This is interesting:
GustavoLeao, the guy who posted the initial seemingly trumped-up, out-of-context comment from Quinto on Trekweb.com and started the rumour, recieved a letter from the Trek "Supreme Court" critizing him for posting "certain spoilers" regarding the new movie. Apparently the rumour of Quinto leaving caused "a lot of problems at Bad Robot"
So maybe there's more to this than we thought??
Link to Trekweb.com thread here.
It's not the "reporting" that's the problem. Perhaps when they do renegotiate these contracts, they should add a clause that muzzles the actors from saying or hinting at certain things, especially right before the promotion of an upcoming film.
My advice to the people in charge: Take whatever you have left in the budget, after special effects and whatnot, and hire a
PR coach that can type up a "party line" and then send that memo to everyone involved. That is, unless you enjoy all of this, and the actors making some of these statements is staged (I mean, mentioning Spock (of all characters) in an interview about playing serial killers sticks out like a sore thumb--Who wouldn't know that?). Either way, if S/U are staying together, I'd prefer that the actors at least
seem optimistic that people might like these films, instead of the subtle hints and clues that the film is bad and making it was an unpleasant process. I'm not saying don't release a tell-all exclusive when it's time for the DVD to come out, but dropping these hints (unintentional or otherwise) before the sneek-peek/trailer and movie?
Basically, and purely from a promotional standpoint, whoever is in charge needs to call a time-out, have the team huddle, and start calling the plays. That would be better than sending out slaps to the typing hands of reporters (although, Mr. Leao seemed to like it).