Became immensely famous for inventing the ‘Star Trek’ TV series, Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991) would have turned 100 on 19 August 2021. On this occasion the production company Roddenberry Entertainment announced that it will make a biographical film dedicated to the American screenwriter and producer. Gene’s son Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth (boss of Roddenberry Entertainment) will manage the production. The script is in the hands of Adam Mazer, who won an Emmy thanks to the television movie ‘You Don’t Know Jack – Doctor Death’ and who has also written films such as’ Breach – The Infiltrator ‘and’ Empire State. ‘.
Gene Roddenberry, what will the bio-pic be about?
Gene Roddenberry’s life is undoubtedly chock full of events that lend themselves to a gripping biography. For example, it was pilot of the B-17 bombers during the Second World War and received a high honor for his service on the Pacific Oceanfront. After the war he worked as a civilian pilot and on one occasion, following a disastrous emergency landing in the desert of Syria (which was not his responsibility) he rescued many people. Among other things, curiosity: the Syrian one was the third of three plane crashes in which Roddenberry was involved, always coming out alive.
Gene abandoned his career as a pilot served in the Los Angeles Police Force and it is in this period that, dusting off his youthful passion for literature, he began to try his hand at the world of writing for television. In 1953 he sold his first screenplay, an episode of the show ‘Mr. District Attorney ‘, and from that moment he began placing his own jobs with increasing frequency. Then came the year 1966, that of the birth of ‘Star Trek’, which initially did not go very well, but then became a hugely successful franchise generating film sagas, TV series, comics, novels and so on and so forth.
His life was not only roses and flowers: there were also dark sides, such as drug and alcohol abuse, numerous marital infidelities, and open confrontations with producers and actors. Aspects that contribute to the portrait of a multifaceted and out of the ordinary character, but which could remain out of the biographical film, or be diminished: this is the fear expressed by some observers and which stems from the rigid control of the Roddenberry family over everything related to Gene. We will see if this is really the case.
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