Last week marked the 30th Anniversary of the 1986 classicStar Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which, before the 2009 reboot, was the highest-grossing movie in franchise history, and the only one to cross $100 million domestic ($109.7 million). While thissci-fi sequelwas certainly a hit at the box office, it could have been an ever bigger hit, since it almost landed one of the biggest movie stars in the world at that time,Eddie Murphy. During a new interview for the 30th Anniversary, screenwriterSteve Meersonrevealed that the comedian was nearly cast in the franchise sequel.
Steve Meerson, who co-wrote the movie with his writing partnerPeter Krikes, explained toThe Hollywood Reporterthat the studio had always wanted a movie that would “make a statement about the environment,” and directorLeonard Nimoy, producerHarve Bennettand the studio wanted to have whales and possibly time travel involved. The writers went through between 7 and 10 outlines for the story, with the final one getting approved by the studio, which had a role in place forEddie Murphy. Here’s whatSteve Meersonhad to say about the story.
“It was always the same story that got approved, but the original draft included a part forEddie Murphy.Eddiewas on the lot at Paramount at the time and arguably was the biggest star in the world. They had told us he was a hugeStar Trek fan.”
The writer also revealed thatEddie Murphywas set to play an “astrophysicist at Berkeley,” and at the time the story didn’t include the Dr. Gillian Taylor character, played byCatherine Hicks. WhenEddie Murphy’s deal fell through, the Dr. Gillian Taylor character, a marine biologist and love interest to Captain Kirk (William Shatner), was added into the script. Here’s whatSteve Meersonhad to say about how the writing process became more “political.”
“At the beginning of the process, it was actually a lot of fun. As the process progressed, it became less fun, because it became more political. And I don’t say that with any bitterness. It’s just the way things work in all businesses. We began to feel like at a certain point that this was going to be taken away from us, which in fact, it was.”
In the end,Steve MeersonandPeter Krikesreceived screenplay credit forStar Trek IV: The Voyage Home, butNicholas Meyer, who wrote and directedStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, came aboard to rewrite the script with producerHarve Bennett. Despite rumors thatNicholas Meyerheavily rewrote the script,Steve Meersonbelieves thatNicholas MeyerandHarve Bennettdidn’t make any drastic changes, which is whyMeersonandKrikesreceived top billing overMeyerandBennett, which was decided in arbitration by the Writers Guild of America.Steve Meersonalso wroteBack to the Beach,Double ImpactandAnna and the King, and he also served as a co-executive producer on directorKevin Smith’sYoga Hosers.
