Star Trek fans may be lamenting the long wait between the 2009 Star Trek movie and its sequel, but Zachary Quinto actually thinks it is a good thing. In a video interview (below) watch the new Spock talk about how the time gap helps the team and the fans. He also talks about the potential for Spock in the next film and more. [UPDATE: Quinto joins American Horror Story]
Quinto on long gap, Spock’s goldmine of drama potential and more parallel universes?
Speaking to the Associated Press about the Star Trek sequel, Quinto had this to say about the long wait:
I think there was an implicit understanding that we would do it again and we would all be excited when that time came, but that it probably wouldn’t be for a minute. You can’t go through something so sweeping and so powerful and expect it to begin again right away. I think everyone was cool and let it settle and we all went off to do other stuff and now we are gearing up to get back to it eventually at some point.
By the time the movie comes out it will be like 3 years later – almost 4 years later. So I think there is something nice about that. it gives people a chance to breathe. Both the people involved in creating the story and the people engaging the story. And it makes people miss it a little bit. We had a lot of good will around that first movie so I feel like people are going to be ready for that second one when it comes out. It’s not like "already? really? again"
Regarding the creative team and their progress, Quinto had this to say:
I know those guys are working really hard on it – JJ, Bob, Alex, Damon. It is going to be awesome right? I have to know that with them all in a room. I have heard some rumblings, but I haven’t seen anything.
On Spock’s arc
His planet was destroyed so there is a good place to start. The onus he feels to rebuild his race to support the reminder of his culture and the conflicts that can arise therein. His relationship with Uhura and being pulled in more than one direction emotionally is potential goldmine of drama.
VIDEO:
Here is more from Quinto from the same event (via ITN), where Quinto said:
I imagine we are going to pick up right where we left off, but it could be a completely different timeline. They have basically created a device where we could go anywhere. We could be in a parallel universe, we could be in a parallel time. It is the joy of science fiction. Vulcan could be back, who knows.
UPDATE: Quinto joins American Horror Story
In other Quinto news, the actor is headed back to TV for a recurring role on the upcoming FX series American Horror Story. According to Entertainment Weekly, Quinto will play "a gay interior designer who used to be the owner of the show’s centerpiece haunted house."
American Horror Story premires on FX on October 5th. Here is a promo:
He’s the best actor in the movie.
Antici… pation is a good thing!
I couldn’t think of another actor that could pull off Spock better than Quinto did. Having to play an emotionless being for an actor has got to be difficult without looking or feeling wooden on film, luckily he has enough insight into the character and chops as an actor to be able to make what he’s thinking or feeling on screen just barely obvious with just the most subtle of facial expressions or body language. He really is a good actor.
He did impress me. There were moments in which he channeled Nimoy’s Spock. In the scene in which he loses his mother and they zoom in on him on the transporter pad he looks like a child – in fact, he looks like the actor who played him as a child earlier in the film. Outstanding performances.
I’m getting tired of the writers releasing non-updates.
“We’re close!”
“Now we’re closer!!”
“Boy, oh boy are we close now!!!”
blah blah blah
@ #1
i think chris pine is pretty good. in fact, it’s a great cast from top to bottom. probably trek’s most talented ensemble of actors yet.
Christ, another procrastinator with excuses. Can you imagine this happening on the Harry Potter series of movies?
Love Quinto as an actor, but his need to take multiple years off to get refreshed comes across as lame and as a very obvious life-line to bail out the tardy Supreme Court.
Tim Him 4 years might be ok. But to us Crazy Trekies or Terkers. THAT’S JUST TO LONG OF A WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok. I feel better now.
#7 Commodore.
I could not agree more. Whats it to him to wait 4 years??? What else is he going to say??? I know that he must put a positive spin on it all, but we all have heard it too many times since the 2009 film.
@7 @8 Exactly! Enough is enough! I am so tired of the continued parade of excuses and poor attempts at face saving here.
We used to get an episode a week. Now we have to wait 4 years?
Ugh. I hate waiting.
The only person we have not heard from saying this sort of thing has been Chris Pine. Hopefully, he will have the good sense not to say anything now and not get drawn into answering any silly questions from reporters, papz etc. Sometimes silence can be golden.
Finally people saying what I’ve been afraid to..I try to be patient but four years I mean come on!!!!
ZQ, I’ve said this elsewhere… but I’ll say it again, four years is too long for me to catch my breath…LOL
11. Keachick …Yeah …definitely!
I fear that the time between movies will be comparable to waiting for Pon Far!
4 years is that all! maybe they should wait 6 years just to make sure we are refresh i mean who wants a film every two years not mean to much and dont even think about 26 episodes of tv a years lol
given it up to berman not only a movie but 2 tv prgrames at the same times just think if we were going off jj time table the next gen will be in the first season
Sorry, but of course they’re going to have everyone behind the movie come up with excuses and reasons that they’re dragging their heals with this next movie. 2-3 years is a chance for people to catch their breath, 3-4 years is a chance for people to forget the excitement of the first and lose interest.
I wouldn’t mind if it was on TV, but its not.
Let’s hope the 4 year gap works in Trek’s favor. There was also a 4 year gap between Insurrection and Nemesis, and look how that turned out.
Just saying.
Re: Quinto/Spock’s special cadence in the way he says of “Out of the chair” to Kirk –
We have a beautiful shiny coated black Labrador cross 5 year old bitch called Shadow. She likes to get into her “master’s” chair. The only way she will get off the chair is when she is told “Out of the chair” said in the same way as Spock said it to Kirk. She rarely responds to any other command, or those words said in any other way. She’s just done it now, going from one sofa to another, even though somebody here was copying the Quinto/Spock words and not directing them at her at all. She is such a good dog!!!
3 years makes sense, but 4 years is just too long.
Nonsense. Resurrecting a franchise only to let it sit for four years is crazy. Please, someone get Trek back on tv.
Love Zach Quinto. He was terrific as Spock.
#5 Shaun
I agree this is a very talented group of actors. They were all good.
Four years between orgasms is way too long.
Let’s try to limit our whining to 10 posts per article. And that’s counting your sock puppets.
#22 And just think, Vulcans have to wait another three years…:)
Yea but not all good movies take 4 years to make, one could be done in two. Room to breath is one thing but Quinto is not “into” Star Trek the way say Nimoy or Koeing are.
You may want 4 years….the fans don’t.
Vulcan should stay destroyed. I don’t like it, when they used all the time the reset button.
And I don’t think that most of the Vulcans are interested in his help. They were big racists in the last movie. I think his sole existence is something a lot of people don’t like. They think already that this harmed their race/culture. So I bet they would prefer, if he doesn’t get any children. They sound like the kind of people, who would see it as a further dilution of their race. As there are so few Vulcans left, I bet they feel this way even stronger now.
What a complete waste of time. Four years to make a mediocre sequel? With b-list actors? Please…let it die! JJ Abrams has got to be the worst director in Hollywood. They say that Nemesis killed the franchise? I beg to differ. Abrams drove the stake through its heart.
I saw this on his Facebook,but,I love to watch him talk! So sexy! Anyway,a little bit of an inbetween is good,but…………this long of one,I don’t know about. I hope JJ don’t forget about his saying that he will tell us something ‘very soon’.
I’d love to go back through old Trekmovie.com posts to see how many of those who are whining about the delay were the same folks who didn’t want the first movie to be made in the first place.
Seriously, folks, do you think that all this griping and whining is going to make Abrams, Orci, etc. suddenly speed up? Do you think they’re just sitting back, laughing at fans and throwing darts at pictures of the TOS cast?
If they had rushed, you’d complain about a rushed sequel. Now you’re complaining about a delayed sequel. Hey, how about being happy that there will BE a sequel? (Except those of you who just hate anything related to AbramsTrek.)
It is embarrassing to call myself a Trekkie when so many other Trekkies are so…well, Anthony runs a polite site here, so I’ll stop that comment right there. Grow up, people! GET A LIFE!
@29 “I’d love to go back through old Trekmovie.com posts to see how many of those who are whining about the delay were the same folks who didn’t want the first movie to be made in the first place.”
Nice try, but for my part, I loved Trek 09, and was a consistend staunch defende of the Supreme Court until Spring of this year when it became clear about the continuing delays, etc.
I don’t think having to wait four years for the next movie is a bad thing as for as losing peoples interest. If people liked the first one they are going to take interest in the next one and want to go see it. Its hard to forget about a good movie. Plus in a few months when the FX network gets the rights to the movie they will be playing it on TV to refresh peoples memory and build up the anticipation for the next one.
I know as Star Trek fans we can never get enough of it. We are so used to getting a new movie every two or three years that we get spoiled on it. When we don’t get it the way we are used to we can get mad and impatient because we don’t like change.
The people that where in charge in the past really only worked on Star Trek and not much else. We have to understand there are new people in charge of the franchise right now who have other projects they have to work on besides Star Trek.
Change is a part of growth so we need to except it for what is and just move forward and let Star Trek naturally evolve as it will. After all In Hollywood nothing is ever written in stone things can change at anytime for any number of reasons so we just need to except it for what it is and let things play out how they may.
As I said in another thread, Quinto is going to have to expand his range some to be a good Spock. Alternating between disinterested/bored, petulant/pissed, and mopey romantic does not a good Spock make.
Spock is clever. Spock is a smart ass. Spock is droll. Spock is uncontrollably curious. Spock is afraid of love because he fears how strong it is. He needs to treat it like a reformed alcoholic treats booze – not a drop. You know he’s really got that romantic human side in his heart and it takes all his mind and training and cultural pride to suppress it and be a “good” Vulcan.
I saw none of that in Quinto’s performance (or to be fair, the script).
#27
It’s a good thing for the franchise’s sake that most of us (and the legions of well-paying casual fans) disagree with you.
#20 i agree. Quinto can pontificate all he want’s. To be honest he may need to take up jogging if he’s still catching his breath after the last movie. It was enjoyable but it wasn’t that good.
#32 Agreed. I was very disappointed with his Spock.
Zachary Quinto can hardly say anything else. I wonder if Quinto is aware of the feelings of a lot of people who are wondering “What’s with the delays? and no official director yet?” and it is not just among die-hard Star Trek fans either. I guess it is all about diplomacy.
Re my previous post about Chris Pine not seeming to have said anything… Given that he has been photographed by paparazzi etc at the opening of a new clothing retail outlet, seen leaving hotel restaurants with friends etc, it is very possible that he has been quizzed by journalists hanging around about the Star Trek movie, and yet there has been nothing quoted relating to any movie that he has been signed on to make – not Star Trek, not The Rise of the Guardians (animation movie) or the Jack Ryan movie. Yet everyone else, it seems, has been busy talking no-news news.
Just saying…
#29 – Paul B …you tried so hard… but no way…
:-) :-)
BTW, I noticed “Super 8” playing at the $3 flop theater today, and assume “Cowboys and Aliens” is not far behind.
Just sayin’.
If it had been four years between films with the TOS cast, I would have cared. With this cast and the MTV-ification of “Star Trek,” who cares?
Also, just sayin’.
Omni and Odkin should team up as Omniodkin, or Odkinomni… *coughs trolls*
#35 – Keachick….In fact Chris has not been recently interviewed… the other actors are promoting their new projects and are questioned about Trek sequel, and then end up saying something…
CP is still hidden in the rabbit hole… regarding the work I mean….
:-) :-)
38/39 – if you don’t care, why are you commenting?
Quinto/Spock is not trying to be a “good” Vulcan. He is trying to be a “good” Human. What part of that don’t you understand?
This Spock may well have to resort to undergoing something like the Kolinahr ritual in order to integrate aspects of himself better, so that he can gain greater mastery over his emotions. Neither path he takes, either the path of a “true” Vulcan or the path of a “true” Human, will be easy. That is Vulcan/Human cross he must bear.
In TOS, I thought Spock came off as intellectually snotty and arrogant and eager to put down humans for lesser intellectual capacities and what he saw as a lack of rationality. Kirk also showed this apparent lack of rationality and yet Kirk still managed to win at 3D chess and still made the winning call when it came to saving the Enterprise and crew. Kirk’s abilities often left Spock bewildered.
Zachery Quinto says, “We could be in a parallel universe, we could be in a parallel time. It is the joy of science fiction. Vulcan could be back, who knows.”
Oh great. Another parallel universe. Will somebody call Scott Bakula?
Quinto says, “And it makes people miss it a little bit. We had a lot of good will around that first movie so I feel like people are going to be ready for that second one when it comes out. It’s not like “already? really? again”
Yeah, three years is too soon. People were complaining when Harry Potter I was folllowed by Harry Potter II, one year later. And boy, they were howling when Twilight I was followed by Twilight II, then Twilight III year after year. Gee, I wonder if those franchises were hurt by doing one move one year apart. :-) (The answer is they weren’t..) But I can’t believe that Quinto is arguing franchise fatique.
42 – Because I live in America and it’s a constitutional right. Plus I have loved and cared about this show since it first aired in 1966. If you don’t like my opinions, don’t read them.
“Four years between Star Trek movies is a good thing.”
Hmm…I never thought of it that way before. I suppose four years between the original and the sequel is a good thing, in that it gives a HEY WAIT A MINUTE!!!
Sneaky Quinto…almost got me with his little power-of-suggestion trick there…but I’m not fallin’ for it!
And what’s this about “time to breathe?” None of that, either!
Back to work! Move! Move! Move! Write! Produce! Act! Make fantastic art!
NOW!!
4. Bingo. That transporter scene was pretty neat.
I’m fine with the wait. Next summer would have been good, but whatever. Again, I’m glad they’re not rushing crap out — although I hope that the team taking their time means we’ll get something passable, at the very least…
Spock’s characterization was pretty inconsistent at times in TOS, but (mostly, apart from the first few episodes) not glaringly so. And, of course, he was very different in each movie, although this worked well (and there were reasons for it in the stories, mostly [although 5 was just goofy]).
My favorite Spock was in Star Trek II, I think. I don’t know Leonard Nimoy, but he seemed more Nimoy-y than Spock-y, I’m guessing, in his later appearances as Spock (a charge we often level at Shatner, although calling his later Kirk more Shatner-like is less of a compliment).
Keachick said
“Quinto/Spock is not trying to be a “good” Vulcan. He is trying to be a “good” Human. What part of that don’t you understand?”
The part that you are completely making up out of thin air? Or was the movie so misguided in it’s characterization and execution that Spock abandoned those sacred Vulcan beliefs and I just missed it?
PS. Hey, Keachick.
Maybe Pine knows when to keep his mouth shut. These “I’d like to see my character…(usually it’s ‘really kick some ass’)” comments, or worse, total speculation based on what happened to their characters in the last movie usually sound, well, like bullshit. I was listening to a radio interview today with Larry Hagman, and he was talking about how he was offered, back when JR was shot, like 250 grand to reveal who had shot him. And, of course, he had no idea.
Yet again, I’m hoping Spock’s lamenting for the loss of Vulcan is over. The remaining Vulcans will be fine. They’re smart — they’re Vulcans for Pete’s sake — so they won’t sink or swim depending on the actions of young Spock (unless they’re planning on doing a Spock-as-Conan/Spartacus kind of thing, in which case Quinto had better start doing push-ups and practice oiling himself up). I’m hoping for no mention of Vulcan at all in the next thing, frankly… unless they go all political and do a cold-war-y intrigue/Jason Bourne political thriller kind of thing, with the balance shifted after the loss of Vulcan and the Romulans or Vulcans stirring shit up and some nefarious scheme at play, etc.
Meh.
That’s the thing. Trek movies haven’t done relatively small-stakes dangers (where the Earth isn’t at risk) that well (although, now that I think about it, Trek II, III and VI did it damned well).
The TNG movies, apart from First Contact, had stakes that we didn’t really care about (the people of Veridian III [or wherever it was], those 600 Ba’ku settlers. The Enterprise, of course… but you knew (by then the franchise was a machine, there was no question that it would continue, unlike those early TOS movies) the ship and crew would be relatively fine (even when it was destroyed, you knew it was just so they could introduce another model). Heck, in Nemesis, Earth was (slightly indirectly) in peril and I could have cared less. Ditto with Data and the Enterprise.
After a while, the ship alone being in danger isn’t enough (because we know it’ll be fine and that it will escape similar danger next week/film, see: Voyager and it’s weekly pyrotechnic-filled “the ship is being torn apart!” battle sequence). In the movies that worked, we were pretty well convinced that, yeah, it could all be over (and Spock did die, briefly… and the Enterprise was destroyed, briefly).
But, when Trek worked, it was because of what was happening to the characters and how they were reacting. There was doubt and self-flagellating and consequences. The big three were in conflict, with themselves and with each other. When the trigger is, clearly, engineered (hey look, Picard’s nephew died, horrifically… hey look, Spock has a brother… hey look, Picard has a clone) or isn’t there at all, well, the movie sucks.