In 2001, screenwriter Erik Jendresen came into the public eye writing the hit TV series “Band of Brothers” for Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. He was in high demand and, perhaps naturally, got a call from Paramount about the possibility of writing a “Star Trek” movie. Jendresen was not a Trekkie, so he balked at the offer. Indeed, his view of sci-fi was very specific, literary, and classic. He said:
“Shortly after ‘Band of Brothers,’ I got a call from my agent, who said, ‘Would you be interested in getting into “Star Trek?”‘ And I said, ‘No.’ First of all, because I don’t really like science fiction. I’m kind of an odd purist that way. If it’s not Jules Verne or H.G. Wells or Edgar Allen Poe or Arthur Conan Doyle, I’m not that interested. The space opera genre of science fiction is just something that has never held any interest for me. But they didn’t take no for an answer.”
For producer Jordan Kerner, though, it was just a matter of convincing Jendrensen to find an “in.” If he could be made interested in “Star Trek” as a concept, then he might want to write a screenplay. Knowing that the new film was to be about James T. Kirk — a forthrightly literary character — certainly piqued Jendresen’s interest:
“Kerner really wanted to have a conversation, so they called me back and said, ‘Would you come consult with us?’ And I said, ‘Sure.’ And I was very honest with them. I loved two things about ‘Star Trek.’ The first was this sort of Horatio Hornblower aspect to Kirk. All of that boldness. It’s sort of a throwback to a great kind of literary figure and hero.”
Classic “Star Trek.” So far, so good.