Post by auntym on Apr 19, 2016 12:16:08 GMT -6
www.startrek.com/article/adam-nimoy-talks-spock-doc-tng-more
Adam Nimoy Talks Spock Doc, TNG & More
PART 1
by StarTrek.com Staff
April 16, 2016
Adam Nimoy is not Spock’s son. Rather, he’s the son of Leonard Nimoy, the man who played Spock. Just as there’s no separating Leonard Nimoy from his half-human/half-Vulcan alter ego, however, there’s no separating Adam Nimoy from his father… or Star Trek, for that matter. Adam’s life was forever impacted by his father’s fame, by the countless hours the elder Nimoy spent shooting the show in the 1960s and by the machinations of the publicity machine. There were drug and alcohol addictions, as well as a lengthy father-son estrangement, followed by recovery and reconciliation. Adam also carved his own niche as a director, calling the shots on many top TV shows throughout the 90s and into the early 2000s, including Babylon 5, Ally McBeal, Party of Five, Gilmore Girls and Veritas: The Quest, as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Outer Limits. His two TNG episodes were “Rascals” and “Timescape,” and for The Outer Limits he directed “I, Robot,” which starred Leonard Nimoy.
StarTrek.com had wanted to interview Adam Nimoy for many years, and the stars aligned because his latest project is the upcoming documentary For the Love of Spock. It started out as a father-son project that would be timed to Trek’s 50th anniversary, but it morphed into something different upon Leonard’s death in early 2015. For the Love of Spock, which will premiere this weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival, examines Leonard’s time as Spock, the life and legacy of the actor and his iconic character, the fascinating father-son relationship between Leonard and Adam, and also Adam’s personal evolution. It also features interviews with the elder Nimoy’s family members; many of his colleagues, among them William Shatner, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, J.J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto; and admirers spanning from fans to Jason Alexander, Jim Parsons and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Below is part one of our conversation, and visit StarTrek.com again tomorrow to read part two.
How and when did the idea for this film come up?
The idea came up in October, 2014. I’d worked on another documentary with my dad, Leonard Nimoy’s Boston. We had a really good experience working on that together. It was a short, a half-hour about his life in Boston, growing up as the son of Russian immigrant parents. We were in Boston shooting that together. It was a great bonding experience between us, and I wanted to do something similar with him about Mr. Spock and the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. I thought it’d be interesting to get into some of the unknowns about the character’s inception and his development and evolution over time, and also to explore why he had resonated for almost 50 years at this point. And it was just another vehicle for me to work with Dad at this end stage of his life and reflect back on the legacy of Spock and his involvement with that character.
How involved was your dad in the earliest stages?
He was very involved. We sat down immediately. He was interested in doing it. We sat in his study, in fact, and started spit-balling ideas for the documentary, a possible format, an outline, and various anecdotes he thought might be important. He was very involved. Then we contacted David Zappone. That was Dad’s idea, and he became my producing partner. David has done a lot of work with Bill Shatner. My dad knew David pretty well and thought that he would be a great guy to collaborate with to get this thing going. So there was a lot of discussion with my dad about the shape and form of what this would look like.
When your father got sick and right before he died, when it was obvious he wouldn't be able to participate in the project, how much consideration did you give dropping the idea or morphing the film into something else?
We couldn’t foresee that his decline would be so quick, frankly. We thought we had more time to have discussions about it, even to interview him. In January (of 2015), I suggested that we have a sit-down with a camera crew and we thought he had plenty of time. We did not foresee how fast his health would decline. After the decline started, there was never any talk about dropping the project, and even in those last weeks there was talk about the shape of the project. And then we just started to focus on his health and dropped the ball on the project for a while because we were just really concerned about his well-being at that point.
CONTINUE READING: www.startrek.com/article/adam-nimoy-talks-spock-doc-tng-more
A Long, Prosperous Life: Leonard Nimoy Remembered in New Film A Long, Prosperous Life: Leonard Nimoy Remembered in New Film buff.ly/1S47gH9
Adam Nimoy Talks Spock Doc, TNG & More
PART 1
by StarTrek.com Staff
April 16, 2016
Adam Nimoy is not Spock’s son. Rather, he’s the son of Leonard Nimoy, the man who played Spock. Just as there’s no separating Leonard Nimoy from his half-human/half-Vulcan alter ego, however, there’s no separating Adam Nimoy from his father… or Star Trek, for that matter. Adam’s life was forever impacted by his father’s fame, by the countless hours the elder Nimoy spent shooting the show in the 1960s and by the machinations of the publicity machine. There were drug and alcohol addictions, as well as a lengthy father-son estrangement, followed by recovery and reconciliation. Adam also carved his own niche as a director, calling the shots on many top TV shows throughout the 90s and into the early 2000s, including Babylon 5, Ally McBeal, Party of Five, Gilmore Girls and Veritas: The Quest, as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Outer Limits. His two TNG episodes were “Rascals” and “Timescape,” and for The Outer Limits he directed “I, Robot,” which starred Leonard Nimoy.
StarTrek.com had wanted to interview Adam Nimoy for many years, and the stars aligned because his latest project is the upcoming documentary For the Love of Spock. It started out as a father-son project that would be timed to Trek’s 50th anniversary, but it morphed into something different upon Leonard’s death in early 2015. For the Love of Spock, which will premiere this weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival, examines Leonard’s time as Spock, the life and legacy of the actor and his iconic character, the fascinating father-son relationship between Leonard and Adam, and also Adam’s personal evolution. It also features interviews with the elder Nimoy’s family members; many of his colleagues, among them William Shatner, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, J.J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto; and admirers spanning from fans to Jason Alexander, Jim Parsons and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Below is part one of our conversation, and visit StarTrek.com again tomorrow to read part two.
How and when did the idea for this film come up?
The idea came up in October, 2014. I’d worked on another documentary with my dad, Leonard Nimoy’s Boston. We had a really good experience working on that together. It was a short, a half-hour about his life in Boston, growing up as the son of Russian immigrant parents. We were in Boston shooting that together. It was a great bonding experience between us, and I wanted to do something similar with him about Mr. Spock and the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. I thought it’d be interesting to get into some of the unknowns about the character’s inception and his development and evolution over time, and also to explore why he had resonated for almost 50 years at this point. And it was just another vehicle for me to work with Dad at this end stage of his life and reflect back on the legacy of Spock and his involvement with that character.
How involved was your dad in the earliest stages?
He was very involved. We sat down immediately. He was interested in doing it. We sat in his study, in fact, and started spit-balling ideas for the documentary, a possible format, an outline, and various anecdotes he thought might be important. He was very involved. Then we contacted David Zappone. That was Dad’s idea, and he became my producing partner. David has done a lot of work with Bill Shatner. My dad knew David pretty well and thought that he would be a great guy to collaborate with to get this thing going. So there was a lot of discussion with my dad about the shape and form of what this would look like.
When your father got sick and right before he died, when it was obvious he wouldn't be able to participate in the project, how much consideration did you give dropping the idea or morphing the film into something else?
We couldn’t foresee that his decline would be so quick, frankly. We thought we had more time to have discussions about it, even to interview him. In January (of 2015), I suggested that we have a sit-down with a camera crew and we thought he had plenty of time. We did not foresee how fast his health would decline. After the decline started, there was never any talk about dropping the project, and even in those last weeks there was talk about the shape of the project. And then we just started to focus on his health and dropped the ball on the project for a while because we were just really concerned about his well-being at that point.
CONTINUE READING: www.startrek.com/article/adam-nimoy-talks-spock-doc-tng-more
A Long, Prosperous Life: Leonard Nimoy Remembered in New Film A Long, Prosperous Life: Leonard Nimoy Remembered in New Film buff.ly/1S47gH9