process by being there
and watching other good people do it,
and finally he wore them down.
-I did.
-The studio said, "Oh, God.
-"Just give him one."
-Give him one.
And Jonathan walked onto
that sound stage
that first morning,
Stage 8 at Paramount,
an authentic director from the very...
I don't think any of us were at first.
LeVar, Michael,
they've become directors.
I was just having fun.
I was just excited
to be in a Hollywood studio,
but he was authentic
from the very beginning.
And, so, it was entirely appropriate that
when the second movie came along
-that they should ask Jonathan to direct.
-That's great.
Bill and I asked for permission to direct
during the making of the series
and we were flat out refused. But...
You never directed episodes?
-No, no. Flat out refused.
-Really? Really?
Yeah. I had to fight for three years
to get that.
Not contemplated whatsoever.
It was out of the question.
Preparation on a science fiction thing
then was, you had to prepare.
What were things going to look like,
and you didn't have time to be playing
the week before
while you were preparing that week.
Go ahead, Leonard. I'm sorry.
It was just out of the question.
They just weren't going to have it.
So, when the opportunity came along,
when "Spock died,"
at the end of II, and it was clear
they wanted Spock back for III,
I thought I had the opportunity,
the leverage to open the door.
Tell them that story.
Maybe you will now reveal
what was whispered into your ear
by not only DeForest, Bones,
but by the producer.
-Tell me what you're talking about.
-Here's what I'm talking about.
Here's what I'm talking about.
-He dies. Okay?
-Yeah.
-And it's like it's over.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Then, Leonard, the actor,
comes back for the third thing.
And it was staged where when he died,
Bones leans in and says something.
And I said, "What'd he say?
What was that for?
"That had nothing to do with the story."
What did he lean in and say,
and he's never told me what he said.
But they used that to bring him back.
And so, one would think,
"Hey, well, then it was pre-planned."
Yeah, you're right.
It was an amazing day.
We really had planned to be finished
with the Spock character.
And I was depressed because
the film was going so well,
and I thought,
"We're making a big mistake here."
I mean, Star Trek II was being made
and being made very, very well.
It was a good script, well directed,
well acted.
And here we came down to my last day.
And... Anyway, fortunately,
just before the final death scene,
where I'm going into this chamber
to save the ship and die,
out comes the producer and says to me,
"Is there anything you can do or say
"that would leave a thread
for the future?"
I thought, "Whoa!" That's... Wow.
This is momentous.
So I said I could do a mind meld
on DeForest Kelley,
who was lying there unconscious,
or semi-conscious,
and I could just say a word to him, and
he said, "What would the word be?"
And I said, "I'll say, 'Remember.'"
That's ambiguous enough
to be picked up as a thread to anything.
And that's exactly what happened.
I said, "Remember,"
and we built the next film on that word.
But to all intents and purposes,
you were through, done.
You held that position even with me,
knowing that I would never
reveal that position.
But was it a negotiating position so that
you would be able to direct III?
Or did you not think of that?
-At that time? No.
-Yes.
-Well, even some... "Remember."
-No.
What are you gonna say? "I don't want
to say 'Remember. ' I'm dying, I'm dead.
"I'm dying, why would I say,
'Remember'? Remember what?"
No, I had no plan in mind.
Seriously, I had no plan in mind.
-When the film opened...
-See, I can't believe that.
-No, I'm serious.
-He gets on his knees 'cause he says,
"Get on your knees."
"I'll get on my knees,
"but I don't know how to motivate it,
but I'm on my knees."
He got the producers...
Say, "