Exclusiva: Writer Roberto Orci Talks About 'Cowboys & Aliens'

By Michael Lopez

A while back we profiled the red hot career of Roberto Orci. In the past few years, the Mexican-born screenwriter has cranked out some of the hottest scripts in Hollywood. His latest film, Cowboys & Aliens, promises to continue that blockbuster streak and Orci spoke to Tr3s exclusively about what went into the project.

"Working on Cowboys & Aliens was exciting," Roberto explained. "But it was also nerve-wracking because you know you're working with the people you're working with. We had Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard involved in this project."

There is no denying that Cowboys has an arsenal of A-list talent behind it. It has Iron Man’s Jon Favreau as its director, Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig as it stars, and legendary filmmakers Spielberg and Howard in the producers' seat. Orci was quick to point out how everyone contributed.

"Spielberg knows aliens and Ron knows cowboy movies," he jokingly said. "They were like referees. They told us when we were going astray."

Roberto also explained how growing up in Mexico helped him appreciate big spectacle films like Cowboys & Aliens. In fact, it was American blockbusters from people like Spielberg that inspired him to write in the first place.

"Growing up in Mexico City, fantasy films were the ones you got particularly attached to," he went on to say. "They seemed like another world. I was paying a lot more attention when I was watching American movies because I was learning a language and I was dreaming about a world that was so fascinating."

Judging by Orci’s resume, his dreams have most certainly come true. In the past two years alone, he's been attached to projects like Fringe, Transformers, and Star Trek. Though he was tight lipped about the Star Trek sequel, Roberto did confirm that the script is close to completion.

"We’re working on Star Trek II now," he said. "We'll be working on it for the next six months."

But if you want a taste of Orci's outer space creations a little sooner than that, we highly recommend checking out Cowboys & Aliens when it hits theaters on Friday.

Are you planning on watching Cowboys & Aliens? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Tags Blogger: Michael Lopez, Cowboys & Aliens, Exclusive Entrevistas, Hot Stuff, Movies & CineMás, Roberto Orci, Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg, Tr3s Exclusives