1990 - JOAN RIVERS

 

 In the beginning a scene from Never Forget is shown. In the courtroom Mel Mermelstein (Leonard Nimoy) is asked: "Why do you gives speeches about something which happened almost 40 years ago? Why do you continue to do that?"

Mel Mermelstein looks around, looks at his family, who's supported him all those years, and answers: "So that people never forget what we have done to each other, what the human race is capable of  and (pausing) because I made a promise."
"Promise?" the lawyer asks, "What promise?"
"In Auschwitz, it was a promise I made to my father…"

 

Joan Rivers takes a deep breath: "Boy! We'll please welcome the director, he's not wearing his ears now, we'll please welcome Leonard Nimoy!"

 

"The film is incredible."
LN: "Thank you."

"The premise is that some people say the Holocaust never happened. How can they even say that?" 
LN: "This is a very valid question. How can they say that? This is an organization of Neo-Nazi Holocaust Revisionist deniers. If you asked them about the people who dies, they will tell you: Yes, a lot of people dies, but none were murdered by Nazis. They will tell you that people dies from malnutrition because there was a lack of food. They will tell you that there was allied bombing which was indiscriminate. They'll say: They killed German people, too. They hit a concentration camp by accident. They'll tell you there was typhus, which there was. They refuse to accept the idea that there were gas-chambers. In spite of the fact that we have physical proof, that there were, and they have killed thousands of people every day, being gassed, and they deny it. This… I took on the job because this happens to be a Holocaust story with a happy ending. I don't think we've seen one before. It works out right because the good guys win on this one."

JR: "Isn't that a pleasure for a change? ... You keep going on and doing better and better and better things."  "Thank you."

"… People ask me if I resent Star Trek. The answer is 'No'. Star Trek has been a great door-opener for me..."

 

"Do the Trekkies still come after you?"  
"…  No, it is pretty reasonable. In the 60ies it was kind of tough…  You had to make arrangements to get in and out of restaurants and theatres and public places and stuff like that. It's not bad now."

About directing. Leonard had done directing very early and for TV, but this was the first feature film.

"Were you frightened?"
"I was nervous. I'd be crazy not to be. It was for me, it was a big feel. It was a $15 million movie."

"What was the biggest mistake you made?"
"Taking the job." (laughing) "I don't know. I made a lot of mistakes, but I had a very lucky run."

Being asked whether he's got sexual dreams which do not involve his wife, Leonard insists that his hearing is not working well. The next question is asked.

 

"This is not supposed to sound negative, but I don't think of you as a very humorous person... what made them think about you as a comedy director?" 
"I don't know... There was some humour in Star Trek IV. And somebody, Jeff Katzenberg I think at Disney enjoyed the picture and laughed and said: 'I think you can do a comedy'."

 

"I have two children and I have three and a half grandchildren."

..."What about Spock, did he have sex?"
"I'll have to ask him."

 

ST VI is mentioned, they are going to begin shooting next month. "Anything you do is first rate," Joan Rivers says and mentions that she's seen him as Vincent.