In a new AP video interview Zachary Quinto talks about being a villain in Heroes and his new role as Spock in the new Star Trek film.
for those too click and watch video…
Studying Nimoy
In an interesting exchange the new Spock said that he was looking to the original Spock more than anything else for guidance in taking over the role
AP: I heard you and Leonard Nimoy have become friends since you met at the Comic-Con convention in July, that you even had dinner together at his home.
Quinto: It’s really important for me and vital for me to get to know him as a person. People are always asking me like, ‘Well, are you going to watch the old ‘Star Treks, are you going to immerse yourself in that whole situation?’ I feel like knowing him as a man and knowing the impact that this experience had on his life and his journey as an artist – and I truly consider him just a really formidable artist. He’s really redefined himself and found other outlets for his creativity over the years and that’s really inspiring to me. So, just sort of exposing me to that and really getting to know him and learning where he came from with his character is probably going to be more invaluable than anything else.
Goes after what he wants
Quinto seems to be a determined person. He said that before he got the role of the evil brain-sucking Sylar on Heroes he had decided he wanted to play a villain. Then after landing that role he "mounted a campaign" to get the role as the new Spock.Quinto also noted that Star Trek and Heroes seem to have a "symbiotic relationship" with himself, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols crossing over. Although he thinks Nimoy’s ‘dance card is full’ the actor did say he might try and coax Nimoy over to Heroes too.
More at Yahoo AP news.
Good that he wants to get the essence of Spock from Nimoy and not do an imitation from watching the old episodes, the new Kirk has to do this as well.
I think he needs to at least view some of the basic mannerisms. To completely avoid looking at the character in any of the episodes seems a bit foolish to me. But then again, whadda I know?
Well I’m sure he wouldn’t have pursued the role if he wasn’t already familiar with TOS in some way.
I wager 1000 Quatloos that certain quick to judge lunatic fans spin this (or see this in their deluded states) That Quinto is some how arrogant for this statement and that he refuses to veiw any TOS and so on and so on…
The more I see of this guy, the more I think he is an inspired choice to play Spock…..
Who needs to watch a DVD when you have access to “the man” himself? This will go a LOOOOONG way towards keeping Quinto’s take on the Spock character fresh!
It is THIS kind of thinking that gives me great hope that this movie will ROCK!
Bravo, bravo, bravo!
(And notice there was no thread hijacking attenpt ;-) )
2000 quadloos on the newcomer
OMG! OMG! OMG Garth is right this is going to totally ruin Star Trek forever I mean like how is he going to act like Spock if he doesn’t watch Spock’s Brain or something IMHO LOL.
But in all honesty I do hope he watches at least some TOS and use it as a reference. Although JJ probably won’t let his interpretation go to far afield.
For what it’s worth, I loved the Ron Moore’s take on Battlestar Galactica.
While I am not advocating for a female Kirk (why does the image of Shatner in a red miniskirt come to mind??) it would be great to delve farther into these characters then ever before.
#1 I agree with you that whoever plays Kirk should do the same as what Quinto is doing. *
How exiting it must be to be working on this project!
(* Again, notice there is no thread hijack attempt ;-) )
1200 Quatloos that the newcomer will be untrainable and will have to be destroyed!
#9 “…Spock’s Brain…”
OK, perhaps that ONE episode should be mandatory to watch! LOL
Captain April, we are still fresh into this thread. Give it time. I hear a train a comin’.
Fortunately the image of Shatner in a red miniskirt does NOT come to mind. It does not compute!! Thank goodness. I don’t need that rattling around in my brain.
#13
I’ll have to stop in later to see where this all leads. ;-)
I think it’s good that he’s learning the underlying concepts and whatnot from Nimoy, as opposed to copying nimoy’s performances. you gotta do your own thing as an actor to leave your creative mark. he seems like a very intelligent guy and I can’t wait to see how he makes spock his own (so to say).
No offense, but does Nimoy even remember much about his original portrayal??
Zach REALLY needs to watch all 79.
It should be mandatory.
The movies? Notsomutch.
# 4: I agree with you! We’ll all be in the Internal Vault Of Destitution…Farengi Hell….if this guy doesn’t at least view some KEY episodes from each season. As said it Star Wars.
What is thy bidding My Master….? Bowing in the most humble manner before you!
Bah, if Quinto watches all the 79 episodes it’s liable to turn his performance into mimicry instead of something that’s much more organic and real. He’s got Nimoy to tell him what the character’s all about, and together they can work out who Spock was before the series. I’m happy with the course he’s taking.
While I agree that Quinto should not act like Nimoy’s Spock…don’t you think he should at least see one episode to get the general drift?
Then again…I trust Nimoy to get all the necessary factors across to Quinto, so Spock should turn out very nicely. ^_^
got to love how trekkies like to jump to extreme positions. Where has it been said he has never seen a single episode of star trek? He lobbied for the role remember…he is familiar with spock. his comments are that he values his time being ‘trained’ by nimoy more than ‘studying’ the DVDs
sheeeesh
This prequel movie will do no good
Remember when once there were new TNG and DS9 episodes every week? Good times. The best.
Now we’re looking forward to this prequel reboot travesty.
And not enough. If it’s successful we’re gonna get even MORE prequel sequel reboot. Hooray
That means I want this to bomb.
oh and whatever Quinto meant by his “not watching TOS”, it’s certainly not a good sign.
But it would sure be worse if J.J. Abrams had said something like that.
Do you guys think he has never seen an episode of Star Trek before or something? I’m sure he’ll do fine.
I’m just checking: It was clear that my post #9 was just a joke, right? I was trying to do an imitation of one of our “extremist” contributors.
If you guys are like this now the coming year should be interesting/silly/fucked up/weird/freaky enough so I guess no tabloids for me.
I am a trekkie/trekker of 35 years+ and can’t be more excited about this film. Keep up the great work of informing us of the goings on in Trekville!
If Quinto takes this seriously, he’d watch every single TOS episode, evrything about Vulcans in general, even Yesteryear. But that’s NOT the Spock he would have to play.
A commited actor would have too realize younger Spock was totally different in both pilot episodes. That’s part of the role, too. Make that happen.
But I guarantee he won’t be like in the Cage or Where no Man has gone before. They will mess it up because they’ll think it will confuse us dumb viewers.
Mark my words
Breen won’t like it. Breen hates everything.
I agree with Breen. Nick Meyer sat down and watched all the TOS episodes on 16mm film. I mean this guy just has to pop in a couple of DVDs. Sure Nimoy is a great reference but how much does he really remember from 40 years ago. I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday or for that matter yesteryear…
Sorry lol
But ain’t I right, in principle?
I hope Nimoy suggests Quinto review the TOS Spock; Nimoy–obviously–is the “master” source, but history–and Nimoy’s approach at that time–is pretty crucial.
Besides, what is there to study? Nimoy never really had any “mannerisms” as Spock that I remember. Now and then he would do something with his hands whenever he was in a thoughtful mood, but that’s about it.
Otherwise he just acted in a very calm and measured and emotionally restrained way. Shouldn’t be that hard to pick up on.
It really matters not if he watches or doesn’t watch. He ain’t Nimoy. He ain’t Spock.
That’s a bit like being hired to play Shirley Temple and not looking at her films, just talking with her now. Nimoy had never recaptured the intensity he had as Spock in the shows. We’ll see.
24. THX & 21 Anthony –
I think that just about everyone here is taking an extreme position.
He must be familiar with TOS, or he wouldn’t have lobbied for the part.
AND…He didn’t say that he wasn’t watching old episodes, only that learning from the Master was “more important than watching old episodes.”
To quote Anthony…”sheeeesh”
By the way, Mr. Nimoy ROCKS!
I have been a fan of his other work for years.
Haven’t seen it mentioned, but there is another connection.
I believe I read somewhere that JJ Abrams had some sort of connection with Mission Impossible. (Yeah, I know.)
The Great Leonard Nimoy was a cast regular on the original Mission Impossible, (TOSMI???), as The Great Paris (Seasons 4–5).
Here…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Ql6nntpasc
The Mission: Impossible movies…ehhh. Although I haven’t seen the third one yet. But what an example of how to take a known format, put a big star in, and throw everything else away. Oh yeah, make Mr. Phelps the bad guy?? WTF??
DavidJ are you kidding me? How about one raised eyebrow or touching his finger tips while in meditation or the way in which he would fight. When Nimoy played Spock it wasn’t a character it was a three dimensional person, very much different than who Nemoy is in real life. (My girlfriend’s met him twice)
I mean I’m an actor and to say Nimoy is just “emotionally restrained” is like saying Shattner is just a little over excited. The reson this stuff holds up is really because of the great performances.
Yeah, Tom Cruise making Jim Phelps a traitor was just plain wrong, and just one of the many reasons that I don’t like him.
Anyway…
Surfing, I found another Connection.
God Bless Wikipedia!
The Star Trek: Voyager episode “Future’s End” includes a reference to Mission: Impossible, a series that once shared studios and producers with the original Star Trek series – Desilu Studios (see Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball), since absorbed into the CBS/Paramount Television family.
I really hope Quinto strikes a balance between the performances of Nimoy as well as the personal insight that Nimoy will offer.
With all due respect, Nimoy coached and directed Robin Curtis, who I feel was the worst “vulcan” ever. And she was supposed to be half-Romulan, so she didn’t have to play the robotic vulcan. SHe could have played the character more along the lines of Kirstie Alley, who struck a nice balance between no emotions and some emotions…but she didn’t. I can only speculate that Nimoy was responsible by his direction. IF that’s the case, and I don’t know it to be, but IF it were, I hope he doesn’t coach Quinto.
Nimoy and Mark Lenard are the inventors of the Vulcans, though Mark has passed away. TOS is so large in pop culture, you don’t really need to watch every episode. Great that he’s learning from Nimoy. Quinto really should go watch Mind Meld with Nimoy and Shatner, because those are the most candid and open interviews either have ever given. I learned more about Nimoy and his preparation and feelings about the Spock character than ever before.
Ooops Mugatu just ate my god damn quatloos…..
MUUUUUGGGGAAAAAATTTTTTUUUUUUU!!!!!
“got to love how trekkies like to jump to extreme positions. Where has it been said he has never seen a single episode of star trek? He lobbied for the role remember…he is familiar with spock. his comments are that he values his time being ‘trained’ by nimoy more than ’studying’ the DVDs”
while i tend to agree with your remarks, i think the fact that the headline for the article reads “Quinto Looking to Nimoy and Not Old Episodes” certainly gives the reader the impression that its an either/or situation before they ever get to Quinto’s actual comments. i’m not exactly an idiot, but when i started the article, that was what i was expecting to find. i don’t think the reaction can be laid completely at the idol of myopic fanboy extremism.
Sheesh! Quinto makes a casual comment about the importance of learning directly from Nimoy, and then some over zealous fanboys are ready to declare the new movie is in peril?! Quinto seems to be intelligent, thoughtful, and dedicated to his craft, just like Nimoy was and still is. I can’t think of a better personality type taking on the role of Spock. I have complete confidence in JJ and him doing a fine job with this movie. And, it is just a movie, guys.
He does need to watch some episodes. Or at least a movie or two. Nimoy the man is not like Spock the character.
Well, aside from, like, ‘Amok Time’ and TWoK, what does he *really* need to see?
#37
I’m not saying Nimoy wasn’t acting his ass off. But he wasn’t doing anything overtly “Vulcan” either. It’s not like studying to be Nixon or something, where there’s a whole range of things that have to be faithfully copied.
As long as Quinto captures that same basic demeanor Nimoy had, and really inhabits that character the way Nimoy did, he’ll be all right.
I don’t see why so many people haven’t realized that it’s quite obvious that Quinto wouldn’t have openly lobbied to play Spock if he hadn’t seen any episodes of TOS or any of the movies. He obviously knew the character enough that he thought, as an actor, he could play the part. My guess is he knows the mannerisms, and he has seen plenty of episodes, but now is refining his approach to the character with Nimoy’s help. Consider working with Nimoy on Spock Quinto’s dress rehearsal for the character.
I see nothing in this interview that would indicate a reliance on Nimoy to the exclusion of other sources (episodes, movies, etc)…he only says that he thinks Nimoy will be “more invaluable than anything else.”
It is true that Quinto said he wouldn’t be sitting down and watching box set after box set, but to combine that with this information and come up with the idea that he isn’t going to watch/use *any* old episodes is tenuous speculation at best.
I would think that it would be good for him to watch a few of the more Spock-centric episodes — maybe Amok Time, Journey to Babel, Galileo 7…This Side of Paradise if there is to be a love interest involved. And, of course, Spock’s Brain, though that goes without saying. But I’m not an actor, so what do I know?
Of course, if it were me, I would fully take advantage of the opportunity to sit down and watch hours upon hours of star trek in the name of character development…
Quinto can talk to Nimoy and even watch some of TOS episodes, but I personally don’t think that’s taking it far enough. He should pull a “method actor” exercise and book off time to fly to Vulcan, totally immersing himself in their culture for, oh, say two or three months. Only then can he know what it means to be Vulcan. Yeah, that would do it!
#49 — He should also wait for his pon farr to set in before he starts filming. Only while his blood burns will he be able to truly portray a Vulcan.