Chris Pine Talks Auditioning For Quentin Tarantino’s ‘The Hateful Eight’ & Choosing ‘Star Trek’ Over An ‘L.A. Confidential’ Sequel

When Paramount announced the return of the original cast return for “Star Trek 4” with director Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”) at the helm a few months back, it was news to the entire cast, who were reportedly “shocked.” And in case you’re wondering if that’s changed, and they’ve been updated those cast members, the answer is no. In a conversation with IndieWire while promoting “All The Old Knives,” actor Chris Pine said he still doesn’t know what is actually happening with “Star Trek 4” and hasn’t read a script, although the studio announced everyone was back and production was to begin before the end of 2022.

“When the announcement was made at the shareholders’ thing, I didn’t know that they were doing that. I don’t think anybody did,” Pine said. But the actor is keen to work with Shakman if a deal is indeed made.

During a recent chat on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Pine reiterated the exact same, not knowing anything about the fourth film and still not having read the script.

READ MORE: ‘Star Trek 4’: Paramount Loses Negotiation Leverage As Cast Is Reportedly Shocked By Announcement

However, Pine revealed that he wasn’t initially very interested in playing Captain Kirk in the “Star Trek” reboot but was convinced by his sister. Pine explained how he came to choose the sci-fi adventure film over starring alongside George Clooney in an “L.A. Confidential” sequel from director Joe Carnahan, based on James Ellory’s crime noir novel “White Jazz.”

“I had a choice between doing an ‘L.A. Confidential’ sequel that Joe Carnahan was doing and ‘Star Trek,’” he recalled. “And to my sister, I was like ‘I really want to do the weird detective that kills [George Clooney] in the f*cking thing,’ and then she’s like, ‘Maybe, Kirk is harder because you can’t play the hunchback, so to speak.’ I was like, ‘You’re totally f*cking right.’ I recall it was the first time I have an inkling of what that kind of acting is, by which I mean it’s a movie star acting.”

Pine had previously worked with Carnahan on the action-comedy “Smokin’ Aces,” featuring folks like Ben Affleck and Ryan Reynolds. So, the sequel would have been a reunion of sorts.

Although the character wasn’t mentioned, Pine also revealed he once met with director Quentin Tarantino at his home for a part in the snowy western whodunnit “The Hateful Eight,” but that didn’t come to much, pretty fast.

READ MORE: Quentin Quentin Tarantino Says Tony Scott’s ‘Unstoppable’ Is One Of His Top 10 Films Of The Last Decade

“I met with [Quentin Tarantino] years ago for ‘Hateful Eight’ for a part he within the first two minutes of the meeting told me I wasn’t right for, which I really have a ton of respect for him for that,” he explained. “But I got to go to Quentin’s house and see his famous living room with all his VHS tapes.”

You might remember that Tarantino had been recently itching to work with Pine and even attempted his own “Star Trek” film with screenwriter Mark L. Smith (“The Revenant”) at Paramount that was said to be inspired by the gangster episode “A Piece of The Action” from the original “Star Trek” series.

Tarantino is a huge fan of Tony Scott’s “Unstoppable” and Pine, who starred in the movie, and it seems nearly inevitable that they will work together at some point (time permitting, of course, Tarantino still says he’s retiring after one more film). But we’d love to see the two find a project to work on. Maybe Tarantino might have a juicy role for Pine in his “Bounty Law” series he’s been developing?