Hey, guys. Quint here. I just wanted to share a couple things about Mr. Nimoy while Herc puts the finishing touches on his in-depth obituary.
I never got to meet the man, but I did see him speak a couple times and both times he was a class act. First was back in 2009. The Drafthouse was showing Wrath of Khan with some footage from JJ Abrams' Star Trek reboot. Kurtzman, Orci and Lindelof were there as JJ and company was some 8,000 miles away in Australia having the world premiere of the movie.
They introduced the movie, promising some footage afterwards and a Q&A. The film started playing and Horner's amazing score was blasting through the sound system. About 2 minutes into the opening credits the film stutters, catches in the gate and starts melting. "Noooooo!" the audience screamed in unison. The lights stayed down, but we could barely see the writing team up on stage talking to the crowd saying that the Alamo team will fix the problem and to give them a second.
Then the spotlight comes on and there was a third man on the stage, back to the crowd. He was wearing a trenchcoat and a baseball cap and he was carrying film cans. He turns around and the crowd went nuts. It was Leonard Nimoy and he said if they couldn't get Wrath of Khan going, then he brought a print of JJ Abrams' new Star Trek movie. Everybody went even more bananas and we got to watch the movie about a month early, hand delivered by Mr. Spock himself.
When we left the theater Leonard had graciously signed posters for every single person in the audience.
The second time was about a year later when Nimoy appeared at the Hero Complex Festival to screen Star Trek IV. That was a real pleasure because I got to listen to Nimoy talk about his career and life for an hour. The text is all kinds of messed up after a couple different server migrations and backend changes over the years and the pictures are now gone, but that piece can be read here.
I'm sure Herc is going to go in-depth with his career on the whole, so I'll spare you the listing off his IMDB credits (although I will always always always adore him Invasion of the Body Snatchers), but I wanted to pay my respects to this man who has had a huge impact on my life and I wasn't even really a big Star Trek kid. Those who worship that show did so for many reasons, but a key one was his performance. Kirk might have been the swagger, Bones might have been the snark, but it was Spock who drew them all together and formed the family that so many feel a part of.
I do want to leave off sharing an anecdote that I'm not sure even Mr. Nimoy was aware of. I was told a story once about the early days of the Star Trek reboot. Before they solidified the script Abrams and team knew that they needed a bridge from the last series to this one. They toyed with Spock, they toyed with Kirk and they even toyed with both together.
Remember for a long time Nimoy wanted to seperate himself from the character, so they decided they'd approach them both and see who showed interest and make their decision on which way to go from there. They went to Shatner first and told him the story and how they were thinking about doing it. His reaction was that he'd come back, but only if it was Kirk without Spock.
Then they went to Nimoy, told him the story and how Spock would fit in if he agreed. He loved it and said he would do it. He only had one question: "Do you think you could find a place in it for my friend Bill?"
You've seen the movie, so you know how that turned out.
I know it sounds like I'm holding Nimoy up by shitting on Bill Shatner. That is not my intention at all. I'm sure he had his reasons for thinking of it as a solo Kirk adventure. This story cuts to the core of just how decent and selfless Nimoy was and that sentiment is one I've heard echoed time and again from those that knew him, worked with him and loved him. He was one of the genuinely good people on this earth and that came through in every role he ever played and frame of film he ever directed.
He will be missed. My thoughts will be with Mr. Nimoy's friends, family and fans this evening.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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