{"id":12023,"date":"2010-09-02T10:18:47","date_gmt":"2010-09-02T09:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=12023"},"modified":"2010-09-02T11:25:18","modified_gmt":"2010-09-02T10:25:18","slug":"interview-leonard-nimoy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/news\/interview-leonard-nimoy\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Leonard Nimoy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Following his appearance in last year’s Star Trek, Leonard Nimoy joined the cast of Fringe as the enigmatic William Bell. Here, he talks to SciFiNow about that role, as well as his final days of acting.<\/p>\n

What is it that brought you to Fringe? Had you watched the show? Did they approach you about doing it?<\/strong>
\nI had a wonderful time working on the new Star Trek movie with JJ Abrams, who directed it. When it was done, he asked me to look into the possibility of playing William Bell on Fringe. Frankly, I was not terribly aware of what it was all about. I began looking at some episodes. The William Bell character had been talked about rather frequently, but had never been seen. I really felt that I owed JJ a return of a favour. He did a great job on the Star Trek movie and treated me extremely well. I\u2019m very happy that I did it. The work on Fringe has turned out to be exciting and interesting. It\u2019s a very well-produced series, and the character was a wide-open canvas for me to work with. I\u2019ve had a great time doing it, and the season finale is particularly special for the William Bell character.
\n
\nWhat has surprised you the most about how William Bell has developed, as a character?<\/strong>
\nThere\u2019s always been the question of his intention and I think the writers have done a very good job with keeping the answer to that rather obscure. I\u2019ve tried to play him ambiguously. We\u2019ll find out whether or not he\u2019s telling the truth and if he can be trusted in the finale. It\u2019s going to be a very exciting episode. It\u2019s extremely well-produced. The performances by all of the actors that I got to work with were wonderful. I had a great time doing it, and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing it on the air.<\/p>\n

Do you expect to return next season?<\/strong>
\nNo, I don\u2019t expect to be on next season. I have announced my retirement. I will not be doing any more television or movie acting or directing. I feel very, very fulfilled with the work that was given to me in the final episode. I admire all of the people on the show \u2013 Anna Torv, Josh Jackson, John Noble and all the rest. I had some wonderful scenes to play with John Noble, who I think is a wonderful actor. I\u2019m happy that I did it.
\n
\nIn regard to your retirement, do you feel you\u2019ve completed the characters that you wanted to play? Why is this show going to be your last?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s really coincidental. It wasn\u2019t anything about the Fringe job or the character of William Bell that made me decide I didn\u2019t want to do this any more. It\u2019s a coincidence. I\u2019ve been at this for 60 years. My first professional work in film was in 1950. I think 60 years is long enough. I had decided not to do any more acting and directing several years ago. I was called back to work to do the Star Trek movie, which was very attractive. When I read the script, I thought it was going to be a wonderful film, a great handling of the Spock character and the introduction of a wonderful new actor to play Spock. And then, JJ Abrams, who\u2019s the executive producer of Fringe, asked me to do the William Bell character and I felt I owed him that. I\u2019m very glad that I did it because it was an exciting project. I decided a long time ago that I really didn\u2019t want to do this any more. I did this last job as a favour to JJ Abrams and I\u2019m glad I did it. The finale is an exciting episode, and I think it\u2019s a good note to go out on.<\/p>\n

What was it like for you, on the last day of filming Fringe?<\/strong>
\nIt was very moving. I had the same experience on the last day of filming the Star Trek movie, a year and a half ago. It was a very brief night scene. The last work that I did was a scene between me and Anna Torv. I had mixed feeling about it. I didn\u2019t want it to end because the experience had been such a positive one, but of course, we had to get it done. And when it was done, the entire company gathered around and there was a lot of love exchanged. I said to them, \u201cI\u2019ve been at this for 60 years and I have never worked with a better company,\u201d and I meant it. They do an amazing job on Fringe. It just feels really good to know that I am saying goodbye to the work on a very positive, good note. I feel very good about the work that was done and I\u2019m looking forward to it being on the air.<\/p>\n

With your retirement, it sounds like you won\u2019t be in the next Star Trek film, but is there any word on whether or not William Shatner might be in it?<\/strong>
\nI have no idea, in regard to Bill Shatner. I\u2019m quite sure, and I think I can be definitive about the fact, that I will not be in it. I think it\u2019s time for me to get off the stage and make some room for Zachary Quinto, who is the new Spock. I think he\u2019s a wonderful actor, who looks a lot like me. I\u2019m very flattered that the character will be continued by an actor of that caliber. He\u2019s very well-trained and very talented. I have no expectations, whatsoever, of even being asked to be in the next Star Trek film. I cannot speak for JJ Abrams and Bill Shatner. If they have a common interest, I hope it works out.<\/p>\n

How did the job change for you, over the years, or was it all the same work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The work is the work, of course. When they yell, \u201cAction!\u201d it\u2019s time to deliver the goods. My position in the industry has changed drastically. When I went onto the set of Fringe, I got the sense that people were saying, \u201cOh, here comes the old timer.\u201d When I first started out, I was in awe of the people who had great stories to tell about different locations they\u2019d been to, directors they\u2019d worked with and different actors they\u2019d worked with. Now, I discovered that I was the guy doing that and telling stories about directors I had worked with 40 years ago. So, it\u2019s time to get off the stage. I think I\u2019ve had my run.<\/p>\n

Fringe returns Tuesday 5 October, 10pm, Sky 1 HD and Sky 1.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The veteran actor talks to us about William Bell, retirement and Star Trek 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[7,140,3],"tags":[109,4665,465],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12023"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}