Nicholas Meyer
 | This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification, as it includes attribution to IMDb. (November 2007) |
Nicholas Meyer | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Meyer at the Air Force Film Festival in Los Angeles at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (November 14, 2008) | |
| Born | December 24, 1945 |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter, film producer, film director, and novelist |
Nicholas Meyer (born December 24, 1945 in New York City, New York) is an American screenwriter, producer, director and novelist, known best for his best-selling novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, and for directing the films Time After Time, two of the Star Trek feature film series, and the 1983 television movie The Day After.
Meyer graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in theater and filmmaking.
Career
Meyer first gained public attention for his best selling 1974 Sherlock Holmes novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, a story of Holmes confronting his cocaine addiction with the help of Sigmund Freud. Meyer followed this with two additional Holmes novels: The West End Horror (1976), and then The Canary Trainer (1993).
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, was made into a 1977 film directed by Herbert Ross, for which Meyer wrote the screenplay, and for which he was nominated for an Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for adapting his own novel to the screen.
Intrigued by the first part of college friend Karl Alexander's then-incomplete novel Time After Time, Meyer optioned the book and adapted it into a screenplay of the same name, consenting to sell the script only if he were attached as director. The deal was optioned by Warner Bros., and the film was Meyer's director debut. Meyer freely allowed Alexander to borrow from the screenplay and the novel was published at about the same time the movie was released.
At the behest of then Paramount executive Karen Moore, Meyer was hired to direct Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.[1]
After this, Meyer directed the 1983 made-for-TV movie The Day After, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Director. The film depicts a nuclear attack on the United States. Meyer had decided not to do any television work, but changed his mind after reading the script. Afterward Meyer also directed The Pied Piper of Hamelin, an episode of the television series "Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre".
He resumed directing theatrical films with Volunteers (1985), The Deceivers (1988), Company Business (1991) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).[2] Meyer has written, directed, produced, and otherwise contributed to numerous films.[3]
In recent years Meyer adapted the Philip Roth novel The Human Stain for the 2003 film of the same name. In 2006, he teamed with Martin Scorsese to write the screenplay for Scorsese's adaptation of Edmund Morris's Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Theodore Roosevelt, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. The story traces the early life of Roosevelt, originally a weak and asthematic young boy born to privilege but dedicated to personal achievement, political reform, and the heroic ideal.[4]
Star Trek films
Meyer, along with writer/producer Harve Bennett, is one of two people credited with revitalizing and perhaps saving the Star Trek franchise after the problems of the first film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, almost caused Paramount Pictures to end the series. Paramount had been unhappy with the creative direction of the first film, as well as the cost overruns and production problems. However, the film was also a great financial success, and they wanted a sequel. Bennett, a reliable television producer, was hired to help.
Introduced to Bennett by Paramount executive Karen Moore, Meyer was hired as a potential director for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Due to problems with the early drafts of the script, with which no one had been happy, he almost immediately became involved in re-writing the film's screenplay. After meeting with Bennett and other members of the cast and crew regarding the script, Meyer impressed Star Trek's actors and producers by delivering a superior draft of the script in only twelve days. The draft had to be completed so quickly, in fact, that Meyer agreed to forgo the negotiation of a contract or credit for his writing in order to begin work on the script immediately. This is why he is uncredited as a writer on the final film.
Meyer then directed the film, making stylistic alterations, such as adding more of a naval appearance. Meyer and Bennett together created a film that was engaging while also reducing costs and avoiding the production fiascoes of the first film. The Wrath of Khan became a financial success, grossing $78 million in the domestic market,[5] and is considered by many to be the best Star Trek film to date.
Meyer subsequently co-wrote the screenplay for the fourth Star Trek film, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home along with Bennett. For that film, Bennett wrote the first and fourth acts which occur in the 23rd century and Meyer wrote the second and third acts which occur in 1986 San Francisco. Meyer has stated that one of the most enjoyable aspects of working on this film was getting the chance to re-use elements that he had been forced to discard from his earlier film, Time After Time. Star Trek IV proved to be successful financially,[6] notable for being successful among general moviegoers as well as science fiction and Star Trek devotees.
Meyer worked for the Star Trek franchise again for the sixth film in the series, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). He developed the story with Leonard Nimoy and co-wrote the screenplay with long-term friend and assistant Denny Flinn. He directed the picture, which was the final film to feature the entire classic Star Trek cast. This film was again successful financially, grossing $74 million in the domestic market.[7]
Personal life
Meyer has three daughters; Rachel, Madeline and Roxanne, with his wife Stephanie. The family reside in Los Angeles.
Filmography
As director
- Time After Time (1979)
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
- The Day After (1983) (TV)
- Faerie Tale Theatre (1985) (TV)
- Volunteers (1985)
- The Deceivers (1988)
- Company Business (1991)
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
- Vendetta (1999) (TV)
References
- ^ Meyer, Nicholas (2009). The View From the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood. NY: Viking. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-0670021307.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ ISBNdb.com. "Bibliography of Meyer, Nicholas, alphabetically ordered". Retrieved 5 February 2010.
- ^ Nicholas Meyer at IMDb
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480046/
- ^ The Internet Movie Database
- ^ Star Trek Movies
- ^ The Internet Movie Database