What better day for news of a planned biopic about Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry than what would have been his 100th birthday? Makes sense then that the company spawned from his work is announcing just such a project.
With his son Rod Roddenberry and fellow Roddenberry Entertainment partner Trevor Roth looking to gear this one up, the project has Adam Mazer on script duty.
Roddenberry certainly lived an interesting and episodic time on the planet – a bomber pilot in B-17, he survived not only a plane crash from a mechanical failure, but post-war a commercial flight going down in the Syrian desert, where he rescued the Maharani of Phaltan from the wreck. While serving as an LAPD officer, he turned his attention writing for television, selling his first script in 1953 to a show called Mr. District Attorney, before going on to contribute to a variety of series.
In 1966, he brought the world Star Trek, launching a franchise that has spawned numerous spin-offs and movies, and become a pop culture behemoth. But there was also his darker sides - struggles with drugs and alcohol, infidelity, clashes with other executives and actors. It's that side of "The Great Bird Of The Galaxy" that you'd have to worry might be filed down given the artistic control of his family.
"Gene lead a remarkable life," Rod Roddenberry and Roth, say in a statement to Deadline. "He was an incredibly complex, compelling man, whose work changed the face of television, and whose ideas changed the world. It’s time to share Gene’s story with audiences everywhere."
The next step will be to find a director and cast for the biopic – and we can't wait to see if they focus on his battle with fellow sci-fi legend Harlan Ellison over the episode The City On The Edge Of Forever...