"The Offspring," will Data be the last of his kind in Trek Lit?

[rahullak]

I dislike jumping into the middle of an argument, but I am in agreement with Christopher and JD here. The actor is a part of the creative process of shaping the character s/he plays. S/he should have a say, since it is s/he who is presenting themselves onscreen. If there are certain aspects that an actor does not like about the portrayal of not only the character but also of themselves, certainly they have a right to refuse or change it.

I thought I would mention that there are some instances, fewer though they maybe than the norm, where actors (or indeed anyone else) cannot really shape the future of a character. Movie adaptations of books such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings come to mind. The book is the bible, so to speak. The actors in these cases probably provide inputs on how the character is portrayed and perhaps may refuse to do certain scenes or ask for certain portrayals not mentioned in the books.

In the end, a motion picture production is a creative work that requires the assent and inputs of all the major players involved: and an actor is certainly a major player when it comes to the portrayal and evolution of the character onscreen.

 

[JD]

But lets look at this for what it is. It is a job. Spiner gets paid.

While that is baisically right, it tends to be alot more complicated than that for the actual actor. While it is baisically a job, it take alot more of the actors life than just a 9 to 5 job like most people have. One of the best examples of this would be Heath Ledger, from one what I've heard one of the biggest factors in his death was the impact that playing The Joker had on him.
I'm sorry about getting snippy with you, I really don't you're trying to be rude. You just need to understand that acting is much more complicated than most jobs.

 

[Christopher]

Besides, the writers and producers are doing a paid job as well, so pointing out that Spiner did a paid job has exactly nothing to do with whether he had the "right" to participate in decisions about his character. And since he actually was one of the credited writers on Nemesis, he had as much say in that decision as the other behind-the-camera creative talent, who also got paid for doing their jobs.