It may pit Captain Picard against an evil clone, but director Stuart Baird is determined that Star Trek Nemesis will be a unique and original addition to the franchise. Words: David Bassom

There’s a new man at the helm of the Starship Enterprise – and he’s determined to take Captain Picard and the rest of Star Trek’s Next Generation crew where they have never gone before. Star Trek Nemesis director Stuart Baird is a complete newcomer to the Trek universe and his Prime Directive is to stun longtime Trekkers and newcomers alike with a film that is far more than just the tenth instalment of the Star Trek movie franchise.

“I hope people will find a film that stands on its own rather than just being another Star Trek picture,” Baird tells Dreamwatch. “I hope that Nemesis will not just ride on the coat-tails of the other Star Trek movies, but will stand as a feature film in its own right.

“I’m not an expert on the other movies, but I don’t think anyone will feel this movie is sort of a large TV episode. I think this has got a feeling or flavour of something different to what you’ve seen before. The film’s got a darker and sort of an edgier feel. And I think we’ve got a fantastic villain with Tom Hardy, who plays the Shinzon character.

“Nemesis is a rollercoaster of action; the last half of the movie is all action,” he promises. “And it’s a rollercoaster of emotions as well because it’s quite emotionally involving, especially for the fans but also I believe for people who don’t know any of the Star Trek past.”

To Boldly Go...

A veteran British filmmaker, Baird began his career as the editor of films like Superman, Gorillas in the Mist, Tommy, The Omen and Lethal Weapon before moving into directing with the action blockbusters Executive Decision and U.S. Marshalls. The Academy Award-nominated editor-turned-director was originally suggested to producer Rick Berman as a possible helmer of Star Trek Nemesis by Paramount Pictures’ top brass, and won the assignment after a meeting with Berman. Right from that first meeting, Baird made no secret of the fact that he knew little about the Star Trek franchise, and intended to approach Nemesis as a self-contained production.

“I admitted straight away that I had never been a Trekkie,” he recalls. “I don’t remember seeing any of the Star Trek movies. I said to Rick and [writer] John Logan and everybody, ‘The back-story is all well and good and we’re not going to undermine that, but I hope that anyone who hasn’t seen or been involved in the Star Trek ethos will enjoy the movie and understand it and get full satisfaction from it on its own right.’ I just treated Nemesis like a stand-alone movie.”

Once his place in the director’s chair was confirmed, Baird immediately took something of a ‘crash course’ in Star Trek to prepare for his first venture into the final frontier. “I saw a bunch of the movies and saw what I felt I wanted to do with it,” he explains. “I decided I was going to approach it in a slightly different way photographically. Obviously I didn’t design the set or the costumes for the Enterprise, but I photographed the Enterprise in a slightly different way. In every other part of the movie, I was totally involved and largely responsible for the concepts and the look and the feel of everything. I brought my cameraman, Jeff Kimball, and my costume designer, Bob Ringwood, on to the show. And obviously the whole Reman world – the bad guys’ world – gave me the opportunity to design something new.

“Pace is very important to me,” he continues. “There’s a lot more action in this one [than previous Trek films]. I’ve used the camera a lot more perhaps than some of the others. I’ve used the camera in a sort of operatic way, which I hope won’t take you out of the movie but will enhance the whole drama of it.

“Looking back, The Wrath of Khan was my style of movie,” reveals Baird, referring to the second Star Trek film. “So I really followed that in terms of its energy and filmic sense.”

Baird admits that he had no particular desire to work on a Star Trek movie, and was simply drawn to the idea of directing Nemesis by its script. Written by Academy Award-nominated Gladiator scribe (and self-confessed Star Trek fan!) John Logan, Nemesis sees Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the Starship Enterprise travelling to Romulus on a peace initiative. Once there, Picard discovers that the Empire has been conquered by a group of Reman revolutionaries led by the human Shinzon (Tom Hardy) – who is actually a Romulan-created clone of Picard intent on conquering the galaxy! As Picard faces his most personal adversary to date, the Enterprise’s resident android Data (Brent Spiner) encounters a primitive prototype version of himself, B-4, and uncovers B-4’s role in Shinzon’s evil plan.

“The film involves cloning, and all sorts of intricate emotional and psychological aspects for Captain Picard, who sees the crew of his ship breaking up and starting to go their separate ways,” elaborates Baird. “Everything Picard has seems to be slipping away. So he’s in a vulnerable state, as is Data, who thinks he’s found a sort of relative – another android made by the same man [Dr Noonien Soong]. Data finally feels he’s got someone to relate to.

“Altogether, there’s a sort of reassessment of relationships in the whole picture.”

Face of the Enemy

Prior to the start of shooting, Baird worked closely with Logan, Berman, Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart to refine certain elements of Nemesis’ script. He was also involved in the casting of all the film’s new characters, including the villainous Reman Viceroy (Beauty and the Beast’s Ron Perlman), the Romulan Commander Donatra (Birds of Prey’s Dina Meyer) and the titular Nemesis himself, Shinzon. Baird notes that the casting of the latter role was always going to be critical to the film’s success, and proved extremely time-consuming.

“The centre of the story is this Shinzon character, who’s a clone of Picard,” he explains. “He’s around 25 [years old] when we meet him and he’s been able in his short life to become a sort of Napoleonic figure and take over the Romulan Empire. I wanted an actor who had the vulnerability, neurosis and angst of a young man, and yet had the presence and authority to make it credible that he could be the Praetor, the boss of this Empire. And I also needed someone who could act in a fashion that he could go head to head with Patrick Stewart, who’s no mean actor himself. So it was a tall order.

“We spent a lot of time looking for an actor who had all those qualities and could also look like Patrick Stewart – who has a very particular look – without a lot of prosthetics. And I think we found all those characteristics in Tom Hardy. He has a great deal of sex appeal too, which is hugely important.”

One of Star Trek Nemesis’ main themes concerns Picard’s attempts to show Shinzon the error of his ways and make him abandon his plans to destroy the Federation. “Shinzon is him,” points out Baird. “He’s his darker side. The question [Picard asks himself] is, ‘Could I have gone on his path had I lived his life?’ And part of Picard believes maybe he could have done. Picard’s asking himself that, and he knows there’s sort of a darker side to him that he’s trying to quell.

“That’s part of the Star Trek story I believe: the idea that humans have it within their own free will to decide to be good or to be bad. And Picard can’t believe he can’t drag this kid – his younger self – back from the abyss. That’s the struggle that goes on between them. It’s rather like a Rebel Without a Cause-type story, but set in Star Trek space... It’s really a ‘man and his son’ struggle.”

Picard’s struggle with Shinzon is mirrored by Data’s quest to teach B-4 how to fulfil his own potential. “There’s a corresponding or parallel story going on about the android they discover,” confirms Baird. “Data so wants to have a family of his own in a sense, and that culminates in a very poignant and touching scene.”

Principal photography on Star Trek Nemesis took place between 26 November 2001 and 7 March 2002 at Paramount Pictures’ Hollywood lot and on location in California’s Mojave Desert. Baird reports that he had a “very, very good time” making the film, and says that he was given “total freedom” in the way he shot the script. He also makes it clear that he enjoyed working with the film’s cast, and insists he had no problems directing the Next Generation actors in their longstanding roles.

“The Enterprise characters are set, and the actors know their characters,” he explains. “But within the structure of the story they were totally open to direction, given that they were responding to what was happening in this script; this plot. So I had a lovely time getting their performances. I think they believed I understood the story and how to tell it.”

Nemesis’ major set-pieces include an early sequence in which Captain Picard drives a 24th century off-road vehicle known as an Argo and becomes involved in a pursuit with alien bandits. “That’s a fun piece,” says Baird. “I expanded that action beat at the beginning of the movie. I made it a fun piece to begin with – Picard’s like a man who’s 50 years old and has just bought his first Porsche. And then it turns dark and becomes this glorified car chase, and there’s a wonderful escape from it. It’s a fun action piece which gives the audience a taste of what’s to come in terms of action.”

Naturally, the bulk of the film’s action comes during its climax, which encompasses both an epic shoot-out between the Enterprise and Shinzon’s vessel, the Scimitar, and a Reman invasion of the Enterprise. “There’s a huge space battle at the end and a shoot-out between Riker and the Viceroy,” notes Baird. “There’s a lot of action. And there’s huge drama – there’s a decompression sequence.”

Yet despite the film’s high quota of action sequences, Baird points to the first meeting between Picard and Shinzon as his favourite scene in the movie. And he’s quick to make it clear that he always strove to ensure that Star Trek Nemesis was more than just a mindless action film.

“I like to think I’m a good storyteller,” he states. “I want to entertain the audience in all sorts of ways, not just with action but with the style or nature of the narrative. Action beats and flashy cutting doesn’t stand up if you haven’t got a story well told.”

Final Verdict

Baird completed his cut of Star Trek Nemesis in early September, and is personally thrilled with the finished product. “It looks very big,” he enthuses. “These Star Trek movies have very tight budgets, so I think people will be surprised at the scale of the picture. I think the cast has done a great job. Jerry Goldsmith has done an excellent score and Digital Domain has done an excellent job on the visual effects. I think everybody has done really well.

“I’ve given it my best shot,” he states firmly. “I’ve made the best possible picture I can with the resources I was given. I’m proud of what I’ve done, and I think it’s going to surprise a lot of people as a Star Trek picture.”

Star Trek Nemesis has been promoted as the “final journey” of the Next Generation cast, and Baird promises that if it really is Captain Picard and crew’s swansong, they’re “going but with a bang.” If, however, the film is a smash-hit at the box office, Baird predicts that the Starship Enterprise could embark on another big-screen adventure. And he certainly would be open to directing Star Trek XI, or for that matter any other Star Trek spin-off.

“It would depend on the script,” he clarifies. “The script is the heart and soul of the movie, so that’s what interests me. If I liked the script, yeah, I’d be interested. We’ll just have to see how well this does.”

With his work on Nemesis effectively over, Baird is currently “talking about” various possible new projects away from the Star Trek universe. He clearly enjoyed his foray into the final frontier, though, and is keen to see how cinemagoers respond to Star Trek Nemesis.

“My greatest wish is that the fans will love this movie,” he declares. “I hope the fans will want to see it several times, because it’s got so much in it for them. I really don’t want to disappoint any of the fans. Even though I’m not a Trekkie myself, I respect all those people who have loved the characters all these years.

“I also hope Nemesis will open the door for other people who may not be interested in a Star Trek movie. I hope they say, ‘Well, this sounds like a good movie. Let’s go and see it and enjoy it as a movie in its own right!’”

This interview was originally published in Dreamwatch Issue 99 (December 2002).