Nicholas Meyer

Today’s guest is Aaron Lipstadt, best known from the mid-80’s onwards as a director on popular TV shows like MIAMI VICE, QUANTUM LEAP, LAW & ORDER, CROSSING JORDAN, THE 4400, BOSCH or ELEMENTARY. As a producer/director, he also worked on shows like THE MARSHAL, THE DIVISION, MEDIUM and GRIMM.

In our interview, however, we go back to the beginning of Aaron’s career – to an independent little science-fiction gem called ANDROID, which came out in 1982 and was compared by film critic Roger Ebert to cult debut films like George Lucas’ THX 1138 and John Carpenter’s DARK STAR. ANDROID was produced by Roger Corman and starred Klaus Kinski as a mad scientist working on a life-like robot called Max. The android was played by Don Opper, who also co-wrote the screenplay and then, a few years later, became a cult figure as bounty hunter Charlie in the CRITTERS series. In our conversation, Aaron recalls how he learned the ropes at Roger Corman’s company and how ANDROID came together, he discusses working with Kinski, talks about the ideas and themes of the movie and much more. Aaron also discusses his follow-up film CITY LIMITS, a post-apocalyptic action picture that, as he says, almost killed his career – and he recalls how he became involved with television directing, starting with an episode of MIAMI VICE.

The interview was conducted in connection with our German-language podcast Lichtspielplatz, so if you speak German, please check out our episode #63, which features an in-depth discussion of ANDROID. Also, make sure to listen to my interview with Barry Opper, the producer of ANDROID and CRITTERS, which will be released shortly here on Talking Pictures.

So without any further ado, here’s Aaron Lipstadt!

The mp3 file can be downloaded HERE.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Lipstadt
Thanks to Dr. Wily, my Lichtspielplatz podcasting partner for audio editing. The music was created by Clark Kent.

Today’s guest is the amazing writer and director Nicholas Meyer. While Meyer is probably best known as the writer and director of the beloved sci-fi sequels STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY and also as the director of the sci-fi adventure TIME AFTER TIME and the devastating nuclear disaster TV movie THE DAY AFTER, our conversation revolves around his Sherlock Holmes stories. In 1974, Meyer published the bestselling novel THE SEVEN PER-CENT SOLUTION, presented as a rediscovered manuscript in which Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective meets Sigmund Freud in Vienna who cures him of his cocaine addiction. Meyer received an Academy Award nomination for adapting his book into a screenplay for the movie version directed by Herbert Ross, which was released in 1976 and starred Nicol Williamson, Robert Duvall, Alan Arkin, Vanessa Redgrave and Sir Laurence Olivier.

Meyer wrote four more Holmes novels in the following years, starting with THE WEST-END HORROR, in which Holmes and Watson solve a case in London’s theatre district and meet famous artists like George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker. In the third Holmes novel, THE CANARY TRAINER, Holmes works undercover as a violinist at the Paris Opera and crosses paths with Gaston Leroux’s famous Phantom of the Opera. More recently, Meyer wrote THE ADVENTURE OF THE PECULIAR PROTOCOLS, in which Holmes is on the trail of the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a vicious forgery which is supposed to document a Jewish plan for world domination. The fifth Holmes novel, THE RETURN OF THE PHARAOH, is set in Egypt and has an older Holmes working with archeologist Howard Carter on solving a mystery revolving around a previously undiscovered pharaoh’s tomb.

In our conversation, Nicholas Meyer discusses how he developed the ideas of his Holmes novels and how he found the connection between Arthur Conan Doyle and Sigmund Freud. He talks about the process of adapting the book for the film version of THE SEVEN PER-CENT SOLUTION and about his discussions with director Herbert Ross revolving around several changes. We also discuss the other Holmes novels and take a brief detour into Meyer’s STAR TREK movies. Meyer also explains why the job of a psychoanalyst is similar to that of a movie editor, and he shares a story that revolves around his take on the concept of originality.

The interview was conducted in connection with our German companion podcast Lichtspielplatz, so if you speak German, make sure to check out episode #57 which features an in-depth discussion of the film THE SEVEN PER-CENT SOLUTION and all five of Meyer’s Holmes novels.

So without any further ado, here’s the brillant Holmes to my ordinary Watson – Nicholas Meyer!

The mp3 file can be downloaded HERE.

Photo of Nicholas Meyer: Leslie Fram
Photo of Meyer books: Christian Genzel
Thanks to Dr. Wily, my Lichtspielplatz podcasting partner for audio editing. The music was created by Clark Kent.