What Did Leonard Nimoy Really Think About J.J. Abrams Star Trek Movie?
Perhaps more than any other person, Alex Kurtzman embodies New Trek. He was instrumental in rebooting the franchise in 2009 along with J.J. Abrams, and hes currently the showrunner of the Star Trek universe on Paramount+. Hes served as both a writer and producer for all of the modern Star Trek media except for Star Trek: Beyond. Currently, hes a writer and producer for Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Short Treks, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Though hes not a writer for Star Trek: Lower Decks or Star Trek: Prodigy, he serves as an executive producer on both shows. At this point, hes arguably contributed as much to the franchise as its previous showrunner, Rick Berman. During a recent appearance on the official Star Trek podcast, The Pod Directive, Kurtzman talked about what it was like to bring Star Trek back to life. He also revealed exactly what Trek legend Leonard Nimoy thought of Kurtzmans first Star Trek movie. Pitching Nimoy      Play    Star Trek (8/9) Movie CLIP  Spock Meets Spock (2009) HD Star Trek movie clips: j.mp/1BcPx6o BUY THE MOVIE: amzn.to/vmxnqD Don't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: bit.ly/1u2y6pr CLIP DESCRIPTION: Spock (Zachary Quinto) meets an old Vulcan he believes is his father, but turns out to be an older version of himself (Leonard Nimoy). FILM DESCRIPTION: Mission: Impossible III director and Alias creator J.J. Abrams resurrects the 2011-11-23T21:50:18Z  Kurtzman told hosts Tawny Newsome and Paul F. Tompkins that the pressure of rebooting such a popular franchise was immense. Each of the writers and producers knew what a difficult task they had in front of them and the consequences of getting it wrong. We knew when we came up with the story we all had extremely different relationships with Star Trek. Some of us diehard. I was not at the time. Others casual watchers and others, actually very objectively, Im not a Star Trek fan but Im curious. And that was kind of a weird, perfect Supreme Court of people because there were so many different points of view on what it was, and yet we all wanted it to be the same one thing. Kurtzman explained that the team knew that their story was going to fundamentally change a lot of things about the Star Trek universe. To do that, they needed the blessing of one of Star Treks most iconic actors. It was all about Leonard, all about Leonard Nimoy. When we came upon the idea of we need to create a new timeline we have to change everybodys fate and once you change everyones fate anything can happen. And you cant predict whats coming. And that led us to the destruction of Vulcan. And then we were like if we do that the only way thats gonna work is if its blessed by Leonard Nimoy. Its the only way  Kurtzman then recounted the nerve-wracking experience of pitching the movie to Nimoy himself. He came into the office and there were very little pleasantries. It was like Hey, hi, so nice to meet you! And he kind of was like, What have you got? And we were like Okay, we have to pitch for our lives here. And so we sat down and we pitched everything. And he was totally stone-faced. And we finished and we were like, Okay so what do you think? And he didnt say anything. And my first thought was Weve totally screwed it up. Hes out. We just pitched him oh were going to destroy your whole planet. '  Luckily, Kurtzmans first thought was completely off-base. Kurtzman explained that, in reality, Nimoy was so touched by the story that he had trouble talking about it. He said, You must understand, this is very emotional for me. And I heard this thing in his voice, and in that moment I was like We got him. And we got him because I think he understood. He came in, as he should have, incredibly skeptical And I think what he saw was that we were genuine fans who just wanted to do right by it.  Then and there, Nimoy gave the new movie his blessing and agreed to play the elder version of Spock. 2021-06-16T16:29:21-04:00  Kurtzman went on to discuss the philosophy thats driven his additions to the Star Trek universe. What has always been so amazing about Star Trek is that the fans keep it alive again and again and again. But it has to go through a process of rebirth every, I dont know, 10, 12, 15 years by whatever the next generation of storytellers is. Because Star Trek has always been this amazing reflection of the time that we live in and the only way that that works is if people who are coming up behind and behind and behind keep telling new stories. Kurtzman sees himself as just one of the new storytellers bringing Star Trek to the next generation of Trekkers. He emphasized that if Star Trek didnt continue to tell new stories that are relatable to the current generation, there could be a time when there are no new Trekkers out there. Kurtzman is committed to not letting that happen. Follow the Heavy on Star Trek Facebook page for the latest breaking news, rumors and content!