Up Till Now: The Autobiography

direct it. The concept of a Star Trek film without Spock was as ridiculous as a Star Trek film without Captain Kirk. Who would want to see that?
    I’m not certain that the studio realized when they agreed to let Leonard direct the third film, The Search for Spock, that they were also committing to allowing me to direct the next Star Trek movie.
    During the years we were making Hooker, Star Trek had become one of the most successful movie franchises in history. The first film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture , had grossed more than $100 million and, when the merchandising revenue was added, it was one of the most lucrative films in history. Apparently Paramount learned a very important lesson from that first film: Star Trek fans were so loyal they didn’t have to spend a lot of money to make a lot of money. In fact, the less they spent the more they could make. So Paramount cut the budget for the second film drastically and hired the very talented Nicholas Meyer to write and direct it. What he tried to do was bring some additional humanity—and humor—to the crew. As he said,“I tried through irreverence to make them a little more human and a little less wooden. I didn’t insist that Captain Kirk go to the bathroom, but did Star Trek have to be so sanctified?”
    Wooden? I thought that was another chapter of my life? Bathroom? Truthfully, I don’t remember seeing a restroom aboard the Enterprise . Consider it immaculate elimination.
    Whatever Nick Meyer did, it worked: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan opened with the largest weekend gross in movie history. By this time Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock had taken their place among America’s legendary fictional characters. And probably among Vulcans, too. They were certainly better known than any of the real astronauts. I think I probably resisted completely embracing Jim Kirk for a long time. Like Leonard, I hadn’t wanted to be identified as him for the rest of my life, but that had ended a long while earlier. I had come to realize all the wonderful things being Captain Kirk had done for my life—and, in fact, continued to do. I remember once we were shooting in the desert and had a very early call. I told the wardrobe girl, “Give me my uniform and I’ll put it on at the house so I don’t have to come any earlier for wardrobe. I’ll just wear it to the set.” So at 4 A.M. I was racing across the desert to our location. I was way over the speed limit, figuring there wasn’t another car on the road in the entire state. It turned out there was one other car—and he had lights and a siren. Yes, Officer, good morning.
    Being Hooker, I knew that when you were stopped by a police officer the proper way to respond is to follow his orders, show the officer that you aren’t being belligerent, and acknowledge that the officer is the boss—make sure he knows you know it. And if that doesn’t work, then it’s okay to beg.
    So I got out of my car dressed in my uniform, ready to be amenable. The officer was actually wearing dark glasses in the middle of the night, so I couldn’t see his eyes. But he looked me up and down and sort of frowned and asked, “So where are you going so fast at four o’clock in the morning?”
    I told him the truth. “To my spaceship.”
    He sighed and said, “Okay, go ahead and live long and prosper.” Then he turned around and sent me on my way.
    When Paramount began discussing the third film, Leonard negotiated a deal similar to the one he’d made to appear on Hooker : he agreed to appear in the movie only if he directed it. The studio readily agreed, but truthfully I didn’t know how to respond. It was sort of like your brother becoming your father. Or your wife becoming your...the captain of your spaceship. It just upset the delicate balance that two actors in leading roles—who had forged a close friendship—had successfully managed to work out over many years. In other words, it wasn’t fair!
    When I read the first draft of the script I didn’t like it. Spock appeared only briefly, and my role was relatively small. I just didn’t believe Trekkies would accept a story in which neither Kirk nor Spock dominated the action. I invited Leonard and our producer, Harve Bennett, up to my house to discuss the script. Remember that meeting, Leonard? “It was tense, very tense.”
    Thank you, Leonard. It was tense, very tense. As we went through the script I asked for certain changes. I was very protective of Kirk. Mostly,