Leonard Nimoy Cried Watching New Star Trek Movie

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Leonard Nimoy Cried Watching New Star Trek Movie
Leonard Nimoy said that he shed some tears while watching the new "Star Trek" movie, where he reprises his role as an older Spock who enlightens his younger self. (Image credit: John Siuntres)

Actor Leonard Nimoy admitted to shedding a tear or twowhile watching the new "Star Trek" movie.

Nimoy played the character Spock in the original "StarTrek" series — a half-Vulcan, half-human who usually takes a dispassionate,logical approach to everything. The actor has reprised that role as the olderSpock who talks to his younger self in the new movie that opens nationwide on Thursday.

"The movie is big, gigantic movie movie,cinematic movie," Nimoy told an audience at this year's FX InternationalCon in Orlando, FL. "But it's also gotgreat heart with the characters."

The new "Star Trek" looks at the origins of theoriginal StarshipEnterprise crew, and examines how a young Captain Kirk and Spock firststruck up their friendship after a rocky start. DirectorJ.J. Abrams, known for his work on television shows such as"Lost" and "Fringe," had said he wanted to make anaccessible mainstream movie that stays faithful to the series.

Nimoy said that he had felt marginalized as waves of new"Star Trek" movies and shows have come and gone, and thought"'It was over for me.'" But Abrams and his writers convincedNimoy to come back on board by impressing him with their dedication to theoriginal "Star Trek" series.

"I was struck by the intensity of their feelingsabout the classic Star Trek material that we did," Nimoy noted. "Iwas very touched by it."

The memories and emotion hit home when the actor finallysaw the fully completed movie.

"I gotta tell ya, I cried a lot," Nimoy said. "Idid, I sat there and cried a lot watching it."

"Don't tell anybody," he added jokingly to theconvention crowd. "It's out of character for me."

Nimoy also spent time talking about his previous work directingand acting in the "Star Trek IV" movie, where he got some ideasfrom SETI scientists who spend time searching for signs of extraterrestriallife.

Near the end, the actor joked that fans would want to seethe new movie "seven or eight times," which a fan amended by shoutingout "opening weekend."

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Jeremy Hsu
Contributing Writer

Jeremy Hsu is science writer based in New York City whose work has appeared in Scientific American, Discovery Magazine, Backchannel, Wired.com and IEEE Spectrum, among others. He joined the Space.com and Live Science teams in 2010 as a Senior Writer and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Indicate Media.  Jeremy studied history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania, and earned a master's degree in journalism from the NYU Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. You can find Jeremy's latest project on Twitter.