In a new Interview with Aint it Cool News Zachary Quinto seems ready to take on the role of Spock in the new Star Trek film, saying “I can’t be daunted. I have to be absolutely honored and prepared. There’s no room for daunted.” He noted the courage he feels working with the likes of Leonard Nimoy, producer/director J.J. Abrams, and the film’s writers and producers. “I feel like I can just implicitly trust these guys and I’m so inspired by their enthusiasm, so I’m nothing but excited.” Regarding Star Trek’s “notoriously picky fan base,” Quinto acknowledged that Star Trek is an important part of many people’s lives and that the new film’s creative team were aiming to please the fans while also putting their own spin on the franchise.
Their hand in it is going to inevitably influence it and change it and that’s really exciting as long as it’s done with the work in mind and the respect at hand.
Quinto feels that the way the team introduced Nimoy at Comic-Con “shows [the creative team’s] respect for these characters, for the actors who created them, and for the franchise in general.” He again expressed his appreciation to be learning about the world of Star Trek, which he finds “very heightened.” Since he has always been interested in stories with a large scope, such as Star Trek, he almost referred to his being cast as Spock with a certain ‘L’-word (“logical”) before catching himself and instead commenting “it makes sense to me on a fundamental level.” In the meantime, Quinto has enjoyed the time he has spent with Leonard Nimoy and is looking forward to spending more time with the original Spock actor in coming weeks: it appears they will both be touring the world to promote the DVD release of Heroes’ first season.
correction update: In the AICN interview Quinto stated he and Nimoy would be “traveling…because we’re taking off to do the world tour” to promote the DVD release. This raised some eyebrows (pun not intended) since Nimoy is not involved with Heroes. Now in a new interview with National Ledger, Quinto says Nimoy is traveling, which is currently preventing the two from getting together. Quinto apparently meant that both he and Nimoy would be traveling separately.
For more, read the full interview at Ain’t It Cool News.
Consdering Leonard Nimoy was the first actor cast for what would become the TOS-era crew, it’s very appropriate that Quinto be the first cast for this new crew.
Damn, I am really, really excited to see this unfold on the big screen. This is so monumental to many of us and – while they obviously won’t get everything 100% perfect as each of us see fit – I hope they don’t let us down with the grand scheme of things. GREAT STORY! KILLER VILLAIN/CRISIS! ACTION! And above all else… DRAMA OUT THE YIN-YANG!
” it appears they will both be touring the world to promote the DVD release of Heroes’ first season.”
I’d say this was a mistake on the part of AICN and how they quoted Zachary (imagine that!!). Nowhere in any of NBC’s press releases or anywhere else has it been stated that Leonard Nimoy will be included in the Heroes World Tour beginning Tuesday. That doesn’t even make sense, since he isn’t on ‘Heroes’. Zachary is touring North America for one week with James Kyson Lee (Ando), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah) and Dania Ramierez (Maya). I highly doubt Mr. Nimoy will be at NYC or Toronto with them, or NBC would have announced it.
Mr. Quinto, I’m sure you wil be fine in your roll as Mr. Spock. Afterall, you will be learning from the quintessential Vulcan himself.
For someone who has professed to not being such a Star Trek fan, which originally had me concerned. I hope the man plans on watching a few episodes before they start shooting.
490 dtST
#4
Zachary has watched Star Trek when he was a kid. He has also seen the movies. He has just never become involved in the fandom or immersed himself in the mythology because he never had the interest to get so involved – he was never interested in SciFi when he was younger. That’s what he has meant when saying he wasn’t a Star Trek fan. Not that he was totally clueless. He’s learning. :)
It’s great to see tht Quinto has such confidence in the producers and crew. He has a lot to learn and Nimoy has a lot to teach. It’s good to see that Quinto realizes the importance of what has come before, while having to acknowledge that things won’t be exactly as they were. I also find it very gratifying to hear how well Nimoy and Quinto are getting along.
#3 aelora
I also found that part of the interview odd. It’s possible that Quinto meant both he and Nimoy would be traveling — Quinto to promote the Heroes DVD and Nimoy for some unspecified reason. That’s why I said “it appears” they will be touring together, because that’s just how Quinto’s reply read. If it’s an error, though, it can be corrected or removed later. I probably should have added something along the lines of “This seems odd, given that Nimoy is not associated with Heroes.” Then again, Nimoy *did* hand out the Future Classic Award to the cast of Heroes at the TV Land Awards, so maybe he’s decided to help promote it as well, though this seems unlikely. It’s also possible that Nimoy is traveling with Quinto so he can continue guiding him on Spock or giving him pointers or something… though that also doesn’t seem plausible. It’s most likely that Quinto meant the y would both be traveling, he just neglected to say they were doing so separately, or that they’re traveling for more than just promoting the DVDs.
Well, you know Nimoy never had watched an episode of “Star Trek” before he was hired to appear in it.
Dennis (#8),
Now THAT’S funny! Of course, everyone knows that Nimoy already had experience before signing on for Star Trek. He was in “Zombies of the Stratosphere” for goodness sake! If that’s not a ticket to sci-fi stardom, I don’t know what is.
Quinto seems to possess a quiet, dignified serenity, which is a critical factor in choosing the actor to portray the new Spock. In addition to any “acting chops” the person would bring to the role, the audience will definitely pick up on that aspect of the characterization! Good choice!!
I really appreciate that Quinto does not seem to be taking his new role lightly and has some idea of what Trek is about and his responsibility to that. That, along with Nimoy’s endorsement, as much as anything has me looking forward to the new film
How are they going to lower Quintos voice to match Nimoys voice? I guess electronically huh?
Re 12: I highly doubt they are going to even consider that an issue.
I think they should have Nimoy do the Spock lines and dub it in over Quinto’s acting. :)
I don’t think anyone should be worrying about Zachary being able to change his voice! He does it for all of his roles – he doesn’t sound a bit like he does in real life when onscreen. The man graduated from Carnegie Mellon with an acting degree – I’m sure voice training was included. :)
I still don’t think – even with Nimoy’s warning – that Quinto still fully appreciates what he is walking into. But he will learn soon.