Re: Star Trek: Dirty Laundry (Truth and Rumors)
Apparently, it was George Takei who pushed for Sulu to be a Captain in TUC, William Shatner claims he was only against the idea, because it would mean less screen time for Takei if all the action was taking place aboard the Enterprise, who knows, but this is just another footnote in the feud between these two
I've read a lot of the books the actors have written, and Takei's states that the promotion to captain for Sulu had been written in the script for TWOK, and was even attempted to be filmed -- but that Shatner kept giving such a shitty, monotone performance, rushing through it, that Meyer got disgusted and abandoned the whole idea.
Hence, when he came back to direct Star Trek VI, he made sure to start the flick off with just such: Captain Sulu.
The Kim Cattrall nude photos, I believe Nimoy himself confirms such in "I Am Spock" or Shatner does in "Movie Memories" -- I can't recall. The reason he had them destroyed then was that he feared it would sully Star Trek's reputation, specifically, as she had posed for the photos in make-up (ears) and on the bridge set itself.
Here are some more "rumors" that have come from the books and convention stories and so on...
- Kirstie Alley was misinformed about how much other people got salary wise, so when TSFS came around, she asked for a sum of money that was twice what they paid DeForest Kelley. Which is why she walked when they refused and offered her much less.
- For the record, Kelley (according to his official biography) made $1 million for Star Trek V and VI, and I believe $750,000 for ST IV. He really put his foot down for the pay raise for STV, as he was getting older and wanted to make sure his wife was taken care of after he was gone. When the film flopped and ST VI came around, he was worried he would have to take less or fight for the same, but Nimoy as executive producer simply summarily decreed the same fee as last time.
- During contract negotiations for either Star Trek II or Star Trek III, Leonard Nimoy refused to sign on unless the "fab four" (Doohan, Takei, Keonig, Nichols) where each given their fair share of residuals from the TOS re-runs, which had not been part of their contracts back in the 60s.
All I can remember right now...