Cosmic Love

Finally, on our last day of shooting, I’d saved for us the campfire scene. Sitting on a Paramount soundstage made up to look like the forest basin at Yosemite, Leonard, DeForest and I spent our last ten hours together laughing, singing and making fun of each other, both in and out of the script. With nothing ahead of us, we could really relax and enjoy the scene, playing it out at our leisure with plenty of time to experiment. It was great fun, with Leonard loudly humming “Home on the Range” between takes while pitifully trying to cover the song on Spock’s lute.
Later, when De Kelley finally opened his mouth, spewing forth one of the most vile “Row Row Row Your Boat’s” ever emitted by a human being, we couldn’t help getting hysterical. Not only was this guy tone-deaf, he was thoroughly arrhythmic as well, and getting him to jump in as the third leg or our ear splitting round was all but impossible. Finally, after spending the day with two men whom I admire as much as any in the world, amid smiles, warm feelings and genuine camaraderie that we’d built up over the years, we cut and printed out last take. With that, after a quick glass of champagne, and a long group hug, they were gone, and although I’d see them again at our official wrap party later in the week, I couldn’t help but feel a real loss.

- Star Trek Movie Memories

For years now, Leonard had been telling me about how difficult it was for him to film the death of Spock, and I have to admit, I never really understood what the hell he was talking about. I mean, he’d sit there telling me about how he spent our entire preproduction period on The Wrath of Khan, as well as our early days of production, in total denial, blocking the character’s death from his mind. Only later, he said, as the actual shooting day approached did the full depth and consequences of his actions begin setting in. That’s when he began having second thoughts, which continued to plague him right up until cameras were ready to roll, at which point he began looking for any excuse to storm off the set and avoid playing the scene at all. Today, for the first time in more than a decade, Leonard’s story makes sense.
I too had spent months blissfully denying to myself that this simple death scene merited any serious thought, any analysis, any grief, only to later find myself swept under a flood of last-minute anxiety and soul-searching in regard to Kirk, Shatner, and both of their lives.

- About playing Kirk’s death in Star Trek Movie Memories

My wake-up call came in earlier than the sun’s, and, riding an adrenaline rush as big as El Capitan, I soon found myself wide awake, showered, dressed and out the front door of the hotel, breathing in the crisp, cold air and running the day’s events through my head maybe six or seven hundred times each. In my left hand, I held a small note that I’d found tucked into my door. Hastily scribbled on hotel stationery, the message was from Leonard, sent to wish me luck on the project. It touched me deeply, and I carried those good wishes with me throughout the day. As it turned out, I’d be needing them.

- About the first day of shooting of STV in Star Trek Movie Memories.

It comes at the end of the film, and as we shot it, we were in the water, standing on the hull of the ship, and as far as the story’s concerned, the storm’s now over, the whales have been saved, and as we stood there, victorious upon the hull, I said to everybody, “Let’s just have fun with this.” And then I looked over at you, and I knew I’d made a mistake, because I knew exactly what you were going to do. I could see that evil gleam in your eyes, and I knew immediately that you were determined to tear me loose from that fucking thing and throw me in the water. I ended up getting soaked, but the spontaneity of that scene and the freedom worked beautifully. The audience really loved it.

- Leonard Nimoy to William Shatner, about STIV, in Star Trek Movie Memories.

A few minute later, on that same trip, we’re on the freeway when our driver notices that the woman driving the car in front of us has a bumper sticker on the back of her car that reads “Beam me up, Scotty”, so Leonard [Nimoy] says to the driver, “Slow down, and pull up even with her car.” He then rolls down his window, makes eye contact with the driver, listens to her yell “Oh my God!!” five or six times, then gives her the Vulcan “Live Long and Prosper” salute. She almost caused an accident swerving around the highway.

- Tells Ralph Winter, STIV executive producer, in Star Trek Movie Memories