Noah Hawley on ‘Fargo’ Season 4, His ‘Star Trek’ Film and ‘Lucy in the Sky’

https://trekmovie.com/2020/09/25/noah-hawley-wants-to-make-a-star-trek-movie-that-isnt-all-about-action/

Speaking to the Observer, Noah Hawley described what he loved about Star Trek and the movies:

“What I love about Star Trek is that it’s not a war story. It’s not a story in which might makes right. It’s a story about exploration. It’s a story about creative problem solving. My favorite moment in all of Star Trek is in Wrath of Khan when Kirk puts on his reading glasses to lower Khan’s shields. It’s a brief moment that is so exhilarating because he’s using the best tool he has, which is his mind.”

The writer/director then went on to draw a comparison of his project to the three recent Kelvin-verse Star Trek movies:

“As much as I like the Chris Pine movies they were mostly about running from one end of the ship to the other to put out a fire, to stop a thing, and then before he could catch his breath he had to do something else. They’re much more action movies and what I wanted to get back to was this idea of humanity justifying existence in the universe by showing its best qualities.
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”The latest reporting confirms that Paramount is still developing Star Trek films with bringing the franchise back to the big screen being a “priority” of new executive Emma Watts. In addition to the Hawley project, she is also considering the pitch from Quentin Tarantino and the Star Trek 4 project that brings back Chris Hemsworth (which is reported to be the current front-runner).

But even if Paramount moves forward with the Star Trek Beyond sequel with Hemsworth, which will likely be another action-packed tentpole project, they may also follow that up with other films that may not be directly tied into the Kelvin film. Both the Tarantino and Hawley projects sound to be different takes and likely lower budget approaches without the demands a big tentpole has on the studio.

Another interview, still in limbo:
https://trekmovie.com/2021/04/29/composer-jeff-russo-says-fans-would-lose-their-minds-over-noah-hawleys-star-trek-movie/

You are a real Star Trek fan. You have said you were excited about the project. He has described it as something different. It wasn’t going to be another Kelvin movie, but his own thing. And it sounded like it was going to be a smaller movie, and so not trying to be a big action Marvel-type movie. So, how do you think Star Trek fans would have reacted to this? Is it really that different or just a little different?

From a story perspective? No. From a story perspective, I would say it was not all that different. I mean it was different in its voice because Noah has a voice – his writing voice. So in that way, it may have had a different feel. But it was a very Star Trek story. And it was a very interesting way to tell that Star Trek story, which is what made me so excited about it and had me inspired to write music already for it. The way he explained it to me made me feel like the fans are going to lose their mind. It literally felt like that, to me. Lose their mind… I read the script and my call to him was the fans are going to lose their mind, because of just what the story was.

Well with Star Trek fans, “lose their minds” can go either way. So in a good way or bad way?

I would say in a good way. Because it would have been telling a story that they hadn’t heard, that hadn’t been done in a way that would have been very fulfilling. Finding out answers to questions that have never been answered.

I guess "Lucy in the Sky" being a critical flop is reason to cancel this. Would still like to know what his script was about.

Noah Hawley Laments Paramount Halting His “Really Fun” Star Trek Movie Just Before Production
https://trekmovie.com/2021/06/15/noah-hawley-laments-paramount-halting-his-really-fun-star-trek-movie-just-before-production/

Emma Watts joined Paramount from Fox last summer to replace Wyck Godfrey as head of the Motion Picture Group. Shortly after, news broke that she had put a pause on Hawley’s project. His comment about her thinking it was “crazy” to do something with “an untested crew” may not be talking about a Starfleet crew as much as using the more traditional Hollywood lingo of trusting the Trek film franchise to the crew of Hawley and his production company. While Hawley has several Emmy nominations (and one win) for his work on television, his late 2019 feature film debut as writer/producer/director on Lucy in the Sky was a critical and box office disappointment for Fox Searchlight — and remember, Watts had just arrived from Fox.

And Hawley has moved on. In addition to working on ideas for a final season of Fargo, he is also developing a television show based on the Alien franchise for FX.

As for Emma Watts and Paramount, they have also moved on to new projects. In March Paramount and producer J.J. Abrams chose writer Kalinda Vazquez to pen a new Star Trek film, and in April Paramount set a June 2023 release date for a reportedly different “secret” Star Trek film, also to be produced by J.J. Abrams.