Q. So, you clearly had no fun at all.
A. Yeah, really. It was like dying and going to heaven, you know. I had
been sort of euphemistically painting on a very narrow pallet for a long time with kind of
muted colors, so it was a real opportunity to cut loose. When I first read the script, I
was a little concerned about it just because it was so different even though it
represented an evolution for the character, but in thinking about it, I finally came to
the conclusion that in worse case scenario, they would love me in France.
Q. Where does the character go from here now that it has achieved its
goal?
A. I think if I had my way about it -- which I hardly ever have -- to
me it seems that the character went from being child-like and naive in the series to being
a different kind of child in this one because of the newness of the emotions and the
inability to control them and know exactly how to handle them. He was a child with emotion
and I think the obvious place to take the character is into a gradual maturity. An
emotional maturity and that can only mean romance, can't it? I would hope that that is
what would occur -- a deepening or understanding of emotion and the subtleties, and how to
deal with that is where it is going to go.
Q. Where he went in the final episode, which of course, is one
possibility....I kind of liked the fact that he became somewhat obnoxious.
A. Yeah, me too.
Q. It was somewhat of a logical progression.
A. Yeah, it really was. When I read the final episode, I was thrilled
to find that he became a professor at Cambridge and he was holding the same chair now as
his old friend Steven Hawkings once did because we are very close, you know. I call him
"The Hawk" actually. But, yeah, I thought that was a real logical place for him
to go.
Q. How much of Brent Spiner was now in Data?
A. Well, certainly more, although I am not quite that immature
emotionally -- close, but yeah, there was more of me in it because I was able to use more
of me. Initially, the beauty of a character like Data is that nobody can tell you that you
are doing it wrong. There is no sort of standard for how an android behaves. So, I had
that luxury for a long time but the movie required me to actually use more of myself.
Q. What do you think is unique about William Shatner and why do you
think William Shatner has been so everlasting?
A. You know, I'm not sure I can speak on the uniqueness of the
character or Bill -- I call him Bill, to let you know how close we are -- but I think it
is more -- and this is just my opinion -- what's the word -- he is the quintessential
hero. It's not a uniqueness at all. It may be just the opposite. It is something we all
know and recognize and want to be and in sort of mythological terms, he is the hero who
goes out in search of something to bring back to his people, which is the essence of all
mythology and be it a weapon or intelligence or medicine or whatever, the hero goes out in
search. I think Bill had sort of embodied that mythological hero. It's something that we
all respond to.
Q. How would you contrast that with Patrick's captain?
A. Patrick's captain -- it is taking that same hero and applying to it
civilization and the ability to negotiate rather than use force, and I think Patrick
projects just wisdom and intelligence and I think that time has evolved the idea of a
captain.
Q. Do you call him Pat?
A. I sometimes do just to irritate him.
Q. Obviously you worked with David Carson on the series -- what's his
approach? Has his approach changed at all from doing an episode to doing this
multi-million dollar movie?
A. Well, his approach wasn't necessarily different except that he had
the luxury of more time. Generally on the series we were shooting between eight and ten
pages a day. On the feature we were doing between two and three pages a day. So, that
afforded both David and the cast the opportunity to try more and to actually get it right
as opposed to just get it. As a director in general -- and I was more aware of it on the
film because I actually, in the episodes David has directed, never had that much to do.
One episode I had a bit, but I worked with him more on the film than I had prior to that.
I found him really, really bright, prepared and whenever I would be at a loss of where to
take something, he had a real clear vision on where it should go. I found him enormously
helpful and I admired his sort of digging his heels in because as always happens, I think
there are time constraints and there are monetary constraints that the studio has to be
concerned about. But David made his primary concern, I think, to make a good picture and
just basically refused to be budged on that notion.
Q. They wanted him to cut the ocean scene.
A. The boat scene?
Q. The boat scene. He told me that was the first thing they wanted him
to cut.
A. Before we started shooting, yeah, but again he would basically just
dig his heels in and say, "I don't want to just make a movie, I would like to make a
very good movie if possible" and he stuck to that all the way through the final day
of shooting.
Q. For you what was the difference between doing the series and the
movie?
A. Well, we had much better accommodations for one thing. It really was
in the area of getting more takes and being able to just sort of go with an instinct and
try it and take things to extremes that we weren't able to do in the series. Generally, in
the series if you say your lines right and you hit your mark, that's good enough.
Performance really isn't a factor too often and in the feature, we had the opportunity to
do more takes and go into a different direction and try this and that. It was just a more
creative sort of thing for an actor, which you like to do anyway. That was basically the
difference for me and the way the character evolved was different for me as well.
Q. Was a collaborative process going on as the character evolved during
the filming in terms of the script? Did you bring anything to it -- as you were saying
bringing your own personality and emotions to it, any lines, working with the writers or
the director?
A. Yeah. Actually we had a lot more input into the film than we usually
did in the series. That again was because of time restraints. On the series, we would be
finishing an episode at midnight or 2:00 a.m. and starting another one the next day and
barely had time to read it, much less really address the problems that we had. We just had
to do it. In this case, I had several meetings with the writers and with Rick and David
and was able to give notes on it and make adjustments to it and there was more freedom on
the set. I could actually ad lib an odd moment or two, which was rarely done in the
series, because again of time and in this case we were able to say, "Sure, you can
try one like that."
Q. Do you remember your ad libs?
A. There are a couple. Most of the ab libs for me happened in the
laughing sequence. The whole thing with using the tricorder as the puppet and Mr.
Tricorder and doing an imitation of Patrick and things like that. I also got to make up
the little tune that I did later
Q. You made a few major moves in your life. Were those hard decisions
to make? Were they difficult times?
A. Well, the move to New York -- I was quite young and I had just got
out of college and that was difficult because I came from Texas and I had never heard of
Long Johns, for example. I didn't know what they were. I literally thought I was going to
die the first year I came to New York just from the cold. I had no idea and I didn't know
how people lived here. It was so cold and then somebody told me about those magic things
called Long Johns, but, yeah, I came from a suburban neighborhood in Houston, Texas and it
couldn't be any more different from living in an urban city, particularly New York City.
So, it took me a couple of years of living here before I really adjusted to it and, you
know, when that happens it is like suddenly there is no other place on earth to live other
than New York, but I was here for eleven years. I did a lot of theatre, did around 25
plays, and became very broke as happens, and figured that I got too old to do what I was
doing and I needed to start sort of living my life as an adult and that kind of required
actually making an income. So, I went to LA. Actually I went to LA with Little Shop of
Horrors.
Q. Now, was that a difficult decision? I mean to grow up?
A. You know, I still haven't committed to it entirely but sure, you
know, it was actually because I really enjoyed that sort of Bohemian -- being a struggling
artist. That had a very romantic notion to me as a child. I thought that was the way you
were supposed to do it and I still kind of believe that. When I came to New York, there
was no option really. If one was serious about being an actor, you came to New York and
you did theatre and you struggled and that was just part of the deal and there is hardly
anything better when you are young, really. It was ideal.
Q. How did you find LA?
A. Well, that was the reward finally. I got to warm up and I was used
to a mobile community. Houston is very much like LA. It is sort of like a dress rehearsal
for LA. It's probably never going to open, but they are similar towns actually just in
terms of what they feel like. It wasn't much of an adjustment really.
Q. A lot of your co-stars were resigned to the fact that they weren't
going to have a lot of screen time in this movie. That wasn't a problem with you, but I'm
just wondering whether or not -- you know, because you seem to be a pretty close cast, did
that put any sort of pressure? Actors are actors.
A. That's true. It was not derisive among us. It really --there was
nobody who was upset with anybody else as far as the cast is concerned with the size of
our roles. I think those in the picture who have the larger roles -- as you say, actors
are actors and even the ones of us who had larger roles didn't feel we had enough. So, no
one ever does, you know. So, no, it didn't cause any friction between the cast.
Q. So, what about since the end of filming, did it really hit you that
the series is over and have you had much interaction with the rest of the cast?
A. Yeah. We still speak every week, most of us, and we are sort of
connected. We really became -- I know this is really boring -- I wish I could give you
some dirt here. I really do. If you like, I will make something up, but we got along
famously. Making a TV series is hardly adverse conditions, but we were on sound stages in
uncomfortable make-up for 15 to 18 hour days, almost every day for seven years and if we
didn't hate each other after that, it just was never going to happen. We actually got on
very well through the entire run. I can't imagine many jobs better than the one we had for
the simple reason that what kind of job is it that you get to go to work every day with
your friends and laugh all day long? That's basically what we did and as a result we are
still incredibly close. I mean, I had been with Patrick last week. I was best man at
LeVar's wedding and so I speak with LeVar all the time and I spoke to Marina last night.
We keep in really close contact.
Q. Were you ready to move on? Most of you had signed for an eighth
season I understand, and then Paramount decided to forget the show and do the movie. Some
of the actors -- and I think Patrick was one of them -- were ready to move on. He said,
"We have done this for seven years. I'm done." Are you one of those people who
were ready to move on?
A. Yeah. We had done 178 hours. One hundred and seventy eight hours of
anything is just about enough, I think. It was a brutal sort of seven years of work and I
was glad not to have to get up at 5:00 in the morning any more. I think we were really
almost all ready to stop doing it. Maybe a couple of people would have been interested in
doing an eighth season, but not many of us really. I think we felt, "Yeah, we have
done this now for seven years and with luck, we will get to come back and do it every
couple of years."
Q. The movies would still be interesting to you?
A. Yeah, well, again for the reason that I get to come back together
with my friends and have some fun. It would be like going to summer camp every couple of
years.
Q. Is that the plan for your character, basically to come back in the
next movie or perhaps another one? Or any other plans?
A. You know what? I don't know if there are any plans. I think it is
sort of an economical factor and I think that is the bottom line on it. If the movie does
well, undoubtedly, I think the studio would like to make another one and if it doesn't do
well, than we probably won't.
Q. Do you have a favorite scene in the movie?
A. To be completely honest, I haven't seen the whole movie. I just did
looping and consequently I only looked at myself. So, at this point in time I am my
favorite thing in the movie, but I haven't seen it yet. So, I may change my mind once I
have seen it.
Q. What's next?
A. I am just sort of crossing my fingers and hoping for the best
because I don't know. Having been associated with a project that I consider a quality
project for this length of time, I am reluctant to just jump into anything else. I also
feel that I had the good fortune of having a really sweet character to play for a long
time and I'm not that eager to do something where I get to say, "This is really
me." If I had my choice, it would be another extreme character of some sort, but I
think it remains to be seen whether my identification with the role is going to be
detrimental in terms of the rest of my career. At the moment, I don't feel particularly
any more typecast than say Harpo Marx.
Q. Have casting directors typecast you?
A. Do you know what is interesting, I am finding -- and I think this is
true -- that Star Trek is not really an industry show. It is not like, say, NYPD
Blue or Seinfeld or something that the industry watches. They are aware of it.
They know it is there. I find that when I go in to audition for things now, people don't
actually know who I am and I see that as a benefit, actually. You know, that they don't
have a perceived notion of who I am.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about your makeup and also your eyes in
this film in terms of what it required and what it is all about?
A. Basically, it is gold powder that is put on about three inches deep
and yellow contacts and I think, what I have seen of the film, is for the first time that
it actually looks gold. People are who watch the series ask me, "Now, are you white
or are you green?" and I was neither. I think depending on the quality of the
television set -- but it was always gold and in person when people would meet me on the
set, they would always be startled by the color of it because it was not what they were
used to seeing. Then again, that is part of the time constraint of a series. They were not
able to light specifically for the color of my skin and John Alonzo who shot the picture
is a master -- beautiful -- I mean he is a master. The first day that he saw me he went,
"You're gold!"
Q. Was the crying scene difficult to do? Did they have to redo it a
couple of times to get it the right way?
A. You know, I think we did it once, actually. Yeah. It was kind of
like motor oil.
Q. With all that makeup on, wasn't it difficult as far as your skin?
Uncomfortable?
A. It was not particularly uncomfortable and it didn't really cause
problems with my skin because Paramount was kind enough to finance a facial for me every
other weekend for fear that I would look like a teenager on screen. The only thing that
was really difficult was the contacts. They were ordinary soft contact lenses --
prescription contact lenses -- they weren't my prescription, but they were prescription.
The only real difficulty was that the makeup would get into my eyes and kind of smear over
the contacts, so I couldn't really see very well about midway through the day. But that
was all that was difficult.
Q. You guys were always notoriously playing practical jokes on one
another. Who was the most abusive cast member?
A. But you know what? Oddly, we weren't really practical jokers. I had
heard that before. I mean nobody put like buckets of water over the doors or anything. It
was nothing like that. We were sort of -- I actually think it was a cast of comedians and
truly everyone was funny, and it was like a big night club act that would go on all day
long and only be interrupted by having to do scenes from the show. So, I think -- it was
just again being inside 18 hours a day on sound stage. It necessitated levity and it was
abundant.
Q. What about guest shots on either Deep Space Nine or Voyager.
Would you rule those out for the first year or --
A. I wouldn't rule them out, but I might be more interested in doing
them if I could play something else.
Q. Has it been talked about?
A. No. Well, other than just now?
Q. I'll talk to Rick for you.
A. Would you? I'm not particularly eager to do that. Not because of any
negative feeling about those shows. It is just, again, I have done 178 hours of Star
Trek television and if they desperately needed me, certainly I would come on and do it
but I don't think that is the case and I don't desperately need to do that. I'm more
interested right now in doing other things.
Q. Do you watch Deep Space?
A. No, but I didn't watch our show either. I watched the first two
years of it and that was around 50 episodes and I thought, that's enough.
Q. Deep Space Nine?
A. Of our show. I got it. I enjoyed it. I figured actually that for the
rest of my life it is going to be in re-runs and some day I am going to be in a hotel room
in Shaboygen and I'm going to turn on the television and I would rather it be an episode
that I hadn't seen before. So, I thought I am going to save five years of this for later.
Q. I was reading through Entertainment Weekly and it talked
about an album you have out or coming out?
A. Well, it is already out actually. It has been out a couple of years.
Q. Do you plan on doing any more?
A. Yeah. I would like to do another album. I'm waiting until I'm really
ready to lose a whole lot more money, because it was a total vanity production. and Wendy
Nuss, who is one of the producers on the series, produced it. Dennis McCarthy did the
arrangements for it. The guys on the show sang backup on one number with me and it was
just something we wanted to do and we did and actually it is something that I am very
proud of. I think it came out exactly as we wanted it to.
Q. What's it called?
A. It is called "Oh, Yellow Eyes is Back."
Q. Have the Sunspots sang anything?
A. The sunspots have not sung together, but I'm sure independently they
have. That's what my backup group is called -- The Sunspots.
Q. Brent, are you married? Do you have children?
A. No, I'm not and I don't.
Q. How old are you?
A. Let me think? Do you know what, let me just say this, when I turned
39, I realized what a genius Jack Benny really was.
Q. Are you into computers and technology and all that stuff? I mean,
how did you get the technobabble?
A. Well, only because I'm an actor. I memorized it, exactly. I mean,
the role actually required more memorization than anything else on the show. I think most
actors would say this, but they like not to learn their lines, not to have them down pat
when they come in, that it is through the rehearsal process and so on, but that was
impossible with this because I was saying things that my mouth had never said before and
it really was a matter of muscle learning. You couldn't just learn the lines in your head.
They actually had to be spoken out loud before you got there or you were going to be in
big trouble and we found that often with our guest stars who were unused to it. Their
process was what they usually brought to something and this required a different sort of
homework, but in general I am not particularly a technical person. I do have a computer
but I am certainly not literate with it and often I hadn't a clue of what I was talking
about. I really didn't. I found out, but I had no idea what it meant. The fans of the show
understand it much better than I did.
Q. Didn't the series provide you with some interesting acting
opportunities?
A. That's true. Initially my fear was when I got the part, that it was
going to be a very limited part to play and it was anything but that. I wound up being --
not only did the character have an arc in which he grew through the seven years towards
humanity and understanding the subtleties and idiosyncracies of what it means to be a
human, I also got to play a lot of other characters. Data trying on different forms of
humanity like Sherlock Holmes and things like that. Then I also got to play my brother and
my father at different ages and there are episodes where I would play four or five
characters. It couldn't be a better part than that.
Q. And that part is very rare where a character can progress that
subtly.
A. It truly is. I remember in the very beginning I had a meeting with
Gene Roddenberry where we discussed where we wanted the character to go, both of us, and
his notion, and I quite agreed with him, was the journey that my character would be on if
the show progressed that far, was that with each passing year he would get closer and
closer to humanity and finally would be extremely close but still not a human and I think
that was the way it went and I think it is still going that way. I was delighted that in
the film that it didn't just stop, that we actually had some movement in the character.
Q. How did you get the role?
A. I auditioned just like --
Q. Were there lots and lots of people?
A. There were quite a few people and finally it came down to me and one
other guy and fortunately I think Tom Cruise decided he wanted to do films, so it fell to
me.
Q. Who is the movie going to appeal to? Is it just going to be Star
Trekkers or does it have more of a universal appeal?
A. I don't know. I hope it has a more universal appeal. I think if it
is just an entertaining picture in general, I think it appeals to everybody. Certainly the
Trekker has more insight into the subtleties of it, but I think it is just a cracking good
action adventure movie. Hopefully that will appeal to a lot of people. |
