From: tlouie@athena.mit.edu (Tom Louie)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.info
Subject: Brent Spiner at Marlborough MA Creation Convention
Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Date: 22 Jul 1992 20:04:04 GMT
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Distribution: world
Reply-To: tlouie@athena.mit.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: xcf.berkeley.edu
Originator: griffith@xcf.Berkeley.EDU


 
I was at the Creation Convention this weekend at Marlborough MA.  The
guest speaker was Brent Spiner, the actor who plays Data on Star Trek:
The Next Generation.  Spiner was refreshingly sarcastic and cynical at
times.  He wore wire frame glasses and casual clothes.  He chatted about
how he is rarely in the New England area.  Dozens of people in the room
started taking flash photos of him, and he got quite flustered.  He said
that everytime that he does a convention and people start taking
pictures like this, he feels like Elvis.  "The *young* Elvis," he
quickly added. :)
 
He quickly turned to questions from the audience.  Here are some more
memorable ones.  I've tried to be as accurate as possible, as I wasn't
taking notes.
 
Q: Can you do an impression right now?
A: I really can't just *do* an impression.  It just sort of happens
spontaneously.  I mean, one week, I'll be known around the set as Mr.
Lewis.  That's Jerry Lewis. [pause] The *old* Jerry Lewis.
 
Q: What have you learned from Data, and what has Data learned from you.
A: [exasperated look on face] What kind of question is that?  It's not
like I'm a schizophrenic.  [Faces left] "Data!" [Faces right, speaks in
a Data-like voice] "Yes, Brent?"  Data's learned nothing from me.
[Thoughtful pause]  I've actually learn quite a deal from playing Data.
I've learned for little you have to do to get your point across.  With
Data, I don't have to do much; the audience just fills in the rest.
 
Q: Do you find that people recognize you on the street?
A: There was this one time that I was in Londom having dinner with
Patrick.  We were in a very fancy restaurant and this dignified
gentleman and lady were on their way out.  As he passed me, he said [in
a British accent] "Oh, hello Mr. Data."  I was quite flattered.  Patrick
on the other hand exclaimed [holding his arm out, and said with a
frighteningly Patrick Stewart-like voice] "But what about *me*?"
 
Q: Of Data, Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes, whom do you feel resembles
you the most?
A: *Resembles* me the most? This [pointing to himself] resembles me the
most.  Data is nothing like me.  Shakespeare?  No, although I have
gotten up some mornings and said, "For soothe, for why am I so sad?"
 
Q: What was the funniest accident on the set?
A: There was this time when Jonathan was walking down the Horseshoe.  It
was too bad that the cameras weren't rolling, it was just a rehearsal.
Anyway, he was walking down the Horseshoe ramp when he went right
through one of the side walls.  It was great!  It was like a roadrunner
cartoon.  There was a hole in the wall in the shape of Jonathan!
 
Q: If you were offered a seventh season, who you do it?
A: It doesn't work like that.  If I don't do a forth season, it would be
for reasons other than them not paying me enough.
 
Q: Would Paramount get upset if you got a tan?
A: You'd think that all the makeup that they put on me, which is about
this thick, [he holds his fingers an inch apart] would cover any tan.
However, Michael Westmoore tells me that if I were to get a tan, it
would change the hue of my character's skin color.  Besides, the secret
to looking as good as I do at my age is to stay out of the sun!  You
should see Marina!  She's so dark now!  Which is going to be intersting
cause we start shooting the second part of the cliffhanger soon.  I
mean, you know how it is, you go through a temporal time-space
distortion and you come out all tan!
 
Q: Which was your favorite episode?
A: Episode of what? :) It would be any episode with Data in it! :)  My
favorite would have to be Measure of a Man.
 
Q: Have you had formal voice training? Dance lessons?  Mime lessons?
A: Yes, I have had formal voice training.  I took Tap Dancing when I was
about 16 when I had to tap dance in some role that I was doing in some
play.  In Data's Day, Gates choreographed the tap sequence that we did.
She's a tremendous dancer.  That was her that you saw dancing.  As for
me, I just winged it!  I did most of the dancing in that scene.  I did
some work as a mime for three months.  Never before in my life had I
felt such hate directed at me.  I vowed never again to put on a white
face.  Which is why I'm made up in this color now!
 
He was very amusing in person.  All in all, a very enjoyable day.
 
Tom

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