Spock Meets Spock

Spock Meets Spock!
In a roundtable conversation with EW, the two Spocks — Leonard Nimoy and newly cast Zachary Quinto — join director J.J. Abrams to talk about their preparations and hopes for 2008′s ”Star Trek” reboot

August 1, 2007
By Jeff Jensen

Finally, they’re beaming up.

Ending months of speculation, J.J. Abrams announced the first major casting in the director’s hush-hush re-energizing of the Star Trek movie franchise by tapping Zachary Quinto to play Spock, the hyper-logical science stud with the pointy ears and Vulcan death grip. In case the name doesn’t register on your tricorder, the 29-year-old actor plays Sylar, the serial killer who eats superpowered brains on Heroes.

Quinto’s fellow Heroes are thrilled for him. In fact, Milo Ventimiglia reveals to EW that his friends helped champion Quinto for the role. ”A long time ago he and I had a conversation about roles we would love to play,” says Ventimiglia. ”His was like, ‘Man, I just want to play Spock.’ Now, my friends knew Star Trek was coming back, and they had gone online and started dropping hints like, ‘Milo — Spock ’08.’ It was a total joke. But when they heard Zach wanted to be Spock, they looked at him, totally saw Spock in him, and went back to the Web and started dropping ‘Zach Quinto — Spock ’08.’ I’m blown away that Zach got the part.”

Masi Oka seconds Milo’s motion. ”We can’t be any more happy for him. He’s so talented. He’s perfect for the part. He wanted it really badly and we were all rooting for him,” says Oka, adding that he offered Quinto some suggestions on mastering what might be his greatest challenge: nailing Spock’s Vulcan salute. ”When Zach and I would hang out, he’d have a rubber band over his fingers, practicing his muscle. We’ve come up with ways to practice — wiggle the fingers, doing yoga for the hand…. He’s been practicing for about a month. I’m betting on him. He’ll get it down.”

Maybe Quinto can get some pointers from his pointy-eared predecessor, seeing how they’ll soon be seeing a lot of each other. As it turns out, Leonard Nimoy, the original Spock, will also be in Abrams’ movie, which is set to begin filming in November and is due Christmas 2008. Creative details are still under wraps, but Abrams and producer Damon Lindelof (Lost) confirm that Nimoy will be playing the role of… Spock. While we can only guess what this means for the story — framing device? time travel? — here’s what we know for certain: Abrams is still searching for his Captain Kirk; Quinto will go MIA during a chunk of the upcoming season to film Star Trek (the logistics were hammered out between Lindelof and Heroes creator Tim Kring, who are old friends); and Nimoy has advised the new Spock to brace himself for scads of ear jokes. The three Trekkers sat down for an exclusive conversation with EW following the casting announcement last week at Comic-Con in San Diego.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: J.J., what were you looking for when you were casting Spock?
J.J. ABRAMS: The same thing you’re looking for when you want to get married. You just have to know. You can’t intellectualize this. It just has to feel right on every level. And I have to tell you, I want to marry Zachary Quinto.

Wow. How does your wife feel about this?
ABRAMS: Katie’s not going to be happy. Or very happy. I don’t know. But the truth is this: Zachary possesses a thoughtfulness, a gravity, and a complexity that made me and the other producers know he was the right guy. More importantly, we needed to know: Is he a good guy? We didn’t want to get into this with someone we really couldn’t imagine [spending] a lot of time with. I talked to my friend Greg Grunberg, who apparently is on a show called Heroes, and he said that Zachary is a spectacular guy. And when I met Mr. Nimoy, I felt a respect that had nothing to do with the appreciation I have for his work. I just admired him. I could see where the character came from. And I could tell he would have a kinship with Zachary. Seeing them together for the first time today, I got chills. It was always impossible imagining they could share the same physical space, and there they were together.

Leonard, when you first heard they were making a new Star Trek film — that they were ”rebooting” the franchise with a new cast — how did you feel? Skeptical? Angry? Relieved?
LEONARD NIMOY: None of those. I’ve been away from Star Trek for a number of years. The first thing I heard was that J.J. Abrams was doing this. I have a lot of respect for him, so I thought, ”This is something to consider.” Then the script came along — that was the second major step. And then J.J. sent me some footage of Zach. I looked at him, and I’ll tell you exactly what I said to J.J.: ”He looks exactly right.” What’s more, he has an interior life, which is vital to the character. With all of those elements in place, I’m very comfortable with this new Star Trek.

With this casting, Leonard, you’re officially ceding this role to a new actor. How do you feel about this?
NIMOY: Strange. It is strange…but very comforting. I feel like the character is being put in very, very good hands.

Zach, how did the trek into Star Trek begin for you?
ZACHARY QUNTO: It began last December for me, when I got an e-mail from a friend saying they were doing another Star Trek movie and that young Spock would be a character. It was right about the time my character started to emerge on Heroes. So I started to talk about it a lot — in interviews, with anyone. I sort of thought, ”If I could generate attention to it, it would materialize.” Then one day, we got the call for an audition. It’s been a definite fast train for me.

Leonard, have you seen Zach in Heroes?
NIMOY: I’ve seen some footage. Scary.

How do you feel about having the guy who plays a brain-eating serial killer filling the shoes of Spock?
NIMOY: It’s going to be a change of character. But he’s a good character actor, and that’s what he’s supposed to do.

When did you guys first meet?
NIMOY AND QUINTO: Today.
QUINTO: Although we’ve crossed paths previously. Heroes was honored by the TV Land Awards in April, and the award was presented by Leonard and Owen Wilson. We crossed paths backstage, and my audition for Spock was the next morning. So I knew it was auspicious sign.

What was it like to meet today?
QUINTO: Humbling. But to have the blessing and involvement of the man who created this iconic character — and to have him as a guide on this journey — is going to be important and valuable. I feel enormously fortunate.

J.J., since this is a ”reboot” of Star Trek focusing on young Spock and young Kirk, why did you feel that it was important for Leonard to be in the movie?
ABRAMS: The story needed his participation for a number of reasons. One, the plot. In many ways, the story revolves around the character of Spock. Two, I think it’s critical if we’re going to look at reintroducing these characters — I didn’t want to disrespect what had come before, for those who care about that. But we’re making this movie for people who don’t care about Star Trek too. This isn’t about pleasing the fans, this is about making a great film. And to do that, you have to both please the fans and please the people who’ve never seen Star Trek. So having Leonard in the film shows that this film exists in a continuum of Trek history, as opposed to an absolute, page 1 reinvention. [Pause] Would you like longer answers? I’m unbelievable. I never stop talking.
NIMOY: They’re long answers, but full respect.
ABRAMS: Now we’re talking about my talking! Unbelievable!

So the story you mentioned — what can you tell us about it? Anything?
ABRAMS: We don’t want to give anything away right now. But the reason I felt compelled to direct the movie was that it had such heart and the characters are spectacularly written. It’s a character-first story. It’s like, almost despite being Star Trek, or regardless of being Star Trek, it’s a movie I want to go see.

Any advice for Zach on how to wear the ears?
NIMOY: There could be many ear jokes. For the first couple years on the show, any mention of Spock had to do with the ears — ”Spock, the pointy-eared character” — and there were many ear jokes, including some phallic ones that I won’t go into. But they went away over time. The character accumulated enough nuance and layering over the years that it went away. So it’s important to remember it’s not the essence of Spock. What’s important is nurturing the internal life.

How would you describe Spock’s internal life?
NIMOY: Struggle. He had a Vulcan father and a human mother — so there’s great logic and deep emotion and a great struggle between the two poles. That’s a great gift to hand an actor. It’s a struggle we all go through.

Zach, were you a Star Trek fan?
QUINTO: I am, peripherally. I had some exposure to it when I was younger but I can’t say I’m fully immersed in the mythology. But I’m looking forward to doing that. I’ve gotten some e-mails from friends who’ve been fans of Trek since they were kids and know so much about it, so I drew upon that.

How did you prepare for the audition? Spend a lot of time in front of a mirror cocking an eyebrow?
QUINTO: Noooo. This is funny. I wasn’t allowed to take the material away from the casting room. So when I went in, I had my bag and journal, and I’d take the material out into the hall, and as quickly as I could, I would transcribe it into my journal. I was like, how can I work on this if I can’t take it home? So I did that and took it home with me.
ABRAMS: And the next day it was on the Internet. Weird.
QUINTO: Yep, that was me.

J.J., are you ready for this? Ready to take on this huge responsibility of becoming the new caretaker of this world?
ABRAMS: I’d like to think so. But again, I’m not looking at it that way. If you’re going to climb a mountain, looking at the whole mountain is probably pretty intimidating. I’m just looking at the story and the characters — I’m looking forward to realizing that. The specter of this massive fan base and their expectations… Look, there’s no way you can please everyone. But we’re going to do our best to make a great movie, and I hope fans of the series will appreciate the respect and awareness that we have of the thing they love. One of our writers [Roberto Orci] is a Trekker, so it’s great to have someone who can speak for that world. I feel like this is a world I want to enter, almost despite that kind of level expectation and fandom. But I couldn’t be more excited.

So Zach…can you do the Vulcan salute?
QUINTO: I can do it on my left hand really well. That’s pretty good, right? But I can’t do it at all on my right hand, which is the one Nimoy uses. I put rubber bands around my ring finger and pinkie and have been doing exercises, so by November I’ll be good to go.

Which one do you have to use?
QUINTO: Well, all the pictures I’ve seen of Nimoy are right-handed. So that’s the one I have to worry about. And I’m sure in the mythology about Star Trek it’s probably a profound insult if I do it with my left hand, so if I do it there might be an uprising.

How’s this going to affect your participation with Heroes?
QUINTO: We’re all in the process of working it out. We have the support of Tim and the show and network. It’s going to be a big undertaking. I’ll be with the show until I have to leave to do the movie in November, and my ideal is to be back on the show when I’m done.

Leonard, have you offered Zach any advice?
NIMOY: I asked him if he could raise an eyebrow.

Can you?
QUINTO: You’ll have to wait and see.

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