IESB's Robert Sanchez spent some time with writers/producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci this past weekend to promote EAGLE EYE and talked about, well, just about everything!

{sidebar id=1}We've given you a couple teases.

Star Trek Updates - Star Trek 11 Most Like Wrath of Khan?

Transformers 2 Updates - IESB Exclusive: Kurtzman and Orci on Transformers 2!

But wait! There's more! Below is the entire transcript from the interview with the incredibly talented pair including info on producing EAGLE EYE, some insight into their writing process, their long standing working relationship, what happens to Star Trek now that it's almost complete, how they feel about Superman, why they are most like the Bee-Gees, when they plan on tackling directing a project and SO much more!

Read IESB's interview with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci in its entirety below,

IESB: I just told this to DJ [Caruso] a couple of days ago, that I'm really excited for this film, it's really good. It's good to see, even though we love having you guys tackle existing properties like Transformers and Star Trek, it's cool to see original content coming out of Hollywood.

Bob: It was really gratifying for us as well.

IESB: Do you approach it differently because it's not an existing franchise? It gives you more liberty I assume.

Bob: What it does is make us answer only to ourselves. When you are doing a property like Star Trek, we feel it doesn't just belong to us, it belongs to all the fans that really love it and there has to be a certain respect that goes into that and there has to be a certain openness to what longtime stewards of those properties believe and feel. When you do something original like this that's not a part of your process. It's more - it's a different thing, maybe there's more freedom.

Alex: It's obviously a different kind of responsibility in that there were certain thrillers going up that were the standard that we needed to hold this movie to, you know, what it felt like to go through that ride, or In the Line of Fire or any of those really great thrillers you remember for your whole life. That was the type of standard we were holding ourselves to in the development process and the shooting.

IESB: Of all the things you guys have produced or written in the past, which is the one thing that you think really felt similar to Eagle Eye?

Bob: Let's see, thinking about it, a lot of our work has the theme of what is the balance between technology and humanity. Fringe in a way is about that, Transformers in a way is about that, Star Trek is about that, so that theme keeps bringing us back. In terms of the fact that this is a thriller, I think...

Alex: A thriller but also certainly I think our training on Alias helped us a lot. Because there was...

Bob: Highly technological stuff.

Alex: Yeah, highly technological stuff but also very unpredictable in terms of storytelling and every act Sydney would have to go into some kind of crazy action sequence and whatever she was she thought was going to happen didn't happen and then there were problems and she had to improvise her way through. And whether on that, we were conscious of it, that certainly saturated our approach to Eagle Eye.

IESB: You guys have great relationship, you do most of your stuff as a team as partners

Alex: Everything

Bob: We've never done anything apart.

IESB: Can you guys finish each other's sentences now? Is it almost like you know what each other is thinking at this point? When you start writing and looking for ideas?

Bob: Yeah, but there is still that part that I can't predict and that's part of the best part of it. We are not the same person, in some ways, well, we have a different thought process but we both love the same movie.

Alex: It's been over 17 years now that we've been doing this together, so, I can just tell by the look on Bob's face whether he likes or dislikes an idea before he says anything. He gave me the finger right now by the way so...(laughter) So there's that and that's actually a great gift because there's a shorthand, obviously, that come from that kind of time together. But, I think that what I always look to Bob to find the unpredictable ideas, how can we find a way - what's a cool way into this to feel different, and that's still a big part of how we work.

IESB: Is there ever a point that you look at each other and one says, "No, this will work," and one says, "No, it won't," or "Yes it will?"

Bob: Absolutely, like all long term relationships we certainly have our arguments but I think we are always, we always want the same thing and weirdly a lot of the time those debates will translate to the page in a way that makes the scene exciting hopefully, so, we've learned to respect that as part of the process.

IESB: You guys write, you guys produce, when are we going to see the dynamic duo direct?

(laughter)

Bob: Soon I hope. Soon. We've been so fortunate that we've been going into these back to back and each movie has been taken so seriously as being something we are entirely responsible for making work, that it's all about the right idea coming to us or being presented to us and feeling like it's the right move to make that leap.

Alex: We've been very deliberate in our growth and are in no hurry building up our production company has been as much as a priority as anything and the more time we spend the better it will be.

Bob: We are just getting more experience towards directing ultimately.

Alex: Yeah.

IESB: So you say soon, but soon as in hopefully the next or two or further down the line?

Alex: I think it's totally possible that within the next couple of years we will be directing.

IESB: And if you direct, you want to do the stuff you are known for - you guys are the genre kings, you know the stuff - on Star Trek and Transformers you guys "get it".

Bob: Oh, thank you.

IESB: So do you hope to direct something in that vein?

Alex: We'll be drawn to whatever is a great story. We'll be drawn to whatever we love and if the right one is a thriller, or action movie - whatever it is that comes along that we feel like we can own and bring something to director-ally, we'll absolutely do that. I think it's also possible that there will be something that's very different from what we've done that will really feel like a new challenge that we'll want to take on. So, it's just about the right thing. What excites us, what do we feel passionate about.

IESB: Talking about things that excite all of us, give us a couple updates, when are we going to see the Star Trek trailer?

Bob: Before Christmas sometime I think.

Alex: I think they are still debating the date.

IESB: There are some rumors that it might be attached to Eagle Eye. That's not true?

Bob: I don't think it will be. I think there was discussion of that at some point but I don't think so.

IESB: And then, the Transformers 2 trailer, there is talk that it may be attached to Star Trek? Nothing before then, or do you think Michael will tease us early like he did last time with the Mars footage.

Bob: I actually don't know, I can't imagine you would have to wait until May, but who knows. I can't imagine that.

IESB: So how is Star Trek coming along?

Bob: Star Trek, the effects are coming in and we're very close to having the movie locked, maybe in a been a couple of weeks.

Alex: Yeah, maybe in about a month or so. It's really, really exciting, just insanely exciting to be on the brink of launching that out into the world and...

Bob: I can't believe we are going to stick it in a vault or I don't know what's gonna happen.

Alex: Well, there are so many effects that they will probably be finishing it right up to the last possible second.

IESB: Obviously you guys love Star Trek, you love Star Wars, on the special effects, something that has always been said about the Star Wars movies you expect to see the big space battles. Star Trek, even though you get space battles, it was never known for that, it was never about that, it was mainly about the crew. Do we see a merger of both these themes, are there any big epic battles in the new film or what are we going to be seeing?

Bob: I think the scale of this Star Trek, not only because of the technology but because of the trust that the studio put in all of us in terms of the investment, is going to be bigger than you've ever seen in a Star Trek movie. So, it's going to be both. Star Trek is where you primarily think about the family, the humanity, the interactions and that is no different in the Star Trek that we are working on but it definitely is going to have an epic action quality to it that is unique.

IESB: And if you would compare it to any past Star Trek movie, could you?

Bob: In some ways, it shares the spirit with so many of them and in some ways it's, I don't know, which one dude?

Alex: Tough question to answer, just because there are so many different things. I guess the best way for me to answer is I can tell you that the movie for me that effected me the most as a kid was Wrath of Khan.

Bob: Agreed.

Alex: And that movie stood out for me because it had an unbelievable bad guy and the stakes just never felt higher.

Bob: And every character was at their most actualized. It really had the classic delivery for every character, they are finally their full selves in that movie I think, more than any of the features.

Alex: And obviously the relationship between Kirk and Spock in that movie was as good as it gets. So, I think, that must have, or that contributed to our approach. But it's too early for me to liken it to any of the other movies.

IESB: On Transformers it's a bit different on the writing process because you've got Ehren [Kruger] working as well. How did that work out for you guys?

Bob: We couldn't have done it without Ehren. It would have literally been impossible because we were producing Eagle Eye...

Alex: And with the strike, it really ran out the clock so when the strike ended, we had four months to get a shooting draft together. And so the three of us locked ourselves into a hotel, or I should say, Michael Bay locked us in a hotel...

Bob: Posted a guard outside the door, they slid food under, we got to talk to our wives every couple of days...(laughter)

Alex: We would work in one room, Ehren in another room and then we'd get together twice a day and trade pages and go over each other's stuff. It was actually great, it was a lot of fun and having him come in with a fresh perspective and not having had any of the baggage we had from the first movie was key to making the second one it's own movie, distinct from the first one.

Bob: And Ehren's the greatest too because he's equal parts fan boy and grown-up and I think he is able to get the best of both perspectives and so it was just a very fun team and it felt, we worked together on a movie he had written for us as producers, but this was the first time to really sit down and write together and I think it was the easiest transition I can imagine.

Alex: It was like the Traveling Wilburys (laughter).

IESB: So who's Roy Orbison?

Bob: The Bee-Gees may be better (laughter)

Alex: The Bee-Gees...just keep digging the hole deeper.

IESB: Real quickly on Transformers, it looks like it's definite that the Constructicons and Devastator are in, Soundwave is in, can you give us any hints, any clues of what else we are going to see?

Bob: You are going to find out a lot about the mythology. It's officially going to tell you what the Transformers history is and I think a lot of it is going to be taken, somewhat, from gospel. I think we all settled on the fact that the source material and the myth that established in much of the Transformers back story was perfect for this movie. And that should be satisfying to genuine fans.

IESB: One of the things that we got teased about, and that I loved, was looking at Cybertron. Are we going to actually see it this time? Are we getting the same - explain it in the beginning of the movie and then back to Earth?

Alex: I think in the spirit of what we gave you in the first movie, there will be similar things in this movie.

Bob: Meaning, "no comment." (laughter)

IESB: Fringe, it's good people are liking it. You guys have been working on everything from - by the way Jack of All Trades I loved it, it should have never been canceled it was an awesome show, I love Bruce Campbell - but most considered the Xena, Jack of All Trades stuff B-genre, but now it seems to be a good time to be writing, producing right now in TV for genre. Fringe is in primetime, genre is back in primetime with stuff like Heroes and Lost, and it's taking up the vacancy that X-Files left...

Bob: I mean, talk about being at the right place at the right time for us. It's very fortunate that it swung back around. It seemed like when we were kids there was much more in primetime - A-Team, Knight Rider - kind of these weird non-cop, non-lawyer, non-doctor shows and to have that come back around and to have a change to where you can really play with genre and take it seriously and be kind of weird, to do that now on the scale we get to do it, very lucky...

Alex: As a fan boy, I think we also feel like B-genre treated with an A-treatment is the way to go, you know, what that means is you have to take it seriously even if other people think it's tongue and cheek. Herc and Xena everyone always thought was really campy and yet we never wrote one episode with any deliberate camp. We just stayed within the reality of that world and we told the stories as they needed to be told. And, I think the lessons that we learned on those shows have literally applied to everything we've done since then.

IESB: When are we going to see you guys do a man-in-tights comic book adaptation? Either write or produce?

Bob: Are there any available? (laughter)

IESB: Superman, I hear they are looking for good writers.

(laughter)

Alex: Superman is one of those unbelievably great, he's probably been the most influential, certainly on me when I was a kid. It would be like taking on something like Star Trek.

Bob: Yeah, let's see how Star Trek goes before we take on any other, before we ruin anything else... (laughter).

IESB: Ruin? Come on... (laughter)

EAGLE EYE opens in theaters September 26!

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