Zachary Quinto is at ease as he waits for Star Trek into Darkness to release. Trek fans may be nervous though, as Quinto promises that the sequel will be “darker, bigger,” with “more at stake for everyone.” Expect “more action, more peril and there’s more at stake.” Quinto has “never felt any pressure” from being [...] More...
"More at stake"? Nero destroyed Vulcan and threatened to do the same to Earth and "every Federation planet." How much bigger can the stakes get?
Why would Quinto be nervous or stressed? He's an actor, not a fan. He shows up to set, says his lines, collects his paycheck. Other than royalties or the likelihood of future movies, I highly doubt that most actors are ever stressed before, during, or after the movie is released.
Source? I've never once heard of a case of this. I'll freely admit that I may be wrong, but I'd be interest to hear of cases where this has happened. There may be stress during the actual production, where the actor has to perform, but after it's completed out of his/her control, why would it cause stress?
Maybe because they're proud of their hard work and are anxious to see if it will do well in the eyes of the general movie going audience and a bunch of crazy internet people. And because their career, their future, depends on the success of their projects. Just a shot in the dark here.
Because how much they are worth on their future movies (and how many offers of parts they get) is based upon how well a movie does.
When I worked at places where I got annual performance reviews, I often felt stress in anticipation thereof, especially if I hadn't had a particularly good year. It was much less stressful when bosses and coworkers were raving about my work and I knew the review would be good. Therefore I would guess that the stress an actor feels about a film's impending release would be inversely related to the confidence they feel about their performance. Maybe Quinto's "no stress" comment means he feels confident that he turned in a really good performance and that it will be a really good movie.
A few weeks ago Quinto made a similarly calm and detached statement, and there was frantic speculation that he was unhappy with the role/the production, that he didn't care any more, and that he wouldn't be returning to Star Trek. I'm inclined to think Captrek is probably right, and that Quinto does have a lot of confidence in his performance and in the production, and that he isn't overly stressed about it at this point. Either that, or he's just really good at compartmentalizing.
The interviewer, journalism student Shannon O'Connor, seemed to switch gears in the middle of the question. It was: I think he interpreted the question based on the first part as a reference only to playing Spock, so he couched some of his response in the light that he feels no pressure to peform up to any standard set in the first movie. He then speaks to the broader point of the entire movie, saying that he's excited to get the movie out there, and he feels no pressure about it now because it's out of his hands, and he belives the production people are talented enough to trust them. He does say he feels people won't be disappointed. Feeling stress isn't the same as being nervous. I think if he'd have been asked about being at all nervous about the reception of the movie and said, "No," I'd be skeptical and raise an eyebrow. Who doesn't feel butterflies?
You don't get out enough. Or read enough interviews. Of course wondering how a potential audience will like your work causes stress. Actors in a long-running stage production and stand-up comedians can (and do) tweak their performances every night, depending on how previous audiences have reacted to their delivery. With a motion picture, the actor does the work, trusting only in the script, director and fellow actors - and is at the mercy of the editing room - right up until opening night. But there is no chance to tweak the performance. Sometimes movies bomb, taking an actor's career with it. Sometimes a entire role gets left on the cutting room floor, eg. Victor Garber's Klingon in "Star Trek" (2009). Sometimes an actors two lines of dialogue gets left out at the last minute, and not restored until TV editions or Director's editions, eg. Billy Van Zandt's bridge alien in ST:TMP; Wil Wheaton's scenes in "Nemesis". Or an onscreen credit is negotiated away by an agent who says, "Trust me, 'The Phoenix' will make you a huge star!", eg. Judson Scott in ST II. Sometimes an actor gets replaced in the sequel, eg. Kirstie Alley not in ST III. Or forgotten forever, eg. Katherine Blum's Vulcan girl in ST III. Sometimes an actor gets typecast, forever limiting their range. Plenty to stress about.
And now it pretty much is the last thread all over again. http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?p=7272820#post7272820
Thank you for the (mostly) non-snarky response to my honest question. I think by the fact that I don't sit around reading interviews all day shows that I do get out plenty I guess my issue was with the word "stress," I would hardly consider these situations stressful any more than any non-acting job (much less so in many cases) and even then I would consider it more of a healthy urge to do your best / succeed than the standard concept of stress. But, enough on semantics, thanks for the response and helpful discussion!