zq posts

"FOREFATHERS"

Zachary Quinto Presents FOREFATHERS from Zachary Quinto

5.15.10

the road ahead...                            

yesterday nbc announced that heroes is officially cancelled.  as much as we have been aware of this possibility for a few weeks - it remains surreal to consider that the decision has been made.  the action has been taken.  and this chapter (or volume) is really over for all of us who worked on the show - and for all of you who watched it.  i want to extend myself in a huge swell of gratitude to all of the fans.  for investing in the stories we told.  for engaging in the characters we created.  and for standing by us through all the ups and downs of what was at times a rocky road.  your commitment enriched the experience for all of us - and i know that we will always be grateful for your enthusiasm.  it has been a true honor to share this time in my life with my amazing cast mates and our indomitable crew.  i will certainly miss them most of all.  the gift of working alongside such talented and inspiring people is something i will carry with me everywhere i go from here.  and no matter where my work and my life take me - i will forever look back on heroes as the game changer.  tim kring and the original creative team and writing staff took a risk on me to play gabriel gray when there was no reason to risk - besides their belief in me.  they gave voice to a character that has challenged me and rewarded me beyond my wildest imagination.  i will never forget that.  it is humbling and deeply moving.  so i thank them.  and i thank you.  and i assure you that while this door has closed - and as cliché as it sounds - others are flying open even as we speak.  this is only the beginning in so many ways.  and i hope that the fans i have made through this profound experience will follow me into many new and unchartered territories.  i think the sarmy should lead the charge... it's only fitting after all.  thanks for your many well wishes and for your loyalty.  let us move on with gratitude.  that is exactly what i intend to do.  

zq.

before the door and i are working on a bunch of projects with this team: victor quinaz, anna martemucci, philip quinaz, and alison fiery. web stuff, feature film stuff, and beyond.

EDITH WHARTON'S ETHAN FROME 

and in case you missed it, PILGRIMS

i have been inundated with questions and confusion about a comment i made during an interview with wired - about the new atari star trek online game - in which i said i am stepping away from trek for the next two years.  obviously i will be a part of any upcoming films... reprising my role as spock.  what i meant was that in the meantime i won't be making any public appearances related to the franchise - or doing any more auxiliary projects pertaining to the trek universe.  i will be focusing my efforts on other projects and preparing to shoot the next film - which will be released in june of 2012... two years from now.  hence the no trek for two years remark.  worry not trekkers.  it was a misunderstanding of context.  i am not spock.  but i am spock.  all at the same time.  

ll & p.

zq.

                                                                                                                            1.13.10

http://www.hufh.org/ 

and donate in any way you can.  it is a desperate situation in an already desperate country.  please take this time to realize how fortunate we all are - and extend in gratitude from your heart in a time of great need.  thank you everyone...

zach.

5.19.09.

it has been a while.  travels have brought me home.  took a few days of relative solitude to let things breathe.  the last leg of the trip was absolutely raucous and exhausting.  mostly because all of us realized the imminent conclusion of such an epic adventure and wanted to make the most of it.  went back and forth between la and new york a few times.  then touched down in tokyo for a blink before coming home and seeking some desert revelation.  highlight of the trips to nyc?  unsurprisingly...  SNL.  such a mindblowing convergence of childhood dreams and creative freedom.  i mean - come on.  gilda radner?!  kevin nealon!  jan hooks & phil hartman!!!  the history of genius and hilarity and instinct.  the possibility of it all.  the cast and writers could not have been more generous or welcoming.  justin timberlake slaughtered it.  and all i can say is: SNL knows how to throw an after party.  and after after party.  suffice it to say i boarded my 8:30 sunday morning flight to tokyo with literally no sleep.  not being hyperbolic.  but it all evened out.  in the end - and i welcome all of your support in this matter - the simple fact remains: i must host saturday night live imminently.  we're working on it.  to be sure.  tokyo was a brief delight.  whet my appetite more than anything.  there was karaoke until the wee hours after the premiere.  to be sure.  john cho definitely gave the most rousing rendition of lionel ritchie's hello that i have ever heard.  to be sure.  that boy can sing.  go see his band in la sometime.  all told... we all went for it.  all around.  and now the movie's out.  official travel has concluded.  for the most part i have switched into life mode again.  i will likely be laying low the next couple weeks to solidify next steps and gather momentum before the door.  a sincere and direct thank you to all of my fans who have followed my exploits and supported our travels and adventures.  glad to have been able to share some of it with you since you are ultimately the reason that it's possible.  thanks for seeing the film in such impressive numbers and please keep spreading the word.  we'll keep information and ideas flowing through.  and i will most certainly check in again soon.  in the meantime.  some photos.  and please don't miss the merkin interview.  seriously.  my favorite interview from the entire press tour.  to be sure.  be well all.  see you soon.  zq. 

i am flying...

literally.  right now.  we're 29,000 feet above somewhere - benefiting from the newfangled technology of a certain airline experimenting with in-flight wireless.  gives me a chance to catch up with myself a little bit actually.  when i last dipped into the blogosphere (i can't believe i just used that made up word - although i guess technically all words are made up) i had just returned to la from the whirlwind world tour.  but to be honest - since then - the energy has more shifted than abated.  i was in la for five days after london.  the first three were all meetings and playing catch up.  the last two were full court press days at the four seasons for the domestic junket.  television interviews and print and radio interviews also.  finished that last sunday - then left again first thing monday morning to head back to nyc.  this chunk of the trip has been much more talk show-centric.  today show and regis and letterman and a couple more specialized film talk shows.  that was all really fun to me.  like an improv.  i made it my goal to have a blast just staying open to these different personalities and my experience of them.  letterman with dolly parton?!?!  to find myself in the company of legends.  humbling in a most exhilarating way.  also i saw friends and some amazing theater and eric bana's phenomenal movie love the beast at tribeca.  what a great film eric has made.  and how much more it allowed me to appreciate his magnetic and complicated personality.  that was a highlight.  i had one day in the city that was lazy and lovely.  the weather was incredible.  the view from my hotel room simply stunning.  new york in the springtime.  what more could i ask for?  left new york thursday morning landed in la at 12:30pm.  met my family for lunch at their hotel and then got home with less than an hour to spare before getting picked up for the premiere.  how to describe this event.  this experience.  three words maybe?  let's see:  FLASHY.  RELENTLESS.  THRILLING.  family and friends abounding.  so much energy everywhere.  excitement.  enthusiasm.  celebration.  there was an official after party.  an unofficial after after party - thrown by chris and me at a lounge in hollywood for our friends who were unable to be included in the more formal festivities.  and after all of that wound down - 20 or so people ended up at my house until 5am.  just as it should be - i think you'll agree.  i had family in town until sunday.  monday - ellen.  more fun than i could have ever imagined.  adored the experience almost as much as i adore her.  i respect ellen deeply and for many reasons.  not the least of which is she is completely hilarious to me.  and i danced it out for her.  danced.  it.  out.  tuesday - bonnie hunt.  delightful.  also jimmy kimmel.  familiar and riotous.  started packing at 1am with 7am pick-up for the airport.  three hours of sleep.  and here we are.  on the plane.  in the air.  quinto brothers.  back to ny.  more talk shows then on to tokyo.  as the pilot was retracting the landing gear.  barely a hundred feet off the ground this morning.  i turned to my brother and said:  "i can't believe we are doing this again."  but here we are.  doing it again.  and loving every minute.  still.  

 

truth be told...

the "...ward bound" part happened on tuesday.  it is 6:30 in the morning in los angeles.  i have been back for two days now.  i have done a relatively decent job of escaping the clenches of jetlag.  i go to bed at a normal hour.  and wake up early.  now i know how most of the world does it.  it's good to be home for a brief time.  a couple of days before everything swirls up again.  it's hard to believe after all we experienced abroad - that there are still three more weeks before all is said and done.  we jump into the domestic press leg starting tomorrow.  press conferences.  interviews.  talk shows.  then on to tokyo.  that part is very exciting - as i have never been to that part of the world.  my last post was in paris.  and then from there things went into a kind of warp mode (no pun intended).  it went a little something like this:  two days of press in paris and then wednesday evening to berlin.  arrive at 8:30pm.  whisked to group dinner.  after dinner hung with friends who live in the city.  in bed by 2:00am.  next morning.  press begins at 9:00am and goes all day.  finish at 5:00pm.  have 45 minutes to shower and change for the berlin premiere.  cars pick us up at the hotel at 5:45pm.  get to carpet by 6ish.  an hour and twenty minutes of interviews and photos and signing.  run upstairs.  time for one glass of champagne to celebrate the impressive turn out at the sony center at postdamer platz.  ushered through the back corridors to the side door of the enormous theater.  introduced on stage to wish the audience an enjoyable experience.  ushered back out the side door.  back through the corridors to our waiting cars.  driven directly to airport where we board the jet and fly immediately to madrid.  arrive madrid at 11:30pm.  get to hotel by midnight and convene in the hotel bar for a nightcap and a check-in with my fellow travelers.  in bed by 2:00am.  next morning.  press begins at 8:30am.  at lunch time i make arrangements to get raced to reina sofia to see picasso's masterpiece guernica. by the time we get to the museum - we have 15 staggering minutes - to contemplate this breathtaking piece - before we have to leave to get back for the second half of the day.  we make it on time.  more translated press.  finish press day at 4:30pm.  we are in our cars by 5:00pm on our way to the airport where we board the jet again for london.  arrive in london at 7:30pm.  now we have two days off in london.  and i just want days off.  didn't make the time to update my adventures - i was too busy having them.  monday in london was mad press and monday night the insane premiere and party.  ended on a high note.  and headed back to la on tuesday afternoon.  so here we are.  that pretty much brings us up to speed.  some pictures below.  nothing earthshattering.  just a sense of where we've been.  more to come with regard to where we're going...

4.15.09.

two years ago today - i put myself on tape to play the role of spock.  this was on the wall of the bar where we went last night.  coincidence?  i don't believe in coincidence. so this first photo doesn't count as one of the three.  i just thought it was a crazy little anniversary present from the universe... 

now... why.

and...

TWO VIDEOS

in the middle (east).

one of the most fascinating and remote destinations on the whole trip is with out a doubt kuwait.  we travelled almost 19 hours from new zealand through dubai to get there and then spent less than a day before heading another 9 hours to paris.  i have never been so simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated in my whole life.  as soon as we arrived in the middle east - the energy shifted for me.  it exists in such stark juxtaposition to the nature of our trip and the essence of our culture.  to be in the region that engenders so much passion and misunderstanding throughout the rest of the world was so unique and illuminating.  we all felt it immediately.  it took a while to get into the country - even with guides and handlers.  after so much time on planes it required a specific kind of patience in the hour and a half we stood at the processing desk waiting for all of our visas to clear.  eventually they did - and we were escorted by military liaisons and local police via passenger bus (with curtains that we were not allowed to open due to forced protection) to a hotel where we had less than an hour to get ready for our trip to camp arifjan - the biggest and central u.s. military base in the theater of the middle eastern operations.  once there we were greeted by the general and introduced to the rules and our surroundings.  although photos were limited on the base while outside - it is an absolutely massive place.  fences behind which hundreds of tanks sit idle.  huge transport vehicles and humvees everywhere.  and desert as far as the eye can see.  it was apparent immediately how genuinely excited the troops were to have us.  as trivial as what we do can seem in the face of the sacrifices they and their families are making - it was deeply humbling to hear how important our work can be to them.  one soldier told me that she would ration her episodes of heroes so she could make the experience last longer during her active tour in iraq.  the idea of their need to escape from the relentless intensity of their responsibilities and the associated pressure actually put the contribution of our work in a new kind of perspective.  i felt so grateful to share time with them and to share the movie with them.  they were excited and responsive and it was an all around incredible part of the journey.  after we introduced the screening at arifjan - we split into groups and boarded two military blackhawk helicopters for a 30 minute flight to camp lsa which is the base from which all troops leave to enter active duty in all parts of the middle eastern war.  it is also the base through which they pass at the end of their tours and before and after departure for r&r trips.  in other words - it is the gateway to the entire war - and as such had a much deeper and more resonant energy for all of us.  there we sat and signed with troops who were literally waiting to be called on to c130 planes that would take them to the frontlines in iraq and afghanistan.  as military flights do not run on a specific schedule like commercial airlines - the troops have to congregate in this huge hall and wait there for anywhere from an hour to an entire day or more before they are deployed.  while we were there - a group of soldiers were called to their planes and left immediately for points unknown to us.  that was sobering to say the least.  from there it was back on to the blackhawks and arifjan where we boarded the bus to return to kuwait city - and the airport for our trip to europe.  a couple words about blackhawks... HOLY SHIT!  i don't even know how to describe the experience.  first of all - we flew with the doors open.  150 miles per hour.  our pilots were the officers that fly the three and four star generals all throughout the middle eastern theater.  so essentially they are the best of the best.  soaring over the open desert above bedouin camps and camels and burning oil valves and just desert and desert and desert.  it was arguably one of the most incredible experiences i have ever had in my life.  absolutely staggering and hard to wrap my mind around on so many levels.  pictures could not begin to do it justice.  but they will have to suffice.  it was definitely good to head out of there - but the part of the trip i think we were all most curious and excited about most certainly didn't disappoint.  now on to the city of lights... in stark contrast - but no less vivid.  more to come...

our military escort leads the way.




















the somehow ominous road out of town...




















the war room overseeing the entire middle eastern operation... literally.

4.10.09.

two down.  what can i say about new zealand... other than i wish we could have stayed much longer.  the premiere went really well.  people were excited - but not frenzied.  i have noticed a kind of ease about the people in this part of the world.  understandable when you consider the natural beauty that surrounds them.  the kind of chaotic hollywood experience of flash and celebrity and spectacle doesn't quite have the same effect.  and i prefer it.  but what they do have is a tremendous spirit of adventure.  something i did not know is that bungee jumping was invented in auckland.  and apparently the saying goes - you can't leave auckland without jumping off of something.  so when in rome... or auckland.  the day after the premiere elder quinto and i - along with our intrepid paramount publicist angharad - took a leap off of the tallest building in the southern hemisphere.  it's called the sky jump.  and it is a controlled descent - but a descent nonetheless - of 630 feet in 11 seconds.  working on some video to post.  but for now you'll have to take my word for the fact that it was one of the scariest and exhilarating experiences i have had in a very long time.  then - after that adventure - we were treated to a helicopter ride over auckland which landed us at te whau vineyard - one of the most exquisite restaurants in the city.  overlooking the water and with stunning views all around - the lot of us had an incredible lunch before beginning our epic journey to the next leg of the trip.  the middle eastern leg.  definitely not sure what to expect of that.  but will be excited to see how it all unfolds.  some pictures of the auckland fun.  until next time...

   

... i'm still awake.

just got into my hotel room in auckland after a couple of incredible days in sydney.  the world premiere was a thrill.  could the lit up sydney opera house look any more like the starfleet insignia?!  even in the face of some trekker upheaval - it seems obvious why the world premiere was held there.  and the austin sneak premiere feels like a fair exchange - with spock #1 on hand for the festivities.  we are in new zealand for a couple of days now - then on to kuwait.  most of us are looking forward to that leg of the trip above everything else.  the troops.  the movie.  a good combination.  i am going to fall asleep imminently.  here are some pics from our travels today.  a lot happening.  a lot to look forward to.  more to come... as usual.

 

a backstage view of the premiere crowd.

down (under) day.