Nicholas Meyer was born on December 24, 1945 in New York City, and is probably best known for his involvement in the Star Trek films. According to his website, it was seeing his first movie The Beggar's Opera (1953) that inspired him to become a filmmaker. He was fascinated by such literary classics as Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" ...
Academy Award for Best Writing Adapted Screenplay, Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Drama...
Movies
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Time After Time, The Day After, Company Business, Elegy, The Human Stain, The Deceivers, The Prince of Egypt, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Sommersby, Vendetta, Invasion of the Bee Girls, The Hesse...
TV Shows
Medici: Masters of Florence
Star Sign
Capricorn
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Quote
1
[on the Star Trek villains] The best villains are the ones that you can understand. And the really great villains are the ones that you root for. One of us is gonna live and one of us is gonna die. And it doesn't really matter what anyone's motives are at that point. It's just Darwin.
2
[on the difference between an actor and a movie star] An actor is someone who pretends to be somebody else. A movie star is somebody who pretends that somebody else is them. Actors will change their face, will change their hair, will change their voice, will disappear into the role. A movie star doesn't disappear.
3
[on Time After Time (1979)] One of my original conceptual things about the Ripper was that of an exceedingly handsome, elegant man. Wells, next to him, was a runt who wore glasses, and so forth. The Ripper had an image of tremendous power and potency, not just as a menace, but as an attractive, seductive human being. What was it that women went for him?
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Fact
1
Currently resides in Pacific Palisades, California.
Originally suggested Derek Jacobi and Mick Jagger for the roles of (respectively) H.G. Wells and Jack the Ripper in his first film Time After Time (1979). He was persuaded to use Malcolm McDowell and David Warner instead, but got his way when he insisted on hiring Miklos Rozsa to compose the music.
4
Credits his success at writing the Star Trek films with his near-ignorance of the original series. Despite heated disputes with creator Gene Roddenberry, Meyer stuck to his vision of a more nautical-style Starfleet, and is widely credited, along with Harve Bennett with reinvigorating the franchise.
5
Following disputes with network censors over the amount of violence in the miniseries The Day After (1983), Meyer vowed to never work in the medium of television again.
His novel "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution", teaming Sherlock Holmes with Sigmund Freud, hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, remaining on it for 40 weeks.
8
His shooting script for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) was subtitled "The Undiscovered Country", which was what William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" called death. This was a metaphor for Spock, who dies in that film. The film was ultimately renamed "The Wrath of Khan" by Paramount executives. When he was signed on to help create Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), he again used the subtitle, but this time it was a metaphor for future peace between two warring galactic superpowers, loosely based on the end of the cold war unfolding at the time.
9
Received his Bachelor's degree in theater and filmmaking from the University of Iowa (1968).
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Star Trek: Discovery
2017
TV Series written by - 1 episode pre-production
Medici: Masters of Florence
TV Series 7 episodes, 2016 created by - 1 episode, 2016 screenplay - 1 episode, 2016 story - 1 episode, 2016
Crossing Lines
2015
TV Series 1 episode
Houdini
2014
TV Mini-Series written by - 2 episodes
The Hessen Conspiracy
2009
writer
Elegy
2008/I
screenplay
Orpheus
2006
TV Movie
The Human Stain
2003
screenplay
Fall from the Sky
2002
TV Movie
The Prince of Egypt
1998
additional screenplay material
The Informant
1997
screenplay
Voices
1995
written by
Sommersby
1993
screenplay / story
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
1991
screenplay
Company Business
1991
written by
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
1986
screenplay
Faerie Tale Theatre
1985
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
1982
screenplay - uncredited
Time After Time
1979
screenplay
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
1976
novel
The Night That Panicked America
1975
TV Movie story / teleplay
Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders
1974
TV Movie teleplay
Invasion of the Bee Girls
1973
written by
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Star Trek: Discovery
2017
TV Series consulting producer - 2 episodes pre-production
Crossing Lines
2015
TV Series consulting producer - 6 episodes
Embracing Chaos: Making the African Queen
2010
Video documentary producer
Orpheus
2006
TV Movie executive producer
Collateral Damage
2002
executive producer
The Informant
1997
executive producer
The Odyssey
1997
TV Series executive producer - 2 episodes
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Vendetta
1999
TV Movie
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
1991
Company Business
1991
The Deceivers
1988
Volunteers
1985
Faerie Tale Theatre
1985
TV Series 1 episode
The Day After
1983
TV Movie
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
1982
Time After Time
1979
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Awaken the Giant
2004
Short
Big Time Producer
Mae West
1982
TV Movie
George Raft
Visual Effects
Title
Year
Status
Character
What You Get
2012
Short visual effects artist
Composer
Title
Year
Status
Character
NRIs: Non Resident Indians
2012
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Collateral Damage
2002
script revisions - uncredited
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Joburg
2007
Short thanks
Sister Mary Explains It All
2001
TV Movie special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Resurrecting Doug Dunning
Documentary post-production
Star Trek: The Journey to the Silver Screen
2016
Documentary
Himself
50 Years of Star Trek
2016
TV Movie
Himself - Director of Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan
The Genesis Effect : Engineering the Wrath of Khan
2016
Documentary short
Himself
For the Love of Spock
2016
Documentary
Himself
The Real History of Science Fiction
2014
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
Timeshift
2014
TV Series documentary
Himself - Author, 'The Seven-Per-Cent Solution'
The '80s: The Decade That Made Us
2013
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
Embracing Chaos: Making the African Queen
2010
Video documentary
Himself
Doctor Zhivago: A Celebration
2010
Video documentary short
Himself
Villains of 'Star Trek'
2009
Video documentary short
Himself
A Tribute to Ricardo Montalban
2009
Video short
Himself
Star Trek: Three Picture Saga
2009
Video documentary short
Himself - Writer / Director
Dalton Trumbo: From A-List to Blacklist
2008
Video documentary short
Himself
Stalag 17: From Reality to Screen
2006
Documentary short
Himself
H.G. Wells: The Father of Science Fiction
2005
Video documentary short
Himself
The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz
2005
Video documentary
Himself
Making 'Murder on the Orient Express'
2004
Video documentary
Himself
The Perils of Peacemaking
2003
Video documentary short
Forever Fatal: Remembering 'Fatal Attraction'
2002
Video documentary short
Himself
Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special
1991
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Ken Adam - Production Designer
1990
Himself
Apropos Film
1983
TV Series documentary
Himself
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2008
Time-Machine Honorary Award
Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival
1999
Literary Award
PEN Center USA West Literary Awards
Teleplay
The Informant (1997)
1994
Spur Award
Western Writers of America
Best Motion Picture Script
Sommersby (1993)
1984
George Pal Memorial Award
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
1983
Saturn Award
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
Best Director
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
1980
Saturn Award
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
Best Writing
Time After Time (1979)
1980
Grand Prize
Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival
Time After Time (1979)
1980
Antennae II Award
Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival
Time After Time (1979)
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2015
WGA Award (TV)
Writers Guild of America, USA
Adapted Long Form
Houdini (2014)
2008
Satellite Award
Satellite Awards
Best Screenplay, Adapted
Elegy (2008)
1997
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Miniseries
The Odyssey (1997)
1993
Saturn Award
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
Best Writing
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
1992
Hugo
Hugo Awards
Best Dramatic Presentation
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
1987
Saturn Award
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
Best Writing
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
1987
Hugo
Hugo Awards
Best Dramatic Presentation
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
1985
ACE
CableACE Awards
Writing a Dramatic Series
Faerie Tale Theatre (1982)
1984
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Directing in a Limited Series or a Special
The Day After (1983)
1983
Hugo
Hugo Awards
Best Dramatic Presentation
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
1980
Saturn Award
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
Best Director
Time After Time (1979)
1980
Edgar
Edgar Allan Poe Awards
Best Motion Picture
Time After Time (1979)
1980
Hugo
Hugo Awards
Best Dramatic Presentation
Time After Time (1979)
1977
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)
1977
WGA Award (Screen)
Writers Guild of America, USA
Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)
1976
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Writing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy - Original Teleplay
The Night That Panicked America (1975)
1975
Edgar
Edgar Allan Poe Awards
Best Television Feature or Miniseries
Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders (1974)
Known for movies
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) as Writer
$18 Million
