Whenever the name Alex Kurtzman gets mentioned, it typically means he's co-written another billion dollar grossing film with his partner, Roberto Orci. The duo, along with JJ Abrams, wrote the Star Trek relaunch, and are currently working on the highly anticipated sequel. Michael Bay's first two Transformers movies, Cowboys & Aliens, Mission: Impossible III....Kurtzman and Orci wrote them all. Not exactly heady stuff, but when your work consistently makes money on that scale you get the chance to do the smaller stuff, too.
Kurtzman is stepping out on his own a little bit with his directorial debut, People Like Us (formerly Welcome to People), which features some people in starring roles that the writer is very familiar with. Co-written with Orci and Jody Lambert, the small scale drama stars Chris Pine as a man struggling with money troubles who must deliver $150,000 to the half sister(Elizabeth Banks) he never knew existed, as a last request by his late father. Olivia Wilde, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jon Favreau, and Mark Duplass(is he the male Olivia Wilde now? He's everywhere!!!) co-star.
The new trailer released today doesn't do a whole lot for me, and Pine in particular is boring in everything that doesn't involve space ships and Klingons. I'm more interested in seeing how Banks holds up, because her role was one of the most sought after in Hollywood for awhile there. People Like Us may get buried under the summer rubble as it's due to open on June 29th. Check out the trailer below....
