Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I was originally approached to do an interview with Masi Oka for the big Heroes DVD release hitting next week. I was more than happy to do it. I’m a big fan of Heroes and in particular Oka’s work on the show. But then I got a cancellation and I was bummed out, but that didn’t last long. They asked if I wanted to talk to Zachary Quinto. I thought he might have avoided all press to dodge STAR TREK questions since he was announced as being the young Spock in JJ Abrams' upcoming flick, but he did not and I got to spring some Trek stuff on him! In the past I’ve talked with an actor or a director for the sole purpose of talking about the next project, not really giving two shits about the one they were pimping, but this one is the rare case where I was just as interested in talking about Quinto’s current projects. If I had my druthers, this would have been a 40 minute interview where we talked for 20 minutes about Heroes and 20 minutes about Trek, but I'm happy with the interview as it stands. Hope you guys enjoy!!!
Zachary Quinto: How are you?
Quint: I’m doing alright.
Zachary Quinto: Good.
Quint: They have you doing a bunch of press today for the DVD?
Zachary Quinto: You know they do. You’re my first though, Eric.
Quint: Wow, that’s quite an honor. I’ll be gentle.
[Both Laugh]
Zachary Quinto: I’m doing it all out of my home though, so it’s all good.
Quint: Yeah, that’s got to be better than sitting in a conference room somewhere.
Zachary Quinto: Exactly, I can do it on my own terms which is nice so no problem. How’s it going with you?
Quint: I don’t ever know if I should introduce myself on these phone interviews. I assume you have a list of who you’re talking to, but I’m with Ain’t It Cool News.
Zachary Quinto: Ain’t It Cool News!
Quint: That’s right.
Zachary Quinto: I know you. I know you people.
Quint: The funny thing is I write under the name “Quint” so it’ll be Quint and Quinto.
Zachary Quinto: How did you come up with that?
Quint: JAWS is my favorite movie, so I took it from Robert Shaw.
Zachary Quinto: How aptly chosen, this interview.
Quint: Indeed. I saw you at Comic Con, actually, I was up there doing a bunch of interviews and I saw you right after the Paramount panel. I’m a big fan of HEROES, so I wanted to go up and say hi, but… I’ve been doing Comic Con for eight years now and I know how precious those quiet little moments are, so I didn’t want to bug you.
Zachary Quinto: Did you see me in one of those moments?
Quint: Yeah, you were in one of the rooms upstairs by that nice balcony.
Zachary Quinto: Oh yeah. Well, I mean that’s also sort the whole… I certainly wouldn’t have been put off, if you approach me for future reference, but I appreciate your sensitivity. That was an overwhelming weekend that was full of excitement and surprises and good times. I had a good time.
Quint: The audience seemed to love you. I saw that there was a huge reaction when Sylar popped up in the season 2 preview.
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Zachary Quinto: Oh yes, that big moment of turning around to the camera. I remember that. Yeah, I mean you know, they were really cool and as they have been all along to me and I really attribute the reaction of the audience. I attribute my longevity on the show so far to them and I don’t think anybody necessarily expected the character to be around or to be as prominently factored into the series as it has turned out, so that’s really exciting for me obviously and I’m most grateful to the fans of the show that pretty much made it so.
Quint: Well what do you think makes Sylar such a popular villain? What do you think has made him connect with that audience?
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Zachary Quinto: I think a couple of things. I think it’s a really well written character, that’s for sure. That makes my job all that much easier when I’m, faced with such depth and such layers of humanity in this sort of evil realm. That feels nice, you know? I think people respond to that and I don’t know, I think that Sylar was set up to be this shadowy-overpowering-imposing figure from the first chunk of episodes, like the first seven or eight episodes before you actually saw me, before I was even actually cast. So then when I step into it and you first meet me in episode 10, six months ago, I think it was just a really unexpected direction in which to go for the villain and I think that people were… That’s what our show is really good at, shattering expectations, keeping people guessing, switching things back on itself and I think that’s what they did with this character, that’s how this character was brought to life on the show and I think that really helped.
Quint: Well definitely, I think you’re right on. I think that, at least for me when I was watching it, what I really loved about it was the mystery around the character at the beginning and then the reveal. It’s strange, because I wouldn’t really peg you as a very threatening guy, especially when you first meet the character and I think that they handled that really well, because you get pretty fucking scary…
Zachary Quinto: Thanks. I take that as a compliment…
[Both Laugh]
Quint: I hope so, it was meant as a compliment.
Zachary Quinto: It is, it really is and I appreciate it very much. I feel like the other thing that was working in my favor certainly was that anticipation that you’re talking about. It’s like you get the audience really hooked into this presence and this shadow and that‘s a really great introduction to have as an actor, to step into a role that has been buzzed about and talked about and mentioned and alluded to and sort of seen always escaping and he’s imbued with a really strong sense of power and impact on this world and that makes stepping into it obviously a lot easier. So there were a number of factors that I think were at play, but it was probably the farthest end of the spectrum of my wildest imagination in terms like what it ended up being, obviously what my experience has ended up being since I joined the show is almost unfathomably gratifying. That’s something I’m always aware of and connected to, for sure.
Quint: You wouldn’t think it would be that difficult, but it’s not often that you see really great superhero/supervillian fights. I’d say the fight that Sylar has with Peter Petrelli in the apartment is a great super powered fight. It’s not epic or huge, but you look at some of the bigger superhero movies and they don’t get that usage of power. I think one of the big draws of the show is that we actually get to see the goodies and the baddies play with these different powers.
Zachary Quint: I would agree. I think that… well, yeah… I totally agree.
Quint: Have you guys shot all of season 2 yet?
Zachary Quinto: No, not all of it, by no means all of it. We are in… What’re we doing now? Five or six. We’re just starting six now, so yeah.
Quint: Really cool. My theory is that there’s going to have to be like a Magneto-like team up.
Zachary Quinto: Hmm…
Quint: I won’t force you to clarify, I’m just floating the idea. If there’s a bigger villain that is “worse” than Sylar, then I think we might have to see some team ups happen.
Zachary Quinto: Well it will definitely be interesting. I think we are all eager to see exactly what happens. I don’t know myself, I say that honestly. We only know up until the episodes we are shooting and I don’t go fishing for… When we started the season I sat down with one of the writers and asked a couple very basic questions in terms of where I should consider picking up this season, but beyond that I don’t really… I like the excitement of not knowing where it’s going. I like every time I read a script I’m not sure where it’s going to take my character and me and that’s a really exciting part of this job. You don’t often get that.
Quint: Totally random sidebar, but I had a conversation with Eli Roth once about how he constantly gets mistaken for you...
[Both Laugh]
Zachary Quinto: That’s very funny.
Quint: I can imagine that he’ll probably get even more that after you do TREK.
Zachary Quinto: I imagine, or perhaps that will separate us, because then maybe more people will actually know. Maybe that will plant me a little more firmly and separate us a little bit. Who knows which way it will go? People always have something to say, don’t they?
Quint: How exciting or daunting is it to take on such an iconic character like Spock?
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Zachary Quinto: You know what? I feel like I look to my left and I have Leonard Nimoy, I look to my right and I have J.J. Abrams, (Damon) Lindelof and Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman and I’m like “What? What???” I can’t be daunted, I have to be absolutely honored and prepared. There’s no room for daunted. It’s just like “OK” and I feel like I can just implicitly trust these guys and I’m so inspired by their enthusiasm, so I’m nothing but excited. I have a lot of work cut out for me, I know that and that’s also very exciting and I’ve begun it and it’s really really nice to learn about this world and the people in it and it’s just so cool. I would have never imagined Sci Fi to be such a career advancing experience for me and I’m really excited about learning it. It’s very interesting and it’s very theatrical to me. The STAR TREK world is very heightened. There’s so much about it’s scale and that’s something that I’ve always been drawn to and interested in, so I feel like it’s lo… No… I can’t believe I almost said it. I almost said it! But, it makes sense to me on a fundamental level.
Quint: (laughs)) On the Paramount panel it was great seeing, and such a great idea for them to bring out Nimoy as well…
Zachary Quinto: Wasn’t it? It shows their respect for these characters for the actors who created them and for the franchise in general and I think that’s the best place you can begin any kind of project from.
Quint: Especially one with such a, not only huge fan base, but a notoriously picky fan base.
Zachary Quinto: Yeah, you know this is an important facet to a lot of people’s lives and that has to be honored I think and I think that’s exactly what they’re doing, but they’re also being very clear about their hand in it and how their hand in it is going to inevitably influence it and change it and that’s really exciting as long as it’s done with the work in mind and the respect at hand. I think then that that is all you can ask for.
Quint: Have you been working with Leonard?
Zachary Quinto: I’ve spent time with Leonard and have really enjoyed that time and we’re both about to be traveling a little bit, because we’re taking off to do the world tour for the DVDs of Season One of HEROES next week, so that’s kind of cool. Then I’ll be holding down the fort in the North American leg of the tour, I’m going to New York and Toronto. There’s a whole host of events in both of those cities which are really exciting and I’m totally getting amped up for the trip.
Quint: Well I’m looking forward to getting the HD set.
Zachary Quinto: Oh yeah, they just are getting the DVD’s together. I saw the mock up. I saw how it’s going to be and they’re making three sets, the regular set which is what I’ll have, and then they have the HD set and the collector’s edition, so it’s really intense and it’s just sort of so voluminous. There’s so much of it, there’s episodes with deleted scenes and they have the extended pilot on there, the 72 minute pilot which was never aired and only seen at Comic Con last year. I haven’t even seen it, so I’m so excited to watch that and behind the scenes stuff, interviews… It’s going to be really cool.
Quint: Cool, well good luck with the release and good luck on your future projects, everything seems to be going pretty well for you.
Zachary Quinto: Much appreciated. I’m thankful every day for all of all of this goodness. It’s really exciting. I will hopefully see you seen and best to you until then for sure.
Quint: Later on man.
Zachary Quinto: Take care.
I had a few more Trek questions, but as you can see he flipped it firmly back into the Heroes realm, which is fine. We were nearing the end of our time anyway, so it was good to talk about the DVDs a little bit. I’ve actually received the Standard Def set and I’ll write up a piece on that before it hits next Tuesday. If I get a copy of the HD set I’ll include my thoughts on the features exclusive to that release. Been really busy. Tons of interviews… I’ve probably done 40 interviews since the start of Comic-Con… maybe that’s an exaggeration, but it’s well over 25… good stuff in the pipe-line, so stay tuned!!! -Quint quint@aintitcool.com
