For the Love of Spock Page #9

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My dad was very sympathetic about

my desire to make a career change

and even helped me,

trained me as a director.

He and I actually

made an episode

of "The Outer Limits" together.

We were remaking an episode that he

was originally in in the early '60s

in which he had

a supporting role.

Your design and your construction

are nothing short of genius,

but even you must understand

that you're basically a takeoff

on the thoughts and feelings that Dr.

Link programmed into you.

A man suffers, a man bleeds,

a man has a soul.

I could snap your neck

as if it were a toothpick.

In that sense, you're right.

I'm not like most men.

But like most men,

I choose not to.

Let me go.

[Leonard Nimoy] The story of

"Star Trek:
The Motion Picture"

rightly begins in London where my

wife and I were vacationing in 1975.

We went to see Henry Fonda who was

performing on stage in "Darrow."

After the performance, we joined

him and his wife for dinner.

At some point during

the conversation, Henry said,

"You know, Leonard,

I hope you're being paid

for all those billboards

around town."

-[beer pouring] -[Leonard Nimoy]

"What billboards, Henry?"

"Do you mean to tell rne you don't know

about all those Heineken billboards?"

Now, I'd seen my Spock image

used commercially before,

such as on a box of

Kellogg's Corn Flakes.

I'd been amused by it, finding

it campy and even flattering.

Once "Star Trek" was canceled,

Paramount had no legal right to license

my likeness from that time on.

So not only had Paramount

been marketing me as Spock

for almost 'IO years

without the right to do so,

for the last five of those 1 C), they

hadn't sent rne any of the proceeds.

I wound up having

to file a lawsuit.

They wanted to make this movie.

And Bob Weiss had it

in his contract

that they would make their best

efforts to get me in the movie.

And my agent would

call me and say,

"They wanna talk to you about the 'Star

Trek' movie." And I would say...

"When we settle the lawsuit, I'll

talk about acting in their movie,"

becauselthought

that's my leverage.

So that went on for some time.

And... finally, I got a call

from a guy who introduced

himself to me.

He said, "My name

is Jeff Katzenberg,

and I've just gone to

work for Paramount."

And I was acting in "Equus" on

Broadway at the time in New York.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg] So there goes little

Jeffrey off trotting to New York...

[laughing] ...to say to him, "You've

got to put the ears back on."

So I went, and I saw the show,

and after the show,

We went to Joe Allen's.

I said to him, "We're going

to make the movie.

"Those ears are going on.

"They're either going on you, or they're

actually going to go on somebody else,

"but they are going to go on.

And how badly will you feel

when you didn't put them on?"

The big leverage that he always

had beginning with these movies

was that Paramount Pictures

needed him,

and they couldn't make a "Star

Trek" movie without him.

[Leonard Nimoy]

Finally, my lawyer called.

"Look, Paramount is actually showing

some willingness to reach an agreement.

"Will you read the script

if they settle the lawsuit?"

"Yes. ll

Four days later, on a Friday

evening, the lawsuit settled.

My lawyer came to my

house with a check.

An hour later,

the script arrived.

I sat down and read it

through that night.

[Interviewer] Leonard

Nimoy was the last person

to join the movie cast and was

asked why he was a hold out.

I don't think it was

a question of hold out.

We've had a long and...

complicated relationship,

I mean, Paramount and myself,

for the last couple of years.

And probably the thing

that took the most time

is the fact that

the mail service

between here and Vulcan

is still pretty slow.

Spock.

Making that first movie was

very, very dis-spiriting,

very depressing.

We had a bad script,

bad script.

It just never worked.

It was always a struggle

to try to figure out how to bring

some life to this... project.

And, um, we did our best,

but I never...

The pendulum swung completely

when that first movie came along

from being an actor and

character-oriented "Star Trek"

to an effects-oriented

"Star Trek."

And the feeling was, "Oh, we

didn't have the money before.

Now we've got the money, we've got

to give them a big effects movie."

So it was all about the ship, the ship,

and this effect, and that effect,

and we're going

through this thing.

Now, we're going

through that thing.

Nothing about the characters.

So it was frustrating, and

depressing, and, uh, very painful.

Khan.

Khan!

In "Star Trek ll," the lure that

Harve Bennett gave him was,

"You're going to have the greatest

death scene of all time."

Spock, no!

[Leonard Nimoy] I thought that

was the final "Star Trek" movie,

and when they said to me,

"How about a death scene?"

I thought, "Why not? If this

is the end of 'Star Trek,'

"let's get out in a blaze of

glory saving the Enterprise.

You know, be a hero

and die." [laughing]

[struggling]

Live long...

and prosper.

[Leonard Nimoy] Sooner than

I realized, it was over.

No.

[Leonard Nimoy] I stripped off the

ears, the makeup, the uniform,

and so Spock

gradually disappeared,

leaving behind

only Leonard Nimoy.

Never again the raised eyebrow.

Never again the delicious

teasing of the irascible doctor

or the offering of logic to my

impetuous friend and captain.

Never again the mind meld,

the neck pinch,

or the Vulcan salute

and blessing,

live long and prosper.

I asked myself,

"What have I done?"

Well, of course, they put in a little

footage at the end of the movie

that suggested that this might

not be the end of Spock.

I'm sorry, Doctor. I have no

time to discuss this logically.

Remember.

And they came to me,

sure enough,

after the picture opened

and did business,

and they called me

in for a meeting.

They said, "We'd like to know if you'd like

to be involved in another 'Star Trek' movie?"

And I said,

"Yes, I'd like to direct it."

I remember distinctly one night

I got a phone call from him.

And he said he'd been on the

phone with Michael Eisner,

and that Michael Eisner was trying

to talk him out of directing,

making his directing debut

directing himself in a

feature film and so forth.

And he was asking me...

He was soliciting my advice.

I said, "Well,

it's really very simple.

Are you prepared to let this

ship sail without you?"

And he said, "Oh, absolutely."

I said, "Then sit tight You're going

to direct the movie." [laughing]

[Klingon] My Lord, the ship

appears to be deserted.

How can that be?

They're hiding.

Yes, sir, but the bridge seems

to be run by a computer.

It is the only thing speaking.

Speaking?

Let me hear.

[Computer]

Nine, eight, seven, six, five--

Get out!

Get out of there!

[Leonard Nimoy] I got a oall before the

movie opened from Jeff Katzenberg,

who was head of production

at Paramount at the time,

and he said, "We want you

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