Neo2199

Neo2199 OP t1_irj4u7b wrote

Reply to Leonard Nimoy Almost Directed The 1996 'Doctor Who' TV Movie - FOX would only allow Nimoy to direct if he agreed to play the film’s villain The Master - In the end, the film was directed by Geoffrey Sax with the role of The Master going to Eric Roberts. by Neo2199

> In the mid-1990s there was an attempt to reinvigorate Doctor Who which went off the air in 1989. A television movie was planned as a backdoor pilot, which was being produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment for broadcast on the FOX Network in the USA and the BBC in the UK. The film would introduce a new Doctor (the Eighth), played by Paul McGann. And the project came very close to having a sort of Star Trek connection with Leonard Nimoy. Following his feature film debut with Star Trek III in 1984 Nimoy began a successful career behind the camera, including the hit 1987 movie Three Men and a Baby, he continued directing into the ’90s.

> Producer Philip Segal: "I had several meetings with Leonard Nimoy who wanted to direct it. I met with him at Amblin [Entertainment], and we had wonderful conversations. He was genuinely excited about the possibility."

> "FOX did not want him to do it. They were concerned it looked very kitsch to go, ‘Aren’t we clever? We’ve got Spock from Star Trek directing.’"

> According to the producer, FOX would only allow Nimoy to direct if he agreed to play the film’s villain The Master, The Doctor’s longtime adversary. Segal considered the idea “insulting” to Nimoy as that “wasn’t the object of the exercise.”

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