Acclaimed Star Trek Director Is Blunt About His Own Obituary
There are few people as important to the Star Trek franchise as Nicholas Meyer, who directed both The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country. Of course, he has done plenty of other things, too, including writing a series of excellent Sherlock Holmes novels, but it seems a given that he will best be remembered as someone who directed the timeless adventures of Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the Enterprise crew. In a recent interview, Nicholas Meyer was blunt about his own obituary, saying he doesn’t worry about what he is remembered for but simply that “I’m happy if I’m remembered for something.”
Meyer Is Proud Of The Impact He’s Made
The reason that Nicholas Meyer isn’t too worried about whether Star Trek is a major part of his obituary is that he has a very positive view of art and its impact on those that it touches. “I’m not going to b*tch and moan that these movies seem to have made a lot of people happy,” he said, noting that inspiring such feelings is “great.”
He went on to say “That’s the point of art…you’re supposed to make people laugh and or cry, preferably both. And if I’ve done that, I feel lucky.” As huge fans, we need to point out that this is part of what makes Nicholas Meyer such an awesome director: his focus is more on the fans and less on being remembered for the right thing (whatever that is).
How The Obituary Talk Materialized
The way this came up in the interview was a bit surprising, as the veteran director had just been asked whether he ever imagined speaking with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. This led to him revealing some fun trivia about how when the rights to create a Holmes play were purchased by William Gillette, he then asked Doyle if it was okay if Holmes got married in this new story. According to Nicholas Meyer, the author didn’t care if Gillette led to someone writing Holmes’ own obituary, telling the other man, “You may marry him, or murder him, or do what you like with him.”
Happy Being Remembered For Something
In turn, this led to the director discussing how Doyle actually felt about his creation and how he tried to kill the character off twice, bringing him back each time. Famously, Doyle once declared that his creation was something of a distraction keeping him from producing better art, saying “He takes my mind from better things.” This discussion about the priorities of artists is ultimately what led Nicholas Meyer to discuss his own obituary, which he morbidly described as “upcoming.”
“Artists frequently get pissed off because they’re recognized for the wrong thing,” he said. Unprompted, Nicholas Meyer then brought up the idea that his obituary would prominently mention Star Trek and how he would feel about being mostly remembered for movies from decades ago rather than other artistic contributions. This led him to declare “I’m happy if I’m remembered for something,” an attitude that he immediately contrasted with that of other artists.
Glad To Make People Happy
There is a certain beautiful irony to what Nicholas Meyer is saying about his obituary. This is a man who isn’t very worried about whether Star Trek has dominated his resume because he just wants to make the fans happy. But the only reason there are still fans to this day is that the director saved Gene Roddenberry’s franchise with The Wrath of Khan, forever defining the sci-fi universe that may or may not ultimately define his own creative legacy.
Spock-Like Wisdom Is All We Can Expect
With any luck, Nicholas Meyers’ obituary is a long way off, but we can’t help but respect how he is perfectly modeling how creators should approach their creations. Honestly, though, what else would you expect from the director of The Wrath of Khan? Thanks to Meyer pondering his own passing, we are once again reminded of the wisdom he put in Kirk’s mouth: that how we face death is at least as important as how we face life.
Source: TrekMovie
