It's not action-sci-fi as it's an internally relationship-driven show. The great thing about life post-Star Trek is we do have this incredible fan base where not only is the work more consistent but they loyally tune into everything we do. It has made a huge difference and it's frankly a lot of fun.
Wir haben Ärzte, Rechtsanwälte und extrem belesene Leute, die einige der größten Fans der Serie sind ... Die Typen mit Uniformen und angeklebten Ohren sind in Wirklichkeit eine Minderheit und es gibt wahrlich schlechtere Dinge denen die Leute ihre Zeit widmen könnten.
I think that Star Trek has a really, really neat message. The whole infinite diversity in infinite combinations is something that's very attractive to all of us. And it's something that I wish the world would grasp onto as beautifully as the Star Trek fans have.
Star Trek's legacy of being of involved with their fans on a very direct level, is a great business model for just about any company that would benefit from that kind of contact. People really do appreciate it when you show that you respect them and that they're important to you.
Acting is such a powerful profession, and a humbling one at the same time.
Trek has always been noted for having hot women on the show, so the guys tune in for the action and the eye candy as well.
You've seen the wall of all the letters, and just the heart that's here. You know, I think that the world needs Star Trek as much as it ever has, or maybe even more these days. And I think that the fans being able to come and celebrate that and be together, it's been just really lovely, and it's sad to see it go.
It's not so much for me about how many autographs I sell as about getting the word out about the CD.
Sonntag, 26. Februar 2017
Samstag, 25. Februar 2017
Happy Birthday Karl May!
Erzähle nicht die Wahrheit, solange dir etwas Interessanteres einfällt.
"Einen Weißen? ... Aber das ist ja fürchterlich!" - "Nicht fürchterlicher, als wenn man einen Schwarzen verkauft. Mensch ist Mensch."
Es gibt Menschen, die nicht leben, sondern gelebt werden.
Die Liebe hört nie auf. Sie hat keinen Anfang und kein Ende, sowohl in räumlicher als auch in zeitlicher Beziehung; also kann es außer ihr nichts anderes geben. Sie erfüllt das Sonnenstäubchen und den Weltenraum, die kurze Sekunde des irdischen Zeitmaßes und auch die ganze Ewigkeit. Sie läßt sich nicht einteilen in Eltern, Kindes, Gatten, Freundes- und allgemeine Menschenliebe. Wer sie so zerstückeln zu können meint, dem ist sie unbekannt. Unser Erkennen und unser Weissagen ist solches Stückwerk, vor der Liebe aber, die das Vollkommene ist, hört jedes Stückwerk auf.
Kleine Menschen treiben alles ihnen Unangenehme ins Große und Schlimme. Große Menschen sehen das Schlimme an ihren Mitmenschen entweder klein oder gar nicht.
Heute habe ich mich endlich, endlich vor die Notwendigkeit des Beweises gestellt, nicht mehr Knecht, sondern Herr meiner Selbst zu sein.
Es wetterleuchtet um die ganze Erde.
Vor allen Dingen bin ich Mensch, und wenn ein andrer Mensch sich in Not befindet und ich ihm helfen kann, so frage ich nicht, ob seine Haut eine grüne oder blaue Farbe hat.
Nicht Einzelwesen, Drama ist der Mensch, Um Zeit und Ort mit Handlung zu beleben, Und der es dichtet, wohnt nicht im Gehirn
Und nicht im Leib.
Wie man den Krieg führt, das weiß jedermann; wie man den Frieden führt, das weiß kein Mensch. Ihr habt stehende Heere für den Krieg, die jährlich viele Milliarden kosten. Wo habt ihr eure stehenden Heere für den Frieden, die keinen einzigen Para kosten, sondern Millionen einbringen würden?
Erziehe Menschen! Mensch soll Jeder werden.
Jeder Mensch will glücklich werden, das ist falsch. Jeder Mensch soll glücklich machen, das ist richtig.
Du hast von mir verlangt, ein guter Mensch zu sein, und nun macht es mir Freude, ihm seine Beleidigung durch Liebe zu vergelten!
Man kann die Seele nicht in das Gewand der Tugend kleiden.
Die Tugend ist einfach der Gesundheitszustand der Seele.
Auch der Indianer ist Mensch und steht im Besitze seiner Menschenrechte; es ist eine schwere Sünde, ihm das Recht, zu existieren, abzusprechen und die Mittel der Existenz nach und nach zu entziehen.
Wer Tiere quält, taugt nichts; wer aber Menschen unnütz wehe tut, der ist noch viel weniger wert.
... die beste, fürchterlichste Waffe ist die Lächerlichkeit. Sie siegt über Alles, selbst über die Wissenschaft, die Schönheit, den Ruhm. Wer die Liebe eines Weibes gewinnen will, kann Alles wagen, Alles thun; aber er muß sich hüten, sich lächerlich zu machen.
Geht mir mit einer Civilisation, die sich nur vom Länderraub ernährt und nur im Blute watet! … Schaut in alle Erdteile, mögen sie heißen, wie sie wollen! Wird da nicht überall und allerwärts grad von den Civilisiertesten der Civilisierten ein fortgesetzter Raub, ein gewaltthätiger Länderdiebstahl ausgeführt, durch welchen Reiche gestürzt, Nationen vernichtet und Millionen und Abermillionen von Menschen um ihre angestammten Rechte betrogen werden?
Lächle nicht darüber, denn es ist wahr: Deine Gedanken, Worte und Werke werden in das ›Buch des Lebens‹ von keinem Andern als von dir selbst eingetragen.
Des Menschen Wille ist sein Himmelreich.« So sagt eines der bekanntesten und gebräuchlichsten aus dem reichhaltigsten Schatze unserer Sprüchwörter, und wie oft möchte man mit ernstem Grunde hinzufügen: »aber auch seine Hölle!
Der Himmelsglaube ist nicht Wahn und bringt nicht Wahn, er erlöst vom Wahn.
Aber ich klage die ganze sich "zivilisiert" nennende Menschheit an, daß sie trotz aller Religionen und trotz einer achttausendjährigen Weltgeschichte noch heutigen Tages nicht wissen will, daß dieses "Zivilisieren" nichts anderes als ein "Terrorisieren" ist!
Sieg, großer Sieg! Ich sehe alles rosenrot!
"Einen Weißen? ... Aber das ist ja fürchterlich!" - "Nicht fürchterlicher, als wenn man einen Schwarzen verkauft. Mensch ist Mensch."
Es gibt Menschen, die nicht leben, sondern gelebt werden.
Die Liebe hört nie auf. Sie hat keinen Anfang und kein Ende, sowohl in räumlicher als auch in zeitlicher Beziehung; also kann es außer ihr nichts anderes geben. Sie erfüllt das Sonnenstäubchen und den Weltenraum, die kurze Sekunde des irdischen Zeitmaßes und auch die ganze Ewigkeit. Sie läßt sich nicht einteilen in Eltern, Kindes, Gatten, Freundes- und allgemeine Menschenliebe. Wer sie so zerstückeln zu können meint, dem ist sie unbekannt. Unser Erkennen und unser Weissagen ist solches Stückwerk, vor der Liebe aber, die das Vollkommene ist, hört jedes Stückwerk auf.
Kleine Menschen treiben alles ihnen Unangenehme ins Große und Schlimme. Große Menschen sehen das Schlimme an ihren Mitmenschen entweder klein oder gar nicht.
Heute habe ich mich endlich, endlich vor die Notwendigkeit des Beweises gestellt, nicht mehr Knecht, sondern Herr meiner Selbst zu sein.
Es wetterleuchtet um die ganze Erde.
Vor allen Dingen bin ich Mensch, und wenn ein andrer Mensch sich in Not befindet und ich ihm helfen kann, so frage ich nicht, ob seine Haut eine grüne oder blaue Farbe hat.
Nicht Einzelwesen, Drama ist der Mensch, Um Zeit und Ort mit Handlung zu beleben, Und der es dichtet, wohnt nicht im Gehirn
Und nicht im Leib.
Wie man den Krieg führt, das weiß jedermann; wie man den Frieden führt, das weiß kein Mensch. Ihr habt stehende Heere für den Krieg, die jährlich viele Milliarden kosten. Wo habt ihr eure stehenden Heere für den Frieden, die keinen einzigen Para kosten, sondern Millionen einbringen würden?
Erziehe Menschen! Mensch soll Jeder werden.
Jeder Mensch will glücklich werden, das ist falsch. Jeder Mensch soll glücklich machen, das ist richtig.
Du hast von mir verlangt, ein guter Mensch zu sein, und nun macht es mir Freude, ihm seine Beleidigung durch Liebe zu vergelten!
Man kann die Seele nicht in das Gewand der Tugend kleiden.
Die Tugend ist einfach der Gesundheitszustand der Seele.
Auch der Indianer ist Mensch und steht im Besitze seiner Menschenrechte; es ist eine schwere Sünde, ihm das Recht, zu existieren, abzusprechen und die Mittel der Existenz nach und nach zu entziehen.
Wer Tiere quält, taugt nichts; wer aber Menschen unnütz wehe tut, der ist noch viel weniger wert.
... die beste, fürchterlichste Waffe ist die Lächerlichkeit. Sie siegt über Alles, selbst über die Wissenschaft, die Schönheit, den Ruhm. Wer die Liebe eines Weibes gewinnen will, kann Alles wagen, Alles thun; aber er muß sich hüten, sich lächerlich zu machen.
Geht mir mit einer Civilisation, die sich nur vom Länderraub ernährt und nur im Blute watet! … Schaut in alle Erdteile, mögen sie heißen, wie sie wollen! Wird da nicht überall und allerwärts grad von den Civilisiertesten der Civilisierten ein fortgesetzter Raub, ein gewaltthätiger Länderdiebstahl ausgeführt, durch welchen Reiche gestürzt, Nationen vernichtet und Millionen und Abermillionen von Menschen um ihre angestammten Rechte betrogen werden?
Lächle nicht darüber, denn es ist wahr: Deine Gedanken, Worte und Werke werden in das ›Buch des Lebens‹ von keinem Andern als von dir selbst eingetragen.
Des Menschen Wille ist sein Himmelreich.« So sagt eines der bekanntesten und gebräuchlichsten aus dem reichhaltigsten Schatze unserer Sprüchwörter, und wie oft möchte man mit ernstem Grunde hinzufügen: »aber auch seine Hölle!
Der Himmelsglaube ist nicht Wahn und bringt nicht Wahn, er erlöst vom Wahn.
Aber ich klage die ganze sich "zivilisiert" nennende Menschheit an, daß sie trotz aller Religionen und trotz einer achttausendjährigen Weltgeschichte noch heutigen Tages nicht wissen will, daß dieses "Zivilisieren" nichts anderes als ein "Terrorisieren" ist!
Sieg, großer Sieg! Ich sehe alles rosenrot!
Mittwoch, 22. Februar 2017
Happy Birthday Jeri Ryan!
I was raised all over. Kansas, Hawaii, Georgia, Texas and Kentucky, by the time I was 11.
Sorry, I get a little excited when I talk about firearms.
When I started out on "Star Trek: Voyager", they had to tell me everything about Star Trek, because I knew nothing about it. I had never seen the original series, I had never seen "Star Trek: The Next Generation". I think I'd seen a couple of episodes here and there - of the original series, probably. Never seen Voyager. Didn't know what a Borg was. They gave me a copy of "Star Trek: First Contact", the movie, so I could at least see what a Borg was. They also gave me a copy of the Star Trek Encyclopedia, whatever it is, so that I could bone up on my Star Trek knowledge. Fortunately, it sort of worked for the character that I wouldn't know any of the backstories of the people on Voyager, because she was coming in cold, like I was. That was actually helpful as opposed to detrimental.
My husband travels a lot with his job, so we have a lot of frequent flyer miles so we can hop on a plane with no notice. That's a nice luxury and he is very supportive.
There are three things pageant women do. There's the Vaseline thing, which I didn't do. There's duct taping your boobs, which I never did because I'm not into pain. The third thing is using athletic spray adhesive on your butt to keep your swimsuit in place. I did do that. So one out of three ain't bad.
There is a very large chunk of our population who firmly believe in extraterrestrials.
I had never seen much of Star Trek, or any other science fiction, before I was cast. But Seven's wonderful.
It was really a pleasure to play someone who's literally pushed past her breaking point repeatedly.
He's a good man and good father.
Cheating is often more efficient.
I started by looking everything up in a Star Trek dictionary so I knew what I was talking about, but you can't do that because they talk in circles, and half of it doesn't make sense, so you'll just end up driving yourself more insane.
That's what makes a character interesting from an actor's perspective - the more screwed up, the better.
Initially, I would stay in the costume much longer than I ended up staying in it, because it takes about twenty minutes to get into. Someone has to dress me and undress me. It's a production break if I have to get out of the costume to use the rest room or something. It grinds to a halt unless they can shoot something without me, which typically they can't, if it's a scene that I'm in. So in the interest of being a team player, the first season, I would not take rest room breaks, I just didn't drink anything on set, which is not the healthiest thing to do.
I was always a fan of horror films as a kid.
It doesn't bother me that Seven has such an overtly sexual presence, because she has no concept of what effect that physical package would have on some male member of the crew. That's what's fun,
her innocence.
You can't really prepare yourself for being greeted by a dozen Klingons drinking blood wine. So, it can be a bit off-putting coming in from the outside. But it's great fun and there are no fans like Star Trek fans.
The costume that I wear on the show is a little snug and doesn't leave a whole lot to the imagination. I don't have a problem with it because of the way this character's been written.
His background and knowledge can't be transplanted overnight, ... I'd make a point that unless you sat on the throne, you don't know what it's like to be king. In reality there are a lot of things that you do and people you influence that other people don't see and that impact is there for the city.
It's supposed to be entertainment. It's not supposed to be a documentary.
I could do without the Bubonic Plague.
The whole sex symbol or babe thing doesn't bother me.
I have a lot of fun with guns, especially the M-16, but my favourite is my little .22. It fits nicely in the palm of your hand. I do limit myself to blanks.
I've loved the escapism of being another person, slipping into another character for a little while.
No doubt that he will make an excellent senator.
They said that Seven was a former Borg who had been human and had been assimilated. She was regaining her humanity. I had no interest in this character.
I have no specific ideas in mind of what I will or won't do; it's all about the roles.
My background has been very helpful for this experience. But everyone was so accommodating because they knew it's not the most comfortable position to be the new kid.
I think the more stressful our times get, the more we look for fantasy escapes.
This was truly guerilla filmmaking. We shot out in the middle of nowhere in a place called Delta Flats, where basically every day was some new minor catastrophe.
I'm not so widely known that I'm going to be pigeonholed.
It might be arrogant to think that we're the only living creations in all of the solar systems that there are. Space is so vast.
I'm not real impressed with the Star Trek weaponry, I gotta be honest.
We haven't done such a great job, so I don't know why God couldn't have started over somewhere else. I don't necessarily believe in aliens coming to the States, and I don't buy into the government cover-up.
I loved working with Eric Close and J. T. Walsh.
My husband is someone who's in the real world. It's a big help that I don't have both feet in Hollywood.
I don't necessarily believe in aliens coming to the States, and I don't buy into the government cover-up.
West Hollywood is predominantly gay, so every man that came into the grocery store was shopping for his boyfriend.
I get to pretend I'm flying into space, and hang out with my friends. That's what I do for a living.
Sorry, I get a little excited when I talk about firearms.
When I started out on "Star Trek: Voyager", they had to tell me everything about Star Trek, because I knew nothing about it. I had never seen the original series, I had never seen "Star Trek: The Next Generation". I think I'd seen a couple of episodes here and there - of the original series, probably. Never seen Voyager. Didn't know what a Borg was. They gave me a copy of "Star Trek: First Contact", the movie, so I could at least see what a Borg was. They also gave me a copy of the Star Trek Encyclopedia, whatever it is, so that I could bone up on my Star Trek knowledge. Fortunately, it sort of worked for the character that I wouldn't know any of the backstories of the people on Voyager, because she was coming in cold, like I was. That was actually helpful as opposed to detrimental.
My husband travels a lot with his job, so we have a lot of frequent flyer miles so we can hop on a plane with no notice. That's a nice luxury and he is very supportive.
There are three things pageant women do. There's the Vaseline thing, which I didn't do. There's duct taping your boobs, which I never did because I'm not into pain. The third thing is using athletic spray adhesive on your butt to keep your swimsuit in place. I did do that. So one out of three ain't bad.
There is a very large chunk of our population who firmly believe in extraterrestrials.
I had never seen much of Star Trek, or any other science fiction, before I was cast. But Seven's wonderful.
It was really a pleasure to play someone who's literally pushed past her breaking point repeatedly.
He's a good man and good father.
Cheating is often more efficient.
I started by looking everything up in a Star Trek dictionary so I knew what I was talking about, but you can't do that because they talk in circles, and half of it doesn't make sense, so you'll just end up driving yourself more insane.
That's what makes a character interesting from an actor's perspective - the more screwed up, the better.
Initially, I would stay in the costume much longer than I ended up staying in it, because it takes about twenty minutes to get into. Someone has to dress me and undress me. It's a production break if I have to get out of the costume to use the rest room or something. It grinds to a halt unless they can shoot something without me, which typically they can't, if it's a scene that I'm in. So in the interest of being a team player, the first season, I would not take rest room breaks, I just didn't drink anything on set, which is not the healthiest thing to do.
I was always a fan of horror films as a kid.
It doesn't bother me that Seven has such an overtly sexual presence, because she has no concept of what effect that physical package would have on some male member of the crew. That's what's fun,
her innocence.
You can't really prepare yourself for being greeted by a dozen Klingons drinking blood wine. So, it can be a bit off-putting coming in from the outside. But it's great fun and there are no fans like Star Trek fans.
The costume that I wear on the show is a little snug and doesn't leave a whole lot to the imagination. I don't have a problem with it because of the way this character's been written.
His background and knowledge can't be transplanted overnight, ... I'd make a point that unless you sat on the throne, you don't know what it's like to be king. In reality there are a lot of things that you do and people you influence that other people don't see and that impact is there for the city.
It's supposed to be entertainment. It's not supposed to be a documentary.
I could do without the Bubonic Plague.
The whole sex symbol or babe thing doesn't bother me.
I have a lot of fun with guns, especially the M-16, but my favourite is my little .22. It fits nicely in the palm of your hand. I do limit myself to blanks.
I've loved the escapism of being another person, slipping into another character for a little while.
No doubt that he will make an excellent senator.
They said that Seven was a former Borg who had been human and had been assimilated. She was regaining her humanity. I had no interest in this character.
I have no specific ideas in mind of what I will or won't do; it's all about the roles.
My background has been very helpful for this experience. But everyone was so accommodating because they knew it's not the most comfortable position to be the new kid.
I think the more stressful our times get, the more we look for fantasy escapes.
This was truly guerilla filmmaking. We shot out in the middle of nowhere in a place called Delta Flats, where basically every day was some new minor catastrophe.
I'm not so widely known that I'm going to be pigeonholed.
It might be arrogant to think that we're the only living creations in all of the solar systems that there are. Space is so vast.
I'm not real impressed with the Star Trek weaponry, I gotta be honest.
We haven't done such a great job, so I don't know why God couldn't have started over somewhere else. I don't necessarily believe in aliens coming to the States, and I don't buy into the government cover-up.
I loved working with Eric Close and J. T. Walsh.
My husband is someone who's in the real world. It's a big help that I don't have both feet in Hollywood.
I don't necessarily believe in aliens coming to the States, and I don't buy into the government cover-up.
West Hollywood is predominantly gay, so every man that came into the grocery store was shopping for his boyfriend.
I get to pretend I'm flying into space, and hang out with my friends. That's what I do for a living.
Freitag, 17. Februar 2017
Happy Birthday Herbert Köfer!
In Ehre und Anstand alt zu werden, halte ich für besser, als mit 1000 Operationen nicht mehr seine eigene Persönlichkeit zu behalten.
Ich esse und trinke, was mir schmeckt.
Wir haben die Aufgabe, Menschen nicht nur zu unterhalten, sondern sie auch zum Denken anzuregen.
Ich habe vor jedem Auftritt nach wie vor Lampenfieber. Wer das nicht hat, ist kein richtiger Schauspieler.
Ich esse und trinke, was mir schmeckt.
Wir haben die Aufgabe, Menschen nicht nur zu unterhalten, sondern sie auch zum Denken anzuregen.
Ich habe vor jedem Auftritt nach wie vor Lampenfieber. Wer das nicht hat, ist kein richtiger Schauspieler.
Donnerstag, 16. Februar 2017
Happy Birthday LeVar Burton!
I think reading is part of the birthright of the human being.
It's definitely true that there are a lot of the devices we used on 'Star Trek,' that came out the imagination of the writers, and the creators that are actually in the world today.
After many years of training myself, strong emotions are now a trigger for me to look at something. I think that all emotions are triggers for us to grow in our level of consciousness.
Because storytelling, and visual storytelling, was put in the hands of everybody, and we have all now become storytellers.
For me, literacy means freedom. For the individual and for society.
I've always been interested in gadgets and technology and I've always been a reader.
With the technology of tablet computers, if we bring the right content to them and distribute them ubiquitously throughout the land, we can do something about America being ranked 29th in the world in terms of our level of education.
Yeah. I do. I think that we have to continue to expand the areas in which we want our kids to be literate. And social media's going to be a part of their lives. And why not? Why not give them a sense of what the rules of the road are?
Jim Carrey can do anything he wants, right? There are guys like that. I'm not one of those guys, so my career has been cobbled together with what the universe has put in front of me.
I'm excited to see how current and future technologies revolutionize the way we learn.
For me, a good children's book is a good children's book is a good children's book.
I get most of my news updates from electronic and social media.
I'm a firm believer and always have been that there aren't all that many things that you should not express to children in an age-appropriate manner, and as a parent, that is your job - to be discerning as to whether or not your child can handle the information, provided you have the ability to express yourself in that age-appropriate way.
The unvarnished truth is that we have spent the last decade funding the machinery of war, and our children have been sacrificed.
I feel like I have been able to notice throughout the incremental march of history during the course of my own lifetime patterns emerging, and there's a sort of a rubber band effect that happens where social growth and change is concerned.
I fly my geek flag proudly. Absolutely.
You can break down anything for a child, and you have to know what your child is ready for and what your child is not.
We want a book to be a book. We'll have all the interactive bells and whistles but our intent is to engage young people in reading, not to show them a movie.
When I was young, I used to fantasize about being famous. I even practiced my signature ... for autographs. I wanted to be rich and famous. I asked for it. I created it. So now that it's here, I really can't say it sucks.
There would be no Star Trek unless there were transporter malfunctions.
Wearing the visor robs me of acting. It's robs me of how we, as human beings, communicate. Communication is done primarily through the eyes. We can't see Geordi's eyes, so it is like we are cut off from one part of him. That's something I would like to address. Besides, I would think that in the 24th century, there has to be something technologically better than what Geordi's got now.
This wired generation is kind of cool.
Human beings are the laziest creatures in the history of creation. We would rather not do anything if we could avoid it.
We can't afford to sacrifice another generation of American children to bureaucratic politics. We've got to get it done. The future, the health, the life - our nation depends on it and it's just foolish to think or act otherwise.
People always ask me, Could you see out of that thing? And the answer is, no, I couldn't. It was always very funny to me because when the actor puts the visor on 85 to 90 percent of my vision was taken away, yet I'm playing a guy who sees more than everyone else around him. So that's just God's cruel little joke.
I have always been a fan of 'Star Trek.' I love Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future.
I believe fantasy role play is a very healthy form of creative expression. We don't do enough of it as adults. So you won't find me knocking folks who create characters for themselves and dress up on the weekend.
It's not about division. It's not about politics. My concern is how do we come together?
Technobabble brings with it its own challenge. Because it really doesn't mean anything. Well I mean it does to the technically and scientifically proficient, but it really didn't mean much to me, because I'm not an engineer, I just played one on TV. The methodology that I found most successful was to really spit it out as fast as I possibly could. Giving the illusion that I knew what I was talking about when, in fact, I really didn't.
It is no longer appropriate for me as an American to sit by and expect my government to get it done.
I read a lot of science fiction books when I was a kid. And very few of them had heroes of colour in the pages of those novels. There were some, but they were the exceptions and so that's why Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future was really important to me growing up because it said when the future comes, there will be people like you who are vital and important to that mission of going out there and boldly exploring.
Reading a hard copy book, and reading a book on an iPad are slightly different experiences. What they both have in common though is that you must engage your imagination in the process.
What I love about Star Trek is that it's about inclusion. It's about diversity and inclusion. Star Trek says there is an infinite number of life forms that exist out there in – in the cosmos and they all have value. Every single one of them.
We had to figure out how to produce books in a cost-effective way.
I don't believe Roots could've happened ten years earlier in America, nor ten years later for that matter. Socially, the timing was perfect in every respect. The Civil Rights Movement had succeeded to the point where America was accustomed to accepting Black people as equal citizens in this society. Then came the Vietnam era which forced us to take an unvarnished look at ourselves and our politics. By the time the late seventies rolled around, I think we were finally ready to deal with the issue of slavery and how its legacy has impact even to this day.
All literature is political.
You know that phrase, love your neighbor as yourself? My hope, as we head towards the millenium, is that we need to take the message to the next level. My neighbor and myself are the same.
I want to live in an America where we are able to marshal all the resources we have at our disposal and that we - people like me, and companies like Apple and Intel and others - can make it our business to put a tablet computer in the hands of every single kid in America. Every single kid.
As long as we are engaged in storytelling that moves the culture forward, it doesn't matter what format it is.
Maturity is a series of shattered illusions.
I'm enormously proud of the fact that Star Trek has really not just sparked an interest, but encouraged, a few generations of people to go into the sciences.
Kids are sponges. They will emulate what they see and what they're exposed to.
And it's here and it's ready and we can really revolutionize the way we educate our children with tablet computers, and I'm committed to doing whatever I can to speaking to whomever I can to send this signal - to pound this message home. Now is the time.
In a society that functions optimally, those who can should naturally want to provide for those who can't. That's how it's designed to work. I truly believe we're here to take care of one another.
I genuinely believe we have an opportunity to revolutionize how we educate our children.
I've always been the sort of guy who's happiest doing more than one thing at a time.
If we marry educational technology with quality, enriching content, that's a circle of win.
Libraries do one thing that no other institution does and that's provide access to all.
We have an amazing advantage right now in that we have developed technology that is so sexy, so engaging for kids.
That's not a role you prepare for. There's no preparation. You don't have time to prepare for the reading of an audiobook. You do the reading of an audiobook in basically two days' time - an unabridged version, maybe three days.
It's definitely true that there are a lot of the devices we used on 'Star Trek,' that came out the imagination of the writers, and the creators that are actually in the world today.
After many years of training myself, strong emotions are now a trigger for me to look at something. I think that all emotions are triggers for us to grow in our level of consciousness.
Because storytelling, and visual storytelling, was put in the hands of everybody, and we have all now become storytellers.
For me, literacy means freedom. For the individual and for society.
I've always been interested in gadgets and technology and I've always been a reader.
With the technology of tablet computers, if we bring the right content to them and distribute them ubiquitously throughout the land, we can do something about America being ranked 29th in the world in terms of our level of education.
Yeah. I do. I think that we have to continue to expand the areas in which we want our kids to be literate. And social media's going to be a part of their lives. And why not? Why not give them a sense of what the rules of the road are?
Jim Carrey can do anything he wants, right? There are guys like that. I'm not one of those guys, so my career has been cobbled together with what the universe has put in front of me.
I'm excited to see how current and future technologies revolutionize the way we learn.
For me, a good children's book is a good children's book is a good children's book.
I get most of my news updates from electronic and social media.
I'm a firm believer and always have been that there aren't all that many things that you should not express to children in an age-appropriate manner, and as a parent, that is your job - to be discerning as to whether or not your child can handle the information, provided you have the ability to express yourself in that age-appropriate way.
The unvarnished truth is that we have spent the last decade funding the machinery of war, and our children have been sacrificed.
I feel like I have been able to notice throughout the incremental march of history during the course of my own lifetime patterns emerging, and there's a sort of a rubber band effect that happens where social growth and change is concerned.
I fly my geek flag proudly. Absolutely.
You can break down anything for a child, and you have to know what your child is ready for and what your child is not.
We want a book to be a book. We'll have all the interactive bells and whistles but our intent is to engage young people in reading, not to show them a movie.
When I was young, I used to fantasize about being famous. I even practiced my signature ... for autographs. I wanted to be rich and famous. I asked for it. I created it. So now that it's here, I really can't say it sucks.
There would be no Star Trek unless there were transporter malfunctions.
Wearing the visor robs me of acting. It's robs me of how we, as human beings, communicate. Communication is done primarily through the eyes. We can't see Geordi's eyes, so it is like we are cut off from one part of him. That's something I would like to address. Besides, I would think that in the 24th century, there has to be something technologically better than what Geordi's got now.
This wired generation is kind of cool.
Human beings are the laziest creatures in the history of creation. We would rather not do anything if we could avoid it.
We can't afford to sacrifice another generation of American children to bureaucratic politics. We've got to get it done. The future, the health, the life - our nation depends on it and it's just foolish to think or act otherwise.
People always ask me, Could you see out of that thing? And the answer is, no, I couldn't. It was always very funny to me because when the actor puts the visor on 85 to 90 percent of my vision was taken away, yet I'm playing a guy who sees more than everyone else around him. So that's just God's cruel little joke.
I have always been a fan of 'Star Trek.' I love Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future.
I believe fantasy role play is a very healthy form of creative expression. We don't do enough of it as adults. So you won't find me knocking folks who create characters for themselves and dress up on the weekend.
It's not about division. It's not about politics. My concern is how do we come together?
Technobabble brings with it its own challenge. Because it really doesn't mean anything. Well I mean it does to the technically and scientifically proficient, but it really didn't mean much to me, because I'm not an engineer, I just played one on TV. The methodology that I found most successful was to really spit it out as fast as I possibly could. Giving the illusion that I knew what I was talking about when, in fact, I really didn't.
It is no longer appropriate for me as an American to sit by and expect my government to get it done.
I read a lot of science fiction books when I was a kid. And very few of them had heroes of colour in the pages of those novels. There were some, but they were the exceptions and so that's why Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future was really important to me growing up because it said when the future comes, there will be people like you who are vital and important to that mission of going out there and boldly exploring.
Reading a hard copy book, and reading a book on an iPad are slightly different experiences. What they both have in common though is that you must engage your imagination in the process.
What I love about Star Trek is that it's about inclusion. It's about diversity and inclusion. Star Trek says there is an infinite number of life forms that exist out there in – in the cosmos and they all have value. Every single one of them.
We had to figure out how to produce books in a cost-effective way.
I don't believe Roots could've happened ten years earlier in America, nor ten years later for that matter. Socially, the timing was perfect in every respect. The Civil Rights Movement had succeeded to the point where America was accustomed to accepting Black people as equal citizens in this society. Then came the Vietnam era which forced us to take an unvarnished look at ourselves and our politics. By the time the late seventies rolled around, I think we were finally ready to deal with the issue of slavery and how its legacy has impact even to this day.
All literature is political.
You know that phrase, love your neighbor as yourself? My hope, as we head towards the millenium, is that we need to take the message to the next level. My neighbor and myself are the same.
I want to live in an America where we are able to marshal all the resources we have at our disposal and that we - people like me, and companies like Apple and Intel and others - can make it our business to put a tablet computer in the hands of every single kid in America. Every single kid.
As long as we are engaged in storytelling that moves the culture forward, it doesn't matter what format it is.
Maturity is a series of shattered illusions.
I'm enormously proud of the fact that Star Trek has really not just sparked an interest, but encouraged, a few generations of people to go into the sciences.
Kids are sponges. They will emulate what they see and what they're exposed to.
And it's here and it's ready and we can really revolutionize the way we educate our children with tablet computers, and I'm committed to doing whatever I can to speaking to whomever I can to send this signal - to pound this message home. Now is the time.
In a society that functions optimally, those who can should naturally want to provide for those who can't. That's how it's designed to work. I truly believe we're here to take care of one another.
I genuinely believe we have an opportunity to revolutionize how we educate our children.
I've always been the sort of guy who's happiest doing more than one thing at a time.
If we marry educational technology with quality, enriching content, that's a circle of win.
Libraries do one thing that no other institution does and that's provide access to all.
We have an amazing advantage right now in that we have developed technology that is so sexy, so engaging for kids.
That's not a role you prepare for. There's no preparation. You don't have time to prepare for the reading of an audiobook. You do the reading of an audiobook in basically two days' time - an unabridged version, maybe three days.
Dienstag, 14. Februar 2017
Happy Birthday Simon Pegg!
If you're sad today, just remember the world is over 4 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.
Both me and Edgar are firm believers in never underestimating or talking down to an audience, and giving an audience something to do, to give them something which is entirely up to them to enter into the film and find these hidden things and whatever.
Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating.
I don't know about doing a sequel. I think you can retroactively damage a product by adding to it.
Being a geek means you never have to play it cool about how much you like something.
I mean, yeah, I'm sure that Python and the other things have paved the way for a greater understanding of the British sense of humor, but I don't think it's all that different than the American sense of humor.
Zombies don't run.
Doctor Who was a big part of my childhood so it was a great honour to be in it.
It is an extraordinary thing to meet your heroes and find them to be everything you hoped they would be.
I think at its best the American sense of humor is the same as the British sense of humor at its best, which is to be wry and ironic and self deprecating.
You look at shows like The Simpsons or Larry Sanders or Curb Your Enthusiasm or Seinfeld, they're really sophisticated shows that we all love back home.
I just love listening to the laughter.
I used to lie in bed in my flat and imagine what would happen if there was a zombie attack.
Chris Martin's a good friend of mine. I'm actually Apple's godfather. He's an old friend and we've been mates for quite a few years now.
There is a universality to comedy.
There are a lot of visual marks that have to be hit, and lines that need to be said in a right way - so there wasn't really any improvisation on the set when it came to the bulk of the script.
There's this thing of you can live in a city and be completely alone, not notice anything going on around you.
We work with every one of them to see if their character wouldn't say a certain thing or if something is worded awkwardly - we work with them to rectify that.
American audiences tend to be more expressive than British ones.
The simple fact is that what you see on the screen is pretty much real.
Also, if you watch the film once, there are lots of things that you won't get because there are punch lines in the first act, the setup to which isn't until the second act.
The only spoof I think is the title, which was just we thought of very early on and it kind of stuck.
The main jokes in this film are about big things, love and life and zombies - we all get that.
There are actually quite high profile British TV star cameos in it that you probably wouldn't even notice, that the British wouldn't even notice, let alone the American audience.
We suddenly saw how people reacted in the event of massive social upheaval, and the way that the little problems in your life don't go away. You don't stop being frightened of spiders just because the world's blown up.
We don't watch the film anymore because we've seen it so many times, so we'll introduce it, walk out and we'll come back in right about when I wake up in the morning and walk over to the shop and everything's changed.
In England, we don't have any guns whatsoever.
I think that the joke and the ghost story both have a similar set up in that you kind of set something up and pay it off with a laugh or a scare.
Every person should have their escape route planned. I think everyone has an apocalypse fantasy, what would I do in the event of the end of the world, and we just basically - me and Nick - said what would we do, where would we head?
I loved playing Shaun, he's not that different from me.
You always worry about films when you hear about them making decisions after announcements are made.
I think we all mistake certain things for happiness. I think we mistake comfort for happiness and we mistake pleasure for happiness, and entertainment for happiness, when really these are just things we use as proxies for our happiness.
We use them to cheer us up or try and achieve brief happiness, when really happiness is something much more profound and long lasting and exists within us.
You don't look at each other on the subway.
We are never more creative than when we are at odds with the world and there is nothing so artistically destructive as comfort. Princess Leia taught me that.
That's what we wanted to get across in that moment, particularly when Shaun goes to the shop when he's all hung over. He doesn't notice any of the zombies around him just because he never had before, so why should he at that point?
We might not know we are seeking people who best enrich our lives, but somehow on a deep subconscious level we absolutely are. Whether the bond is temporary or permanent, whether it succeeds or fails, fate is simply a configuration of choices that combine with others to shape the relationships that surround us. We cannot choose our family, but we can choose our friends, and we sometimes, before we even meet them.
Both me and Edgar are firm believers in never underestimating or talking down to an audience, and giving an audience something to do, to give them something which is entirely up to them to enter into the film and find these hidden things and whatever.
Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating.
I don't know about doing a sequel. I think you can retroactively damage a product by adding to it.
Being a geek means you never have to play it cool about how much you like something.
I mean, yeah, I'm sure that Python and the other things have paved the way for a greater understanding of the British sense of humor, but I don't think it's all that different than the American sense of humor.
Zombies don't run.
Doctor Who was a big part of my childhood so it was a great honour to be in it.
It is an extraordinary thing to meet your heroes and find them to be everything you hoped they would be.
I think at its best the American sense of humor is the same as the British sense of humor at its best, which is to be wry and ironic and self deprecating.
You look at shows like The Simpsons or Larry Sanders or Curb Your Enthusiasm or Seinfeld, they're really sophisticated shows that we all love back home.
I just love listening to the laughter.
I used to lie in bed in my flat and imagine what would happen if there was a zombie attack.
Chris Martin's a good friend of mine. I'm actually Apple's godfather. He's an old friend and we've been mates for quite a few years now.
There is a universality to comedy.
There are a lot of visual marks that have to be hit, and lines that need to be said in a right way - so there wasn't really any improvisation on the set when it came to the bulk of the script.
There's this thing of you can live in a city and be completely alone, not notice anything going on around you.
We work with every one of them to see if their character wouldn't say a certain thing or if something is worded awkwardly - we work with them to rectify that.
American audiences tend to be more expressive than British ones.
The simple fact is that what you see on the screen is pretty much real.
Also, if you watch the film once, there are lots of things that you won't get because there are punch lines in the first act, the setup to which isn't until the second act.
The only spoof I think is the title, which was just we thought of very early on and it kind of stuck.
The main jokes in this film are about big things, love and life and zombies - we all get that.
There are actually quite high profile British TV star cameos in it that you probably wouldn't even notice, that the British wouldn't even notice, let alone the American audience.
We suddenly saw how people reacted in the event of massive social upheaval, and the way that the little problems in your life don't go away. You don't stop being frightened of spiders just because the world's blown up.
We don't watch the film anymore because we've seen it so many times, so we'll introduce it, walk out and we'll come back in right about when I wake up in the morning and walk over to the shop and everything's changed.
In England, we don't have any guns whatsoever.
I think that the joke and the ghost story both have a similar set up in that you kind of set something up and pay it off with a laugh or a scare.
Every person should have their escape route planned. I think everyone has an apocalypse fantasy, what would I do in the event of the end of the world, and we just basically - me and Nick - said what would we do, where would we head?
I loved playing Shaun, he's not that different from me.
You always worry about films when you hear about them making decisions after announcements are made.
I think we all mistake certain things for happiness. I think we mistake comfort for happiness and we mistake pleasure for happiness, and entertainment for happiness, when really these are just things we use as proxies for our happiness.
We use them to cheer us up or try and achieve brief happiness, when really happiness is something much more profound and long lasting and exists within us.
You don't look at each other on the subway.
We are never more creative than when we are at odds with the world and there is nothing so artistically destructive as comfort. Princess Leia taught me that.
That's what we wanted to get across in that moment, particularly when Shaun goes to the shop when he's all hung over. He doesn't notice any of the zombies around him just because he never had before, so why should he at that point?
We might not know we are seeking people who best enrich our lives, but somehow on a deep subconscious level we absolutely are. Whether the bond is temporary or permanent, whether it succeeds or fails, fate is simply a configuration of choices that combine with others to shape the relationships that surround us. We cannot choose our family, but we can choose our friends, and we sometimes, before we even meet them.
Donnerstag, 2. Februar 2017
Happy Birthday Brent Spiner!
It wasn't exactly a cattle call. I had an agent, and they were seeing people for the parts, so my agent said, "Here's the script, see if there's anything that speaks to you." And I did, and I called my agent and said, "I think this character Data is kind of interesting," and she said, "Well, okay, I'll get you the appointment with Junie Lowry." I had to read with the casting agent first, 'cause nobody really knew me then. Then after that, I had, I think, six different auditions for the role. And finally it was me on Star Trek.
I like to think of myself as the Rutger Hauer of this show Star Trek: The Next Generation. But then I like to think of myself as Rutger Hauer in real life: strikingly handsome, irresistible to women, an intergalactic enigma.
Independence Day was a sweet, sweet job, because it was one of those big surprises.
I think the potential for man is so enormous, if we can stay alive long enough, we're going to be seeing a lot of what Star Trek is projecting.
I think Rick Berman just called me and asked me if I wanted to do the show, and he said they'd write an arc if I'd do it.
I think Night Court was the first thing I did when I came out to Hollywood. It was just one of those things that... I'm from Texas, and it was a character I'd been doing when I was a kid, just for fun.
I had no idea I was part of what was going to be a big mega-hit. I thought I was doing a B sci-fi movie Independence Day. And, actually, it was Jeff Goldblum who looked at me one day and said, "You know, I think this is going to be really something." And I said, "Well, I hope you're right." And sure enough, it turned out to be.
People think that being on Star Trek is career suicide, but it's really just the opposite.
I think that Enterprise was getting better and better, actually, and if it had kept going, I think it would've turned into as good a show as any other in the Star Trek franchise.
And the basic sort of thrust of Star Trek being about equality and tolerance and things I believe in deeply.
It seemed like an interesting movie Independence Day, and I thought I had a take on the part that was going to be unique. That doesn't happen to me very often.
And I think it's likely that there will be Data's out there one day. I hope so, if there are, that they all look exactly like me!
I don't think everybody wanted to be on new Star Trek series. I certainly didn't.
That's what kids were like then. So I really like the movie (Dude, Where's My Car?), I think it's genuinely funny, and I wish I hadn't been so arrogant about it. And, of course, I didn't know it was going to be my best work, either.
Earl Mills is probably the best role I've ever been given in a film. And it was a great experience to work with Halle Berry and Klaus Maria Brandauer, an Austrian actor who's a hero of mine. Martha Coolidge directed the movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, giving me another shot, and it was an amazing experience.
I don't read Science Fiction.
A job is a job. And I like to work.
So we (with Chris Ellis) did (Fresh Hell), and we did the first five episodes as a lark, just to see if anybody would respond or be interested, and we got enough feedback that was positive that we thought, "Let's keep going with this and see if we can flesh it out a bit this season." We've had 10 episodes, and they've been longer and a little more complete.
Gian Luigi Polidoro and his girlfriend had written this script, it was an American comedy, and they decided I was the guy to play the part. I was young, they offered me the lead in the film, and I said, "Sure, I'll do it." And I'm telling you, there is a movie waiting to be made about the making of a movie like that, particularly at that time in New York. I mean, we shot all over the streets of New York without permits. We would literally grab a shot and run. But Rent Control... I think the total cost was $100,000, and to this director's credit, I think it looks like $200,000.
The character of Brent Spiner (in Fresh Hell). We certainly collaborate on the concept of that, but he basically writes the script, then it's sort of a combination of his voice and my voice.
Obviously we're doing a comedy (Fresh Hell), and our intent is to entertain, but we're also really aware and trying to stay aware of the subtext of what it's like to reach a certain age and be dismissed, basically, from the fraternity you've always wanted to be a part of, and the desperation involved in trying to claw your way back into it.
We got to be really good friends (Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau). It was just thrilling, every day. Every single day. I had a big couple of musical numbers in (Out to Sea), and I remember doing one of them and shooting it from beginning to end.
I try to do as much as I can. I probably knew more about Earl Mills than anybody on earth besides people who actually knew him.
Radical surgery is never fun.
It was kind of an amazing class. I went to the Strasberg Institute in New York for a little while after I got there, and I've never seen anybody who was in any of my classes there ever again. I mean, that's not to say they didn't become somebody. I'm not sure. I mean, Sam Jackson could've been in my class, for all I remember.
We had lunch that day (with Chris Ellis), and I was talking about this idea. I toyed with it a little bit on Twitter in story form at one point. And he thought it was a great idea, and he thought, "Well, let's bring my friend Harry Hannigan in, who's a wonderful writer, and let's see if we can put something together."
Rent Control was an interesting movie. It was directed by... I had done a couple of plays off Broadway, and this Italian director came, his name was Gian Luigi Polidoro, and he determined I was the person to play the lead in his low-budget comedy. He'd won an award at the Venice Film Festival, and... He was, y'know, a skilled director.
As I get older and I get more of this dialogue and I lose more and more brain cells, it really does become the most difficult part of the job!
I do know that when I look around in show business, I see a lot of people who were in my drama class in high school.
I felt like I was a natural (in The Simpsons).
As it turns out, sometimes that bites you. In this case, I saw pictures of Earl Mills, and...I actually met him. He was quite old at the time, but he had this sort of curly red hair, so we did that in the film. I got a perm and had red hair, and... It was a mess.
My own personal favorite Cher song is the unforgettable Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.
I tended to do a lot of shows that were ahead of their time and didn't run very long.
Joey being one of my finest performances ever. Matt LeBlanc's basically doing the same thing right now, playing himself on Episodes. When I did Joey, I really leaned on them to make me the biggest ass they possibly could, because, frankly, everyone in their heart of hearts thinks of themselves that way. Or at least I do, anyway.
Rent Control is not a terrible movie, certainly not for the budget they had. And, again, it's such an '80s kind of thing.
In my heart, I've never left Brazil.
I did a couple of little Off-Broadway things, but my first Broadway show was A History Of The American Film, written by Chris Durang. Swoosie Kurtz was one of the stars. It was a wonderful show. It closed in 40 performances. I think it was kind of ahead of its time.
I´m thinking of going into rehab. Im not addicted to anything, but I think its good way to jumpstart an acting career.
I think it was somewhere around age 3 when I fell down the stairs at my house, and I got up and did a Jerry Lewis impression and got a big laugh. And I thought, "Oooh, I like that. I think I need to do this for a living!"
And, you know, when you are a kid, everybody wants to be an actor. I think that everybody wants to be in show business, frankly.
A couple of years ago, I went to see a production of Wicked in San Francisco with a friend of mine, one that Patty Duke was in, and he said, "Do you want to meet her?" And I said, "Yeah!" And I went backstage, and she walked out of her dressing room, looked at me, and said, "I know you." And I went, "Well, uh, yeah, I was in My Sweet Charlie." And she said, "Yeah! You were the guy in the car on the road!" And I was. It was amazing.
(Billy Bob Conroy role) that was a favor. Actually, the lady who cast Night Court asked me to do it, because it was a Friday, and the person who'd been rehearsing it all week got sick and couldn't come to the taping. And she figured I could put it together pretty quickly - it was not all that big a challenge, frankly - and I said, "Of course." I owed her, after all. Gilda Stratton was her name. She was a really, really nice person. So I did it.
I didn't really watch the show Star Trek. I still haven't seen about 150 of them. So I didn't really think of them too much in terms of episodes. I thought of them as kind of one long seven-year episode.
Any job you can go to and have a laugh everyday has got to be a good job.
I've gotten such good feedback from that (re-team with Wil Wheaton for Big Bang Theory appearance), and I hardly did anything.
(Out To Sea) began a relationship I had with (director) Martha Coolidge for a few years that was wonderful, and she certainly cast me in the best roles I've ever had in film.
I did a great show Off-Broadway called Leave It To Beaver Is Dead that was at the Public Theater in New York. It was written by Des McAnuff, who's an illustrious director now, and it starred... Well, I was in it, Mandy Patinkin, Dianne Wiest, Saul Rubinek, and Maury Chaykin. It was an amazing show. But it was definitely ahead of its time, and people didn't quite get it.
I don't read fiction at all.
I mean, I'm the tag of the Big Bang Theory show! That was one of the easiest jobs I've ever had.
Of those, the only one that really stands out for me is Tales From The Darkside, for a couple of reasons, one in particular being who I got to work with on it, which was Eddie Bracken. I mean, what a man. Someone who's done Preston Sturges movies, and I actually got to work with him? And he was great.
Both of the Quaid brothers, Randy and Dennis, were in my class, and Tommy Schlamme, who produced and directed The West Wing with Aaron Sorkin, among many others. Marianne Williamson, who did A Course In Miracles, she was in my high-school drama class, too. So it was kind of an amazing class.
I try not to make plans. Because, even the best laid plans etc. etc.
I think I worked an average of about 10 minutes a day in Big Bang Theory series. It took longer to get to the studio than I actually worked. So I regard the driving there as the actual job. The work itself was just fun.
(The Aviator) came about through John Logan, who I've been friends with for many years.
When I get to work with people I admire, it's such a bonus, so it was an easy sell when I got this phone call asking, 'Will you do this thing with David Strathairn?'" Also, they didn't ask me to audition, which is another bonus. But they said, "All your scenes will be with David," and I said, "I'm there!"
If you look around at the people in show business today they are basically the people who didn't give up.
I think we're all fans, and I understand the whole world of fandom, because I am a fan.
Voice acting is about the easiest thing to do. You roll out of bed, throw your clothes on that you had on the night before, you go into the studio, and nobody cares, just as long as you can speak.
That was a really interesting series Threshold that I think would've been really great had it continued. I know Brannon Braga, who was running the show at the time, had a lot of really interesting ideas for what was going to happen the second, third, fourth, and fifth seasons, and they had it really planned out what was going to go on. But CBS just decided to pull the plug on it.
The one on Fresh Hell is a little easier, because we make it up. It's a strange kind of hybrid of the real me and... Well, obviously it's me standing there, and it's my voice and my face, but it's also kind of filtered through Harry Hannigan's take on the character, the one he's writing.
Timing is everything, as you know.
I really enjoyed Eddie Bracken. He told me a great story. He did The Odd Couple on Broadway, replacing Art Carney, and he said, "Art Carney did it for six months and I did it for three years, and I don't think anyone I've ever spoken to saw me. They all saw Art Carney."
One of the things about working on Star Trek that was always so great was that we all got along as well as we did. We really became family.
Having spent so much time in a fictional world, I prefer to read about the real world.
Basically, my deal is that I choose roles based on three criteria. One is the role, obviously, if it's something that speaks to me. Two is, are they gonna pay me? And three is, who am I gonna work with? And, really, if one of those is there, I'm pretty likely to do it, but it's particularly important to me who I'm going to work with, 'cause that's part of the joy.
John Logan pretty much does the Woody Allen thing of just bringing people in and meeting them.
I went to New York out of college, and in my day, we were told that was the way you became a good actor. You don't go to Hollywood, you go straight to New York and work in the theater. So that's what most of the people I knew did.
I've toyed with this idea of Fresh Hell for a long time. I actually wrote a feature years ago with this sort of concept in mind, and it's gone through several incarnations, and... It wasn't 'til I met Chris Ellis, who directed me in a little thing that was actually for a ride in Universal Singapore, for those of you who happen to be going to Universal Singapore.
I have to say, though, that somebody pointed out to me on YouTube that Conan O'Brien was being interviewed, and he was talking about how, oddly enough, he went to see that movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut in Hawaii with his girlfriend or wife or whoever, and he didn't even realize his character was in it. But there he was, and he said, "This voice comes out of me, and I'm thinking, 'That's not me! Who is that? That doesn't even sound like me!'
I know a guy who writes on the show, it was his episode, and he called and said, "Would you do it?" And I said, "Yeah." There's not really much else to tell, except that I was thrilled to be on The Simpsons, because it's one of the greatest series in the history of television.
I love the South Park guys, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They're geniuses. I throw that word around a lot, but I really do mean it.
I think it's the business part of the word show business that causes me the most concern.
Although I could be wrong. If Roland Emmerich's thinking about doing that at some point, I'd be glad to don the long hair again. But sometimes you can just go a little bit further out with something you're only going to be doing for a short run.
I didn't audition or anything like that. But I went into John Loganhis office... It was his screening room in his office, actually, and I sat and schmoozed with him for about two minutes, which I think is standard, and, y'know, we got on fine.
Dana Carvey is hilarious. He's a really, really funny, talented guy. You know, I can't think of anything I've ever done that I regret doing, and I certainly don't regret doing Master Of Disguise, because I got to hang around Dana.
Certainly I find it most interesting to play a role that I can invent from nothing.
I was, like, "Wow, is this ever going to happen again? Am I ever going to work with another bunch of people I get along with this well?" And then, sure enough, Threshold was just a great bunch of people, and I thought, "Hey, I could hang with these people for a long time!" But, unfortunately, it was 13 episodes and we were out of there.
(Martin Scorsese) basically works just like any other director. You work the scene, you try to find what's best in it and make it work. That's what it was like.
It's fun to do something different. And there are things you can do in a small palate that you can't necessarily do in a larger role. You can go a little further and do things you could never pull off for any length of time, but you can do for the short run.
I'm an avid biography reader.
I have to go with Data's makeup, because that was basically every day, 10 months out of the year, for seven years. There were only a couple of days that I had to endure for Dr. Soong.
I got to play a funny part (in the The Master Of Disguise). There was one thing my character did that involved flatulence and laughing at the same time - that was in the script - and that was basically what sold me on it. I really thought, "This can't help but be funny." And when I saw the film, I was proud that I'd had those moments.
I've played myself before this and I've played myself since, for that matter - and playing yourself one of the most difficult characters you can play, 'cause God knows most of us don't know who that is.
I think there is something like 90% unemployment in the Screen Actors Guild, so we are the exception.
Felicia Day is really figured it all out, and it was impressive. It was nothing like our set, because her set was like working on a real film.
There's such a grand fraternity of actors who've played the Joker, not the least of whom is Mark Hamill, who voiced it for so long and was so great. I did it one time and... I've gotten some feedback on it from people who've seen it and really enjoyed it, but I don't know.
I don't know you could do a whole film about Dr. Okun from Independence Day.
There is no question that everybody who works in show business is lucky because of the number of people who wish they where working in show business.
Needless to say, I was impressed by Felicia Day and her moxie with how to do a web series. I mean, she's the queen of the web.
We (with John Logan) started talking about The Searchers, and then he went on to tell me a story about when he first met John Wayne, and he said, "Hey, you be me and I'll be Wayne," and I said, "No, let me be Wayne!" Anyway, it was a very pleasant conversation, it was clear to him that I was a big movie fan, and by the time I got home, there was a phone call, asking if I'd mind doing one scene in the movie (The Aviator).
Pierre (from Dude, Where's My Car?) could be the best thing I've ever done. When you distill it down to a minute and a half of work, that may be my finest effort.
No, actually I'm trying to stay away from the big screen.
I actually had some funny dialogue in Stardust Memories, a little piece, and we shot all day in this big ballroom. Gordon Willis was the director of photography, and at the end of the day, Gordon turned to Woody Allen and said, "We cannot accomplish all of this in this space. It's impossible." And we'd been rehearsing and trying to shoot this thing all day. So Woody said, "Okay, let's do something else." He looked at me and said, "Come back tomorrow, I'll put you in something else." And he did.
I don't know if the character's come back and it was someone else playing it, or maybe they never did it again. But I loved it. It was a great part (The Joker) to play.
Initially I objected to the Data makeup. I said, "Why do I need this makeup? Why can't I just look like me?" In fact, I said to Gene Roddenberry, "Don't you think that by this time in history, they would've figured out how to make skin look like skin?" And he said, "What makes you think that what you have isn't better than skin?" And I went, "Um, okay."
Yes, Data is hairless but I am not. And we are both anatomically correct.
Voice acting is such an easy job. It's like stealing money, really. Which I'm always happy to do.
John Logan was kind of wrapping up - "Well, thanks for coming in..." - and I thought, "Oh, God, this is over and I'm out of here, and I really don't want to leave."So I said, "Can I ask you a question?" He said, "Sure." "What movie do you think you've seen more than any other movie?" And he said, "Wow, let me think about that. I guess probably The Searchers." And I said, "Well, oddly, that's the movie I've seen more than any other movie." And I wasn't just BS-ing. It's true. It's my favorite movie.
I did have a tiny moment in a TV movie called My Sweet Charlie, starring Patty Duke.
Generally, I have to be able to get the lines out of my mouth without making a mistake before I go to sleep.
Like, she had a caterer, she had wardrobe people, she had two makeup artists... I mean, we have makeup and we have wardrobe, but Felicia Day was, like, on it. She had two cameras operating, sets, extras everywhere. It was unbelievable. I don't know what her budget was or is, but she had sponsors for her show, and we don't have a sponsor yet, so basically, the difference is, our moms make our costumes.
I think everyone agrees First Contact was our best film, and even at that, they're kind of... I don't know, they're sort of movies. But they're kind of really Star Trek movies, if you take my meaning. It's hard for me to say. I was glad to be doing them. Whether they were good isn't really up to me to determine, and it doesn't matter what I think. I thought we had a really nice script on Nemesis, and the audience didn't seem to care for it, so what can you do?
The Dain Curse (Tom Fink) was a great job. I was in New York, and I was young - I think I'm 28 years old in that - and I got to work with James Coburn and Jean Simmons and Jason Miller. Plus, it was a Dashiell Hammett story, and I had a great character. It was fantastic to shoot.
Acting is acting.
I did learn a lot from Felicia Day, though, and I was able to usurp some of her talent.
I'm, like, y'know, I didn't have a problem doing one scene in Dude, Where's My Car? I'm certainly not going to have a problem doing one scene in a Martin Scorsese movie!
It really was not that difficult a process, because I was playing Data from Star Trek something that doesn't exist. So it was really based on... Imagination was the key element in that, and whatever I could think of, I could do, because there was no precedent for it. It wasn't like someone was going to say, "Well, an android would never do that." They didn't know!
Harry Hannigan and Chris Ellis are sitting there while we're doing Fresh Hell, and Chris is directing, obviously, but if we start fooling around a little bit, Harry comes in, and he's got some addition that makes it even funnier. But we start with a complete script.
I had a fantastic teacher in high school. I had one of those guys you dream of having, who molds your life and inspires you to go in a particular direction, and he was quite brilliant. His name was Cecil Pickett, and a lot of the kids from my high-school drama class are in professional show business and have done quite well.
Can't argue with Gene Roddenberry. He was a pretty brilliant guy.
If I'm not mistaken, I think Data was the comic relief on the show.
So it was a really pleasant surprise when Independence Day turned out to be a successful film. I don't know if you've heard that they're going to be re-releasing it next Fourth of July in 3-D. I've actually only seen it once, and it was in Hawaii, in a little theater in Oahu shortly after it was released. But Roland Emmerich is a really smart guy, and he makes really fun movies to watch.
Hollywood has more than its share of harsh and crewel stories. In fact, it's probably more the norm than the exception.
Dr. Okun. Who's named after a special-effects guy named Jeff Okun, who had done Stargate for Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, who did Independence Day. But "Brakish" just came up one day when Jeff Goldblum and I were improvising, and he told me his character's name and I told him mine.
I think he is an extremely accessible character. In Data there is no potential for cruelty.
I've worked with some great people in Star Trek, and I was paid handsomely, and it was a nice role. So the whole experience was positive for me.
Rick Berman, who produced Star Trek, was a big Night Court fan. So he knew who I was as soon as I walked in.
They were nicely written and nicely directed episodes (Star Trek: Enterprise). I enjoyed working with Scott Bakula. So it was good to do, and, as you said, it did serve to enhance the Soong legacy.
I like to think of myself as the Rutger Hauer of this show Star Trek: The Next Generation. But then I like to think of myself as Rutger Hauer in real life: strikingly handsome, irresistible to women, an intergalactic enigma.
Independence Day was a sweet, sweet job, because it was one of those big surprises.
I think the potential for man is so enormous, if we can stay alive long enough, we're going to be seeing a lot of what Star Trek is projecting.
I think Rick Berman just called me and asked me if I wanted to do the show, and he said they'd write an arc if I'd do it.
I think Night Court was the first thing I did when I came out to Hollywood. It was just one of those things that... I'm from Texas, and it was a character I'd been doing when I was a kid, just for fun.
I had no idea I was part of what was going to be a big mega-hit. I thought I was doing a B sci-fi movie Independence Day. And, actually, it was Jeff Goldblum who looked at me one day and said, "You know, I think this is going to be really something." And I said, "Well, I hope you're right." And sure enough, it turned out to be.
People think that being on Star Trek is career suicide, but it's really just the opposite.
I think that Enterprise was getting better and better, actually, and if it had kept going, I think it would've turned into as good a show as any other in the Star Trek franchise.
And the basic sort of thrust of Star Trek being about equality and tolerance and things I believe in deeply.
It seemed like an interesting movie Independence Day, and I thought I had a take on the part that was going to be unique. That doesn't happen to me very often.
And I think it's likely that there will be Data's out there one day. I hope so, if there are, that they all look exactly like me!
I don't think everybody wanted to be on new Star Trek series. I certainly didn't.
That's what kids were like then. So I really like the movie (Dude, Where's My Car?), I think it's genuinely funny, and I wish I hadn't been so arrogant about it. And, of course, I didn't know it was going to be my best work, either.
Earl Mills is probably the best role I've ever been given in a film. And it was a great experience to work with Halle Berry and Klaus Maria Brandauer, an Austrian actor who's a hero of mine. Martha Coolidge directed the movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, giving me another shot, and it was an amazing experience.
I don't read Science Fiction.
A job is a job. And I like to work.
So we (with Chris Ellis) did (Fresh Hell), and we did the first five episodes as a lark, just to see if anybody would respond or be interested, and we got enough feedback that was positive that we thought, "Let's keep going with this and see if we can flesh it out a bit this season." We've had 10 episodes, and they've been longer and a little more complete.
Gian Luigi Polidoro and his girlfriend had written this script, it was an American comedy, and they decided I was the guy to play the part. I was young, they offered me the lead in the film, and I said, "Sure, I'll do it." And I'm telling you, there is a movie waiting to be made about the making of a movie like that, particularly at that time in New York. I mean, we shot all over the streets of New York without permits. We would literally grab a shot and run. But Rent Control... I think the total cost was $100,000, and to this director's credit, I think it looks like $200,000.
The character of Brent Spiner (in Fresh Hell). We certainly collaborate on the concept of that, but he basically writes the script, then it's sort of a combination of his voice and my voice.
Obviously we're doing a comedy (Fresh Hell), and our intent is to entertain, but we're also really aware and trying to stay aware of the subtext of what it's like to reach a certain age and be dismissed, basically, from the fraternity you've always wanted to be a part of, and the desperation involved in trying to claw your way back into it.
We got to be really good friends (Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau). It was just thrilling, every day. Every single day. I had a big couple of musical numbers in (Out to Sea), and I remember doing one of them and shooting it from beginning to end.
I try to do as much as I can. I probably knew more about Earl Mills than anybody on earth besides people who actually knew him.
Radical surgery is never fun.
It was kind of an amazing class. I went to the Strasberg Institute in New York for a little while after I got there, and I've never seen anybody who was in any of my classes there ever again. I mean, that's not to say they didn't become somebody. I'm not sure. I mean, Sam Jackson could've been in my class, for all I remember.
We had lunch that day (with Chris Ellis), and I was talking about this idea. I toyed with it a little bit on Twitter in story form at one point. And he thought it was a great idea, and he thought, "Well, let's bring my friend Harry Hannigan in, who's a wonderful writer, and let's see if we can put something together."
Rent Control was an interesting movie. It was directed by... I had done a couple of plays off Broadway, and this Italian director came, his name was Gian Luigi Polidoro, and he determined I was the person to play the lead in his low-budget comedy. He'd won an award at the Venice Film Festival, and... He was, y'know, a skilled director.
As I get older and I get more of this dialogue and I lose more and more brain cells, it really does become the most difficult part of the job!
I do know that when I look around in show business, I see a lot of people who were in my drama class in high school.
I felt like I was a natural (in The Simpsons).
As it turns out, sometimes that bites you. In this case, I saw pictures of Earl Mills, and...I actually met him. He was quite old at the time, but he had this sort of curly red hair, so we did that in the film. I got a perm and had red hair, and... It was a mess.
My own personal favorite Cher song is the unforgettable Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.
I tended to do a lot of shows that were ahead of their time and didn't run very long.
Joey being one of my finest performances ever. Matt LeBlanc's basically doing the same thing right now, playing himself on Episodes. When I did Joey, I really leaned on them to make me the biggest ass they possibly could, because, frankly, everyone in their heart of hearts thinks of themselves that way. Or at least I do, anyway.
Rent Control is not a terrible movie, certainly not for the budget they had. And, again, it's such an '80s kind of thing.
In my heart, I've never left Brazil.
I did a couple of little Off-Broadway things, but my first Broadway show was A History Of The American Film, written by Chris Durang. Swoosie Kurtz was one of the stars. It was a wonderful show. It closed in 40 performances. I think it was kind of ahead of its time.
I´m thinking of going into rehab. Im not addicted to anything, but I think its good way to jumpstart an acting career.
I think it was somewhere around age 3 when I fell down the stairs at my house, and I got up and did a Jerry Lewis impression and got a big laugh. And I thought, "Oooh, I like that. I think I need to do this for a living!"
And, you know, when you are a kid, everybody wants to be an actor. I think that everybody wants to be in show business, frankly.
A couple of years ago, I went to see a production of Wicked in San Francisco with a friend of mine, one that Patty Duke was in, and he said, "Do you want to meet her?" And I said, "Yeah!" And I went backstage, and she walked out of her dressing room, looked at me, and said, "I know you." And I went, "Well, uh, yeah, I was in My Sweet Charlie." And she said, "Yeah! You were the guy in the car on the road!" And I was. It was amazing.
(Billy Bob Conroy role) that was a favor. Actually, the lady who cast Night Court asked me to do it, because it was a Friday, and the person who'd been rehearsing it all week got sick and couldn't come to the taping. And she figured I could put it together pretty quickly - it was not all that big a challenge, frankly - and I said, "Of course." I owed her, after all. Gilda Stratton was her name. She was a really, really nice person. So I did it.
I didn't really watch the show Star Trek. I still haven't seen about 150 of them. So I didn't really think of them too much in terms of episodes. I thought of them as kind of one long seven-year episode.
Any job you can go to and have a laugh everyday has got to be a good job.
I've gotten such good feedback from that (re-team with Wil Wheaton for Big Bang Theory appearance), and I hardly did anything.
(Out To Sea) began a relationship I had with (director) Martha Coolidge for a few years that was wonderful, and she certainly cast me in the best roles I've ever had in film.
I did a great show Off-Broadway called Leave It To Beaver Is Dead that was at the Public Theater in New York. It was written by Des McAnuff, who's an illustrious director now, and it starred... Well, I was in it, Mandy Patinkin, Dianne Wiest, Saul Rubinek, and Maury Chaykin. It was an amazing show. But it was definitely ahead of its time, and people didn't quite get it.
I don't read fiction at all.
I mean, I'm the tag of the Big Bang Theory show! That was one of the easiest jobs I've ever had.
Of those, the only one that really stands out for me is Tales From The Darkside, for a couple of reasons, one in particular being who I got to work with on it, which was Eddie Bracken. I mean, what a man. Someone who's done Preston Sturges movies, and I actually got to work with him? And he was great.
Both of the Quaid brothers, Randy and Dennis, were in my class, and Tommy Schlamme, who produced and directed The West Wing with Aaron Sorkin, among many others. Marianne Williamson, who did A Course In Miracles, she was in my high-school drama class, too. So it was kind of an amazing class.
I try not to make plans. Because, even the best laid plans etc. etc.
I think I worked an average of about 10 minutes a day in Big Bang Theory series. It took longer to get to the studio than I actually worked. So I regard the driving there as the actual job. The work itself was just fun.
(The Aviator) came about through John Logan, who I've been friends with for many years.
When I get to work with people I admire, it's such a bonus, so it was an easy sell when I got this phone call asking, 'Will you do this thing with David Strathairn?'" Also, they didn't ask me to audition, which is another bonus. But they said, "All your scenes will be with David," and I said, "I'm there!"
If you look around at the people in show business today they are basically the people who didn't give up.
I think we're all fans, and I understand the whole world of fandom, because I am a fan.
Voice acting is about the easiest thing to do. You roll out of bed, throw your clothes on that you had on the night before, you go into the studio, and nobody cares, just as long as you can speak.
That was a really interesting series Threshold that I think would've been really great had it continued. I know Brannon Braga, who was running the show at the time, had a lot of really interesting ideas for what was going to happen the second, third, fourth, and fifth seasons, and they had it really planned out what was going to go on. But CBS just decided to pull the plug on it.
The one on Fresh Hell is a little easier, because we make it up. It's a strange kind of hybrid of the real me and... Well, obviously it's me standing there, and it's my voice and my face, but it's also kind of filtered through Harry Hannigan's take on the character, the one he's writing.
Timing is everything, as you know.
I really enjoyed Eddie Bracken. He told me a great story. He did The Odd Couple on Broadway, replacing Art Carney, and he said, "Art Carney did it for six months and I did it for three years, and I don't think anyone I've ever spoken to saw me. They all saw Art Carney."
One of the things about working on Star Trek that was always so great was that we all got along as well as we did. We really became family.
Having spent so much time in a fictional world, I prefer to read about the real world.
Basically, my deal is that I choose roles based on three criteria. One is the role, obviously, if it's something that speaks to me. Two is, are they gonna pay me? And three is, who am I gonna work with? And, really, if one of those is there, I'm pretty likely to do it, but it's particularly important to me who I'm going to work with, 'cause that's part of the joy.
John Logan pretty much does the Woody Allen thing of just bringing people in and meeting them.
I went to New York out of college, and in my day, we were told that was the way you became a good actor. You don't go to Hollywood, you go straight to New York and work in the theater. So that's what most of the people I knew did.
I've toyed with this idea of Fresh Hell for a long time. I actually wrote a feature years ago with this sort of concept in mind, and it's gone through several incarnations, and... It wasn't 'til I met Chris Ellis, who directed me in a little thing that was actually for a ride in Universal Singapore, for those of you who happen to be going to Universal Singapore.
I have to say, though, that somebody pointed out to me on YouTube that Conan O'Brien was being interviewed, and he was talking about how, oddly enough, he went to see that movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut in Hawaii with his girlfriend or wife or whoever, and he didn't even realize his character was in it. But there he was, and he said, "This voice comes out of me, and I'm thinking, 'That's not me! Who is that? That doesn't even sound like me!'
I know a guy who writes on the show, it was his episode, and he called and said, "Would you do it?" And I said, "Yeah." There's not really much else to tell, except that I was thrilled to be on The Simpsons, because it's one of the greatest series in the history of television.
I love the South Park guys, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They're geniuses. I throw that word around a lot, but I really do mean it.
I think it's the business part of the word show business that causes me the most concern.
Although I could be wrong. If Roland Emmerich's thinking about doing that at some point, I'd be glad to don the long hair again. But sometimes you can just go a little bit further out with something you're only going to be doing for a short run.
I didn't audition or anything like that. But I went into John Loganhis office... It was his screening room in his office, actually, and I sat and schmoozed with him for about two minutes, which I think is standard, and, y'know, we got on fine.
Dana Carvey is hilarious. He's a really, really funny, talented guy. You know, I can't think of anything I've ever done that I regret doing, and I certainly don't regret doing Master Of Disguise, because I got to hang around Dana.
Certainly I find it most interesting to play a role that I can invent from nothing.
I was, like, "Wow, is this ever going to happen again? Am I ever going to work with another bunch of people I get along with this well?" And then, sure enough, Threshold was just a great bunch of people, and I thought, "Hey, I could hang with these people for a long time!" But, unfortunately, it was 13 episodes and we were out of there.
(Martin Scorsese) basically works just like any other director. You work the scene, you try to find what's best in it and make it work. That's what it was like.
It's fun to do something different. And there are things you can do in a small palate that you can't necessarily do in a larger role. You can go a little further and do things you could never pull off for any length of time, but you can do for the short run.
I'm an avid biography reader.
I have to go with Data's makeup, because that was basically every day, 10 months out of the year, for seven years. There were only a couple of days that I had to endure for Dr. Soong.
I got to play a funny part (in the The Master Of Disguise). There was one thing my character did that involved flatulence and laughing at the same time - that was in the script - and that was basically what sold me on it. I really thought, "This can't help but be funny." And when I saw the film, I was proud that I'd had those moments.
I've played myself before this and I've played myself since, for that matter - and playing yourself one of the most difficult characters you can play, 'cause God knows most of us don't know who that is.
I think there is something like 90% unemployment in the Screen Actors Guild, so we are the exception.
Felicia Day is really figured it all out, and it was impressive. It was nothing like our set, because her set was like working on a real film.
There's such a grand fraternity of actors who've played the Joker, not the least of whom is Mark Hamill, who voiced it for so long and was so great. I did it one time and... I've gotten some feedback on it from people who've seen it and really enjoyed it, but I don't know.
I don't know you could do a whole film about Dr. Okun from Independence Day.
There is no question that everybody who works in show business is lucky because of the number of people who wish they where working in show business.
Needless to say, I was impressed by Felicia Day and her moxie with how to do a web series. I mean, she's the queen of the web.
We (with John Logan) started talking about The Searchers, and then he went on to tell me a story about when he first met John Wayne, and he said, "Hey, you be me and I'll be Wayne," and I said, "No, let me be Wayne!" Anyway, it was a very pleasant conversation, it was clear to him that I was a big movie fan, and by the time I got home, there was a phone call, asking if I'd mind doing one scene in the movie (The Aviator).
Pierre (from Dude, Where's My Car?) could be the best thing I've ever done. When you distill it down to a minute and a half of work, that may be my finest effort.
No, actually I'm trying to stay away from the big screen.
I actually had some funny dialogue in Stardust Memories, a little piece, and we shot all day in this big ballroom. Gordon Willis was the director of photography, and at the end of the day, Gordon turned to Woody Allen and said, "We cannot accomplish all of this in this space. It's impossible." And we'd been rehearsing and trying to shoot this thing all day. So Woody said, "Okay, let's do something else." He looked at me and said, "Come back tomorrow, I'll put you in something else." And he did.
I don't know if the character's come back and it was someone else playing it, or maybe they never did it again. But I loved it. It was a great part (The Joker) to play.
Initially I objected to the Data makeup. I said, "Why do I need this makeup? Why can't I just look like me?" In fact, I said to Gene Roddenberry, "Don't you think that by this time in history, they would've figured out how to make skin look like skin?" And he said, "What makes you think that what you have isn't better than skin?" And I went, "Um, okay."
Yes, Data is hairless but I am not. And we are both anatomically correct.
Voice acting is such an easy job. It's like stealing money, really. Which I'm always happy to do.
John Logan was kind of wrapping up - "Well, thanks for coming in..." - and I thought, "Oh, God, this is over and I'm out of here, and I really don't want to leave."So I said, "Can I ask you a question?" He said, "Sure." "What movie do you think you've seen more than any other movie?" And he said, "Wow, let me think about that. I guess probably The Searchers." And I said, "Well, oddly, that's the movie I've seen more than any other movie." And I wasn't just BS-ing. It's true. It's my favorite movie.
I did have a tiny moment in a TV movie called My Sweet Charlie, starring Patty Duke.
Generally, I have to be able to get the lines out of my mouth without making a mistake before I go to sleep.
Like, she had a caterer, she had wardrobe people, she had two makeup artists... I mean, we have makeup and we have wardrobe, but Felicia Day was, like, on it. She had two cameras operating, sets, extras everywhere. It was unbelievable. I don't know what her budget was or is, but she had sponsors for her show, and we don't have a sponsor yet, so basically, the difference is, our moms make our costumes.
I think everyone agrees First Contact was our best film, and even at that, they're kind of... I don't know, they're sort of movies. But they're kind of really Star Trek movies, if you take my meaning. It's hard for me to say. I was glad to be doing them. Whether they were good isn't really up to me to determine, and it doesn't matter what I think. I thought we had a really nice script on Nemesis, and the audience didn't seem to care for it, so what can you do?
The Dain Curse (Tom Fink) was a great job. I was in New York, and I was young - I think I'm 28 years old in that - and I got to work with James Coburn and Jean Simmons and Jason Miller. Plus, it was a Dashiell Hammett story, and I had a great character. It was fantastic to shoot.
Acting is acting.
I did learn a lot from Felicia Day, though, and I was able to usurp some of her talent.
I'm, like, y'know, I didn't have a problem doing one scene in Dude, Where's My Car? I'm certainly not going to have a problem doing one scene in a Martin Scorsese movie!
It really was not that difficult a process, because I was playing Data from Star Trek something that doesn't exist. So it was really based on... Imagination was the key element in that, and whatever I could think of, I could do, because there was no precedent for it. It wasn't like someone was going to say, "Well, an android would never do that." They didn't know!
Harry Hannigan and Chris Ellis are sitting there while we're doing Fresh Hell, and Chris is directing, obviously, but if we start fooling around a little bit, Harry comes in, and he's got some addition that makes it even funnier. But we start with a complete script.
I had a fantastic teacher in high school. I had one of those guys you dream of having, who molds your life and inspires you to go in a particular direction, and he was quite brilliant. His name was Cecil Pickett, and a lot of the kids from my high-school drama class are in professional show business and have done quite well.
Can't argue with Gene Roddenberry. He was a pretty brilliant guy.
If I'm not mistaken, I think Data was the comic relief on the show.
So it was a really pleasant surprise when Independence Day turned out to be a successful film. I don't know if you've heard that they're going to be re-releasing it next Fourth of July in 3-D. I've actually only seen it once, and it was in Hawaii, in a little theater in Oahu shortly after it was released. But Roland Emmerich is a really smart guy, and he makes really fun movies to watch.
Hollywood has more than its share of harsh and crewel stories. In fact, it's probably more the norm than the exception.
Dr. Okun. Who's named after a special-effects guy named Jeff Okun, who had done Stargate for Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, who did Independence Day. But "Brakish" just came up one day when Jeff Goldblum and I were improvising, and he told me his character's name and I told him mine.
I think he is an extremely accessible character. In Data there is no potential for cruelty.
I've worked with some great people in Star Trek, and I was paid handsomely, and it was a nice role. So the whole experience was positive for me.
Rick Berman, who produced Star Trek, was a big Night Court fan. So he knew who I was as soon as I walked in.
They were nicely written and nicely directed episodes (Star Trek: Enterprise). I enjoyed working with Scott Bakula. So it was good to do, and, as you said, it did serve to enhance the Soong legacy.
Abonnieren
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