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By Suzanne

Interview with Leonard Nimoy of "Fringe" from FOX 10/7/09

I somehow managed to miss the email that invited me to this monumental conference call, and I'm still kicking myself in the head for it. I am a long-time Star Trek fan, and I also love "Fringe" and have watched every episode.  I sure hope that one day I will get another chance to speak with Leonard Nimoy, but in the meantime, here is the transcript of the call, for your enjoyment.

SPEAKERS

Josh Governale
Leonard Nimoy

PRESENTATION

Moderator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Fringe Interview Call with Leonard Nimoy. Due to the large volume of callers, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question. You may then re-queue, and additional questions will be taken as time permits. I’d also like to remind you that today’s conference is being recorded. I’ll now turn the conference over to Josh Governale for opening remarks.

J. Governale Thank you, Kathy. Good morning, everyone, or good afternoon. Just as a reminder, before we get started, I’d like to remind everybody that tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. the Fringe episode “Momentum Deferred” will air. And thank you, Mr. Leonard Nimoy, I’ll turn it over to you now, at this time, for questions and answers.

Moderator Thank you, and our first question will come from Andrew Hanson with the L.A. Times. Go ahead, please.

A. Hanson Oh, good morning, Mr. Nimoy.

L. Nimoy Good morning.

A. Hanson I was wondering, did you have any reservations on taking another role with the potential of such a fanatic following?

L. Nimoy I love this question. I can’t help but laugh because you’re absolutely right. It’s an interesting set of circumstances. What attracted me to it was several things. J.J. Abrams, Bob Orci, and Alex Kurtzman, who I worked with on the Star Trek movie, I admire their talent and the work that they do. The series is at the very least to say intriguing. The character was somewhat of a blank slate, but we began talking about it and, therefore, attracted because there’s an opportunity to build an interesting and unpredictable character. I’m enjoying it a lot.

Moderator Thank you. We’ll go next to Fred Topel with SCI FI Wire.

F. Topel Hello, Mr. Nimoy. I hope these are some questions you can actually answer since we know William Bell is coming back on tomorrow’s episode.

L. Nimoy Right.

F. Topel When will William Bell and Walter Bishop face off?

L. Nimoy When will they face off?

F. Topel Yes.

L. Nimoy Unpredictable at the moment. In the episode tomorrow night, the scene in between myself and Olivia, I think we will learn a lot more than we have known in the past about what their relationship is all about and what William Bell’s intentions are, or at least we will be told what his intentions are. We’re not really quite sure that everything that he says is accurate or true.

F. Topel Well, to follow up, I wonder, what does William Bell do when he’s over there? Who is he spending time with?

L. Nimoy William Bell is sort of a “master of the universe,” a brilliant man, very wealthy man, very powerful. We’ll find out a lot more about him in future episodes.

F. Topel Wow, those are very good answers. Thank you.

Moderator Thank you, and next we have Dave Martindale with the Hearst Newspaper.

D. Martindale Hello, Leonard.

L. Nimoy Hello.

D. Martindale We talked once in 1995, so it’s nice to get to visit with you—

L. Nimoy We’ve been around a long time, haven’t we?

D. Martindale Yes, so it’ll be another 14 years, then we’ll check back in again. Don’t you find it remarkable how what is science fiction today can become science?

L. Nimoy It is remarkable. I was thinking as we began this conference call about the technology involved here. It is quite remarkable and so terribly useful. It’s a very convenient way to put out a lot of information, and this is the kind of thing that was only dreamed about 10, 15 years ago. And you’re right, science fiction very often leads the way for the scientists.

Scientists watch science fiction, see an idea being presented, and say, “Well, gee, I wonder if that’s really possible.” They go to work at it on the drawing board, and a lot of it comes to fruition.

D. Martindale Yes, and I’m only trying to be slightly funny, but are you a techie?

L. Nimoy Am I a techie? Is that what you’re asking?

D. Martindale Yes, instead of Trekkie.

L. Nimoy Well, I use a computer.

D. Martindale Yes? That’s as far as you’ll go?

L. Nimoy I don’t know if that qualifies me as a techie, but I’m pretty good on the computer.

D. Martindale Okay, fair enough.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

D. Martindale … much.

Moderator Thank you. Next we have Joshua Maloni with Niagara Frontier Publications.

J. Maloni Hello, Mr. Nimoy. Thank you—

L. Nimoy Hello.

J. Maloni —…today.

L. Nimoy Hello.

J. Maloni So lately it seems as if you’re J.J. Abrams’ muse of sorts. Can you tell us a little bit more about your relationship with him?

L. Nimoy Well, I first met him I guess about three years ago when he first contacted me about the possibility of working together, and I went to a meeting with he and Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman and some of his production staff. They told me a very good and strong and touching story about their feelings about Star Trek and specifically the Spock character.

It gave me a sense of validation after all these years. I had been out of it for some time, as you’re probably aware. There were several Star Trek series in which I was not involved and Star Trek movies in which I was not involved. This was a re-validation of the work that I had done, the work that we had done on the original Star Trek. I felt very good about it and went to work for them.

I had a great time working on the movie. I think they did a brilliant job, and I think the audience response shows that that was the case and has reinvigorated the franchise. And when they contacted me about working on Fringe—the same people, the same attitude, the same creativity, the same creative team—it was very enticing.

J. Maloni Had you seen the show? Had you been a fan of the show prior to that?

L. Nimoy I watched it periodically. I think it’s extremely well done. It’s very nuanced. It’s complex. It’s a mixture of science and science fiction in a very interesting and intelligent way. And I think it has a long way to go in story-telling. It tells a terribly interesting story, and the character that I was offered was potentially a very intriguing and controversial and fascinating character, very inviting for an actor.

J. Maloni Great, thank you very much.

L. Nimoy You’re welcome.

Moderator Thank you. We’ll go to Sharla Cowles with Sling.

S. Cowlesi Hello, Mr. Nimoy. How are you?

L. Nimoy Hello. Hello.

S. Cowlesi I was wondering how you felt about the current state of science fiction on TV and film.

L. Nimoy Well, I’m concerned about the positioning of story in terms of importance. When I see a lot of explosions and a lot of chases, I’m not terribly impressed. I think there are three terribly important elements that must be given a priority position in science fiction as well as in any other kind of drama. The first is story, the second is story, and the third is story. Story, story, story, story, story. If the story is compelling and interesting, I think all the rest will find its place.

We have great technology in our industry, and that technology can be overused at the expense of story. And that’s a problem for me, but when the story is in place, I think the special effects can find their proper place. I think Fringe uses the technology brilliantly, but in the service of excellent story-telling.

S. Cowlesi And are there any other projects, other than your current collaboration—

L. Nimoy I’m doing a lot of photography work. That’s one of my major creative outlets right now. I have an exhibition which is opening in Massachusetts at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art next year. I’m really excited about that.

S. Cowlesi Oh. What do you photograph?

L. Nimoy I’m sorry?

S. Cowlesi What are your subjects?

L. Nimoy Check out my Web site, LeonardNimoyPhotography.com. Isn’t that an amazing title for a Web site?

S. Cowlesi It’s great. And is there anything that you’re really interested in, any current science fiction things on TV or film?

L. Nimoy Fringe, Fringe, Fringe, Fringe, Fringe.

Moderator Okay, thank you. We’ll move on to Abbie Bernstein with iF Magazine.

A. Bernstein Hello, Mr. Nimoy.

L. Nimoy Hello.

A. Bernstein Thank you for doing the call. You had not been acting for awhile, and then you’ve done Star Trek and Fringe pretty recently together. Having stepped away for awhile and then returned, are your feelings about acting what they were, or have they changed, do you find?

L. Nimoy Well, I’m enjoying it. I’m very comfortable in the two offers that I’ve accepted. The Star Trek movie was a joy to do. I admire the production team that made the film. I admire the new cast. Zachary Quinto I thought was a great choice for the new Spock, and it was a pleasure to work with him and with all the other people on the project.

The Fringe character was intriguing because, as I’ve mentioned, it was kind of a blank slate and we had some very interesting and intense conversations about who and what he could be and how we should perceive him, what we might or might not learn about him, what we might or might not trust about him. These are intriguing opportunities for an actor, and they came at a time when I … and from a group of people that I had respect for. They piqued my interest and I went back to work. I did not expect to, frankly, be acting so much at this time in my life. My concentration was on my photography, but I’m having a wonderful time doing it.

A. Bernstein Thank you.

L. Nimoy You’re welcome.

Moderator Thank you. We’ll go to Christy Kohrs with Geek Sugar and Buzz Sugar.

C. Kohrs Hello, Mr. Nimoy. Thank you so much for speaking with us today.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

C. Kohrs I was taking a look back at your career this morning, and it seems that, after your role on Star Trek, your projects weighed heavily towards the sci-fi genre. Were you always a big fan of sci-fi, or was that a—

L. Nimoy Well, it’s a good thing if you can find your niche as an actor and be able to support a family. Very early on—I’m talking about many, many years ago, probably 1950 or ‘51—I acted in my first science fiction project, and I have acted in science fiction over the years ever since.

The first one was probably not terribly well known. I thought it was going to rocket me to stardom, if you’ll pardon the expression. It didn’t quite work. It was a great project called Zombies of the Stratosphere, and I was the third of a group of zombies that came to earth to take over earth’s orbit. It’s funny, as I think about it now, but it was a way of making a living.

And science fiction has seemed to be a fertile ground for the kind of work that I do, the kind of presence that I offer. I’m grateful for it. I’m grateful for the niche that science fiction has given me.

C. Kohrs Well, definitely an honor to speak with you. Thank you so much.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

Moderator Thank you. Next we have Lauren Davis with io9.

L. Davis Hello, Mr. Nimoy. Thank you—

L. Nimoy Hello.

L. Davis —for talking to us today. So in the season finale last season, it was very, very heavily implied that Peter Bishop came from the alternate universe, which suggested there’s a second Walter—

L. Nimoy Right.

L. Davis —Bishop as well. Are we going to see a second William Bell?

L. Nimoy A second William Bell? Is that what you’re asking?

L. Davis Yes.

L. Nimoy Yes. I don’t think I can really answer that question very specifically right now. I think the most important thing is that tomorrow night we will get a sense of what his relationship is with Olivia. It’s very intriguing and very intense moments that take place tomorrow night, and the rest remains to be seen.

I’m waiting to see what these terribly imaginative writers come up with for the future. I’m expecting that I probably will be going back to work for them before too much longer. I’m looking forward to what they send me on the page. But, right now, I think we go a long way tomorrow night in discovering what William Bell is all about.

L. Davis Great, thank you.

L. Nimoy You’re welcome.

Moderator Thank you. We have Fred Topel with SCI FI Wire.

F. Topel Hello. I’m glad you said that about detailing your meeting with Olivia. I understand that they’re sort of getting the most “bang for their Nimoy buck” by doing two episodes at a time with you. Is that how they’re working it?

L. Nimoy No, no. I don’t know where that came from. My understanding is that tomorrow night is the one episode – I did this work a few weeks ago, and that work is in the show tomorrow night. I don’t think that we did work for more than the one episode, and I will be going back to work for them in about two weeks to do one more episode. Beyond that, we’re in discussion. But no, I don’t think it’s true that we’re doing more than one episode at a time.

F. Topel Okay. Well, that’s good to know. Have they mentioned anything about their needs for you on an upcoming Star Trek movie?

L. Nimoy No. My understanding is they’re working on a script right now. I expect there’s going to be some time before they really know exactly who they need and what they need. I frankly, frankly doubt that I will be called upon again.

I think I was useful in his last film to help bridge between the original characters, the original actors, and the new cast. They have a wonderful new cast in place, and I’m sure they’ll move ahead with them. I don’t see, at the moment, why they would need me in the next film, although, if they called me, I’d be happy to have a conversation about it.

F. Topel Oh, I’m sure we’d all be happy to see you again—

L. Nimoy Thank you, thank you. That’s very flattering. Thank you.

F. Topel You’re called “Spock Prime” now—

L. Nimoy That’s right. That’s right. I’m in the prime of my life, right.

F. Topel Thank you again.

L. Nimoy You’re welcome.

Moderator Thank you. Next we have Troy Rogers with thedeadbolt.com.

L. Nimoy Hello.

T. Rogers Hello, Mr. Nimoy. Thanks for taking the time.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

T. Rogers Now, your character, William Bell, believes the world has soft spots. I just wanted to know, do you—

L. Nimoy I’m sorry, can you say it again? I’m having a little trouble hearing you.

T. Rogers Sure.

L. Nimoy My character, William Bell?

T. Rogers Yes, he believes the world has soft spots. I just—

L. Nimoy Yes.

T. Rogers —… do you believe in this as well?

L. Nimoy Well, what the show deals with in this wonderfully intriguing way is a question of an alternate universe, through which one can slip through, from one universe to another. I’ve been involved in stories of this kind before. I did a series called In Search of… some years ago in which we dealt with subject matter like this.

I think the question is one that you would, in terms of whether it’s scientifically accurate, you’d have to ask people like Stephen Hawking. I’m not a scientist, and I can’t really tell you whether or not there is a soft spot where you could slip through to another world, but I think the Fringe series deals with that idea in a very intriguing way.

T. Rogers Okay, and I wanted to know, how’s the transition been from New York to Vancouver?

L. Nimoy Easy for me. Actually, easier because, although I love New York and spend a good deal of time there and I have a place there, but I’m based in Los Angeles, and traveling to Vancouver is easier.

T. Rogers Okay, and what do you think Vancouver gives the series?

L. Nimoy What do I think it gives? I love Vancouver. I’ve been going to Vancouver for, oh, at least 35 years that I can think of. And I look forward to going back many times.

T. Rogers Excellent. One more quick thing: do you believe William Bell’s evil or good or—

L. Nimoy That’s a really wonderful question. Time will tell.

L. Nimoy Okay. Thanks for your time.

L. Nimoy You’re welcome.

Moderator Next we have Steve Rummel with Sci-Fi Talk.

S. Rummel Hello, Mr. Nimoy. Pleasure to speak with you today.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

S. Rummel First question I have, I wanted to find out what sort of acting challenges have you found playing the William Bell character so far, would you say?

L. Nimoy Well, the first thing was some wonderful and creative conversations that I had with J.J. Abrams and Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the writers, to try—and with Jeff Pinkner, who’s the show runner—to try to create from scratch a character that’s never been seen before, only been referred to. There are certain things that were given, which is that he’s a power figure and a very wealthy and obviously a terribly intelligent man with a scientific background.

But, in terms of characteristics, we started from scratch, and I think tomorrow night a lot more of those characteristics will be evident. It’s great fun to be building the character from scratch, with certain givens, but so much to be developed in terms of the way he talks, the way he walks, idiosyncracies, his tastes, is he difficult, is he gruff, is he charming, is he a nice guy, what are his real intentions. All of these are great exploration for an actor.

S. Rummel And as a follow-up, I just wanted to ask if you wouldn’t mind talking a little bit about your photography and maybe where your love of photography came from, if you don’t mind—

L. Nimoy Well, I became enamored with photography when I was about 13 or 14 years old. I’ve been at it ever since. I studied seriously in the ‘70s. I have a master’s degree in photography as a fine art, and I would call my work primarily conceptual. I don’t carry cameras with me wherever I go. I get an idea of a subject matter I want to deal with and I pull out my cameras.

I have published two books. One was called Shekhina about the feminine aspect of God, and the second was called The Full Body Project, which deals with body image issues in our society.

S. Rummel Mr. Nimoy, once again, a pleasure. Thanks again.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

Moderator Thank you. We’ll go next to Andrew Hanson with the L.A. Times.

A. Hanson So you had your scene with the Olivia …, with Anna Torv. Did you get a chance to meet any other actors, and did you get an opinion of them?

L. Nimoy No. I have not worked with the others. Only Olivia so far. I’m looking forward to meeting and working with all the others. They’re very talented people, and I admire the work they do. But so far, all my work has been with the Olivia character, and I think she does a wonderful job on the show, by the way. They all do. They’re very good. Hello?

Moderator Is that all, Mr. Hanson?

A. Hanson That was all. Thanks.

Moderator Alright, thank you. Then we’ll go to David Martindale with the Hearst Newspaper.

D. Martindale Wow, he just set me up for my follow-up question, which is what do you think of Anna Torv as an actor and as a person?

L. Nimoy I think she’s really excellent in the role. We spent a bit of time working together, and I was impressed with the way she works. I’ve seen quite a bit of her work on the screen. I think she handles a very wide range of activities, from very internalized psychological questions to very, very physical stuff, and I think she handles it very well. She’s very competent, very interesting to watch. I think she’s terrific.

D. Martindale Thank you very much. Always a pleasure.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

Moderator Thank you. We have Alice Chapman-Nugent with the Times-Courier.

L. Nimoy Hello.

A. Chapman-Nugent Hello. It’s such a pleasure talking to you.

L. Nimoy Hello. Thank you.

A. Chapman-Nugent I loved you as Mr. Spock in Star Trek.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

A. Chapman-Nugent That was my first Trekkie show, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

L. Nimoy Okay.

A. Chapman-Nugent And I know Mr. Spock’s character could be kind of complex at times, I would think, and I was wondering about your character as William Bell. Is there a particular character flaw or even something good that you would like to have highlighted in future episodes?

L. Nimoy This is a wonderful question. I’m really looking forward to this character unfolding in a very interesting kind of way. I think you’ll see, tomorrow night, one very strong aspect of him and certain idiosyncracies that are being developed. But I do think there’s a long way to go. I think there’s a lot to be discovered, and I’m looking forward to discovering it with the audience.

It’s really not up to me to write the scripts. I don’t do the writing, but the writers are clever, inventive, creative. They’re very bright people. I’m counting on them to give us some really interesting character touches in the future.

A. Chapman-Nugent Well, thank you.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

Moderator Thank you. We’ll go to Abbie Bernstein with iF Magazine.

L. Nimoy Hello.

A. Bernstein Hello again. Have you found that there’s anything different in the way television is done these days or what it requires of you as an actor, or is that aspect of work still pretty much the same?

L. Nimoy Well, I’d say that’s a good question. Thank you. I think it’s safe to say that what an audience is seeing today on screen in the television episode is far more complex than what we were doing when we were, for example, making the original Star Trek series in the ‘60s. We were very, very heavy on pages and pages of dialogue and very little special effects, but because the technology has advanced so greatly, it’s possible to do some very complex and very exciting and very useful technical stuff on the shows these days, so we don’t have to rely quite so much on the story being told by the actors speaking.

On the other hand, there is a danger, as I mentioned earlier, of going too far with the special effects at the expense of story. But if the story is well done, if the story’s in place strongly, the special effects can be enormously helpful to the actors, far more so than they were years ago when we were making the original Star Trek series.

A. Bernstein But are you saying that these days you’re allowed to do a little more nuance in the acting and not have to so much deliver the exposition because that—

L. Nimoy Oh, thank you. Thank you. Exactly, exactly, exactly. Delivering the exposition is the toughest part of the job, and if it can be done visually and physically, it’s a big help. Exactly.

A. Bernstein Thank you very much.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

Moderator Thank you. We have Christy Kohrs with Geek Sugar. Go ahead.

C. Kohrs Hello again. I was just wondering, looking to the future, do you hope to ride this second wave as long as you can, or do you have some sort of invisible time line of where you’d like to just completely focus on your photography or—

L. Nimoy I think you’re on a speakerphone. It’s very difficult for me to understand your question. Could you try it again, please?

C. Kohrs Oh, yes. Sorry. I was just wondering, looking to the future, do you have any goals in mind, any invisible time line where you wanted to just get out of the spotlight and retire, focus on photography—

L. Nimoy Well, thank you. I thought I had reached that point some years ago. I think about myself as like an ocean liner that’s been going full speed for a long distance and the captain pulls the throttle back all the way to “stop,” but the ship doesn’t stop immediately, does it? It has its own momentum and it keeps on going, and I’m very flattered that people are still finding me useful.

I try to pick my spots so that I have a balance between the work and my personal life, which I enjoy very much. I don’t know that I would actually any longer say, “No, I’m going to stop ten, twelve, fifteen months or two years from now.” I don’t know. I still feel strong and healthy and active, and as long as there’s interesting work to do, I’ll probably keep on doing it.

C. Kohrs Oh, we love having you around. Thank you—

L. Nimoy Thank you so much. Thank you.

Moderator Thank you, and next we have Joshua Maloni with Niagara Frontier Publications.

L. Nimoy Hello.

J. Maloni Mr. Nimoy, obviously, with Star Trek, you set the gold standard in science fiction. What do you think about the products that have come out in recent years, things like Lost or Battlestar Galactica, or even Fringe for that matter?

L. Nimoy Well, I’m really impressed. I’m impressed. I think there’s some very, very good work being done, and certainly in terms of production value. It’s head and shoulders above what we were able to do years ago.

I keep coming back to my baseline, which is the story. If the story is good and all this new technology can work to the service of the story, I’m excited about some of the work that’s being done. I look and I say, “Wow.” In tomorrow night’s episode, there are things being done that I wouldn’t know how to do.

I directed two of the Star Trek films and I produced one. I don’t know how they’re doing some of these effects that they’re doing now in these TV shows and on TV budgets. I’m terribly impressed. I think it’s a very exciting medium to be working in today, particularly if the script is good, the story’s in place.

J. Maloni Very good. Thank you, sir.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

Moderator Thank you, and we have time for just one more question. That will come from Cynthia Boris with SFUniverse.com.

L. Nimoy Okay. Hello.

C. Boris Hello, and wow, I got an appropriate question, I think, for last. What is still on your “to do” list with all the things you’ve done in the world?

L. Nimoy Well, I’m looking forward to developing the William Bell character further. I hope the writers are interested in working with the character. I am. I don’t know how much further we’ll go with it, but the character, so far, has been very intriguing and the whole Fringe company has been very good to me. I’m delighted to be involved.

I am still actively involved with my photography work. I’m working on a current project, which is called Secret Selves, which is about hidden or fantasy or private personalities that people bring for me to photograph. And there will be an exhibition of that name, Secret Selves, at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art opening next summer, a solo exhibition. I’m excited about that.

C. Boris Okay, thanks so much.

L. Nimoy Thank you.

Moderator Thank you, and please go ahead with any closing remarks.

J. Governale I’d just like to say thank you, everyone, and, as a reminder, the “Momentum Deferred” episode airs tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. on Fox. And thank you very much, Mr. Nimoy, for your time this morning.

L. Nimoy You’re welcome. Thank you. Good-bye.

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