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Quinto's take on being Spock |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Thursday, 02 October 2008
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 As a famous amphibian once said, it’s not easy being green. What’s even harder, though, is reinventing green, while still being green. That’s the challenge that Zachary Quinto faced when he took on the role of Spock, with decades of backstory and the iconic performance of Leonard Nimoy looming large before him. As with all the other actors in Star Trek (2009), he was faced with a choice: imitate or reimagine - the production’s favorite word. Quinto took the path of reimagining, making Spock his own while still paying homage to the origins of the character.
Speaking with SFX Magazine, Quinto was asked about the challenge of taking on a character as established as Spock. He contrasted that with his role as Sylar on Heroes where he was the origin actor and could shape the character to where he thought it should go. Not so with Star Trek:
 But in many ways my experience of Star Trek is such that I am creating another version of Spock. There will never be another Leonard Nimoy - this is an incredible man and an incredible actor who endeared himself to millions because of his portrayal of this character. And in a lot of ways that takes the pressure off me, because I cant compete with that! I simply have a relationship with this character based on my understanding of where he is, in his perspective and his point of view, and that's supported by the script that Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman wrote - it moved me immensely the first time I read it, and again subsequently as I immersed myself in it. So I dont really feel like I have a lot to prove. Leonard was very supportive of me from the very beginning and I was in the most capable hands I could possibly be in. |
So of course, with Nimoy as the gold standard to which Quinto will be inevitably compared - especially with Nimoy sharing at least one scene with Quinto, the question had to be asked of how his Spock compares to Nimoy’s Spock. The answer, as is usual for details related to ST09, was characteristically vague.
Did you find yourself adapting your performance to accommodate how Leonard Nimoy portrays him ?
Never. In fact I did the opposite - to make sure my experience was my experience. It's the only way stepping into such an iconic role is ever feasible. You have to acknowledge where it came from and Leonard was an enormous resource for me - incredibly generous with his time and his energy if I ever had a question or just wanted to talk about the experience or what he went through as an actor. But in terms of playing him ? No - I think that would be a trap, to try and shade my performance with echoes of his. I got the job because there is a physical resemblance between myself and Leonard when he was my age, but more than that I think I got the job because I brought a strong point of view to it, Merging that point of view with the echoes of where he came from and how he approached it from the beginning will hopefully add a new texture, but also have a little bit of the same fabric. |
[via: TrekWeb]
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