’ “Fantastic Four” film which has had its own developmental difficulties.
Shakman is also involved in Apple TV+ series “Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters” which he directs the first two episodes of. Speaking with The Playlist’s The Discourse Podcast about that series, he was asked about ditching “Star Trek” for Marvel.
He says the latter was a great opportunity he couldn’t let slop by:
“I love ‘Star Trek’. I’m a huge ‘Star Trek’ fan – loved ‘Next Generation’ when I was a kid, and then obviously reruns of the original series. Loved the movies, and the chance to play in that world was hugely exciting. And I’m a big fan of what J.J. [Abrams] has created and loved that cast. So that was hugely exciting.
It was a bummer that it didn’t end up happening with me there. I worked on it, developed the script, designed ships, had lots of great storyboards with the Enterprise, all sorts of stuff that a Star Trek fan just loves to get to do. But movies have different momentums, and we weren’t able to move ahead into production.
I was offered this opportunity to go over to Marvel to work on Fantastic Four, and it was impossible to turn down something that was another world that I loved, and that was equally exciting, and that was already moving in the right direction. So, I hope ‘Star Trek 4’ comes to pass. They’re working really hard on it. That cast is amazing.”
He revealed he didn’t read any other director’s version of the film, be it Quentin Tarantino or Noah Hawley, but does say Hawley’s was its own “separate thing” and wasn’t in the Kelvin timeline.
Meanwhile “Fantastic Four” is still chugging along despite all the reports over at Marvel from the do-over of “Daredevil: Born Again,” delays on several series, a rumored potential scrapping of “Wonder Man” and issues with getting “Blade” to the screen.
He says he’s been on the project for a little over a year now and has been “working away hard at it the way we’d work on any film at Marvel”.
In terms of casting, Shakman says that chemistry between his ensemble is key and promises there will “be an announcement at some point” whenever the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike resolves:
“I have been thinking about who should play these characters before I had the job to direct the movie, and I understand why everybody would be thinking in the same way. Chemistry is super important…It’s Marvel’s first family. I have to get it right. I have to get that chemistry right.”
As for when the casting news will be announced, he says: “It’s not going to be immediately when the SAG strike has resolved.” He confirms “WandaVision” scribe Cam Scquires worked on a draft of the film alongside “Avatar: Way Of Water” co-writer Josh Friedman.
Finally, he says he keeps comic book writer Matt Fraction up to speed as he’s worked on multiple Marvel projects and worked with Shakman on “Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters”. As a result he can bounce ideas off of him.
