Has Hollywood Reporter Fingered JJ's James T. Kirk?? Maybe...But...

Merrick here...
Seems Chris Pine (not to be confused with Chris Pike) is in talks to take the center seat. A relative newcomer, Pine recently appeared in Joe Carnahan's SMOKIN' ACES, in which he played a neo-Nazi assassin. He's also being courted to appear in Carnahan's next film, WHITE JAZZ, an adaptation of a novel by James Ellroy. Paramount folk and Camp Carnahan are efforting a scheduling solution that'll allow Pine to appear in both TREK and JAZZ, although Pine may end up having to make a fateful choice. In a twisted bit of dark, dark irony: TREK overlord JJ Abrams replaced Carnahan on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III. Might be kinda...awkward (?) More on this as more comes in...