Director Joe Carnahan announced today that Chris Pine has given up a lead role in his upcoming film White Jazz to take on the role of Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek film.

"The young man playing Junior Stemmons has opted to 'go where no man has gone before' and thus, had to bow out of White Jazz," Carnahan wrote on his official blog. Only last week, word came out that Pine was being pursued by both Paramount for Star Trek and by Carnahan for his new James Ellroy adaptation, which would have seen Pine act opposite George Clooney. The Hollywood Reporter predicted the combination of these two roles would make Pine a star, but also noted that the shooting schedules of the two films overlapped, and there was a possibility Pine might have to choose between the two.

"I've been talking to him this past week and knew how tough the decision had to be for him," Carnahan continued. "I don't envy ever being in that spot but I gave him my full support, even if it meant he didn't do Jazz. You don't get opportunities like that often and I told him as long as he could control as much of that process as possible and not get sucked into doing lesser sequels as a result of taking this gig, then good luck and God bless."

With Pine now having dropped out of White Jazz, it seems likely Paramount will soon officially announce him as the new Captain Kirk. And after that role, it seems he won't have to worry about work for a while. "We're sure to do something down the road," Carnahan finished his blog post. "I've already slotted him in for Killing Pablo" -- a thriller based on the true story of how Colombian gangster Pablo Escobar was assassinated.

For Carnahan's original post, please follow this link.

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