"As a writer, you have control of the words you put on the page. But once that manuscript leaves your hand, you give control to the reader. As a director, you are limited by everything: weather, budget, and egos." -- Nicholas Meyer
Nicholas Meyer (born December 24, 1945 in New York City, New York) is an American film writer, producer, director and novelist best known for his best-selling novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, and for directing the films Time After Time, two of the Star Trek motion picture series, and the landmark 1983 TV-Movie The Day After.
Meyer graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in theater and filmmaking.
"A screenplay is not a finished product; a novel is. A screenplay is a blueprint for something - for a building that will most likely never be built.""Art doesn't just happen by accident. It is about pulling out new tricks and trying new things.""I was always a filmmaker before I was anything else. If I was always anything, I was a storyteller, and it never really made much of a difference to me what medium I worked in.""Schools and libraries are the twin cornerstones of a civilized society. Libraries are only good if people use them, like books only exist when someone reads them.""The director is a bit analogous to the conductor of a symphony orchestra. It's a collaborative adventure."
Meyer first gained public attention for his Best Selling 1974 Sherlock Holmes novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, a story of Holmes confronting his cocaine addiction with the help of Sigmund Freud. Meyer followed this with two additional Holmes novels: The West End Horror (1976), and then The Canary Trainer (1993).
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, was made into a 1977 film directed by Herbert Ross, for which Meyer wrote the screenplay, and for which he was nominated for an Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for adapting his own novel to the screen.
Intrigued by the first part of college chum Karl Alexander's then-incomplete novel Time After Time, Meyer optioned the book and adapted it into a screenplay of the same name, consenting to sell the script only if he were attached as director. The package was optioned by Warner Brothers, and the film was Meyer's director debut. Meyer freely allowed Alexander to borrow from the screenplay and the novel saw print at roughly the same time the movie was released.
At the behest of then Paramount executive Karen Moore, Meyer was brought in to direct The Wrath of Khan.
Meyer followed this by directing the landmark 1983 made-for-TV movie The Day After, for which he was nominated for a Best Director Emmy Award. The film depicts a nuclear attack on the United States. Meyer had decided not to do any TV work, but changed his mind after reading the script. Meyer made an addition foray in television following The Day After, directing The Pied Piper of Hamelin episode of "Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre".
He returned to directing theatrical films with Volunteers (1985), The Deceivers (1988), Company Business (1991) and The Undiscovered Country (1991). Meyer has written, directed, produced, and otherwise contributed to numerous films.
In recent years Meyer adapted the Philip Roth novel The Human Stain for the 2003 film of the same name. In 2006, he teamed up with Martin Scorsese to write the screenplay for Scorsese's adaptation of the Edmund Morris Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Theodore Roosevelt, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. The story traces the early life of Roosevelt, originally a weak and asthematic young boy born to privilege but dedicated to personal achievement, political reform, and the heroic ideal.
Meyer, along with writer/producer Harve Bennett, is one of two people credited with revitalizing and perhaps saving the Star Trek franchise after the problems of the first film, The Motion Picture, almost caused Paramount Pictures to end the series. Paramount had been unhappy with the creative direction of the first film, as well as the cost overruns and production problems. However the film was also a huge box office success, and they wanted a sequel. Bennett, a reliable television producer was brought in to help get the films back on track.
Introduced to Bennett by Paramount executive Karen Moore, Meyer was brought in as a potential director for The Wrath of Khan. Due to problems with the early drafts of the script, with which no one had yet been happy, he almost immediately became involved in re-writing the film's screenplay. After meeting with Bennett and other members of the cast and crew regarding the script, Meyer impressed Trek's actors and producers by delivering a superior draft of the script in only twelve days. The draft had to be completed so quickly, in fact, that Meyer agreed to forgo the negotiation of a contract or credit for his writing in order to begin work on the script immediately. This is why he is uncredited as a writer on the final film.
Meyer went on to direct the film, adding stylistic touches, such as a Naval feel. Meyer and Bennett together created a film that was engaging while also reducing costs and avoiding the production fiascoes of the first film. The Wrath of Khan went on to be a success at the box office, grossing $78 million in the domestic market, and is considered by many to be the best Star Trek film to date.
Meyer subsequently went on to co-write the screenplay for the fourth Star Trek film, The Voyage Home along with Bennett. For that film, Bennett wrote the first and fourth acts which center on the action in the 23rd century and Meyer wrote the second and third acts which take place in 1986 San Francisco. Meyer has stated that one of the most enjoyable aspects of working on this film was getting the chance to re-use elements that he had been forced to discard from his earlier film, Time After Time. Star Trek IV proved to be a box office success, Star Trek Movies notable for achieving mainstream crossover success, winning praise from general moviegoers as well as science fiction and Star Trek devotees.
Meyer returned to the Star Trek franchise for the sixth film in the series, The Undiscovered Country (1991). He developed the story with Leonard Nimoy and co-wrote the screenplay with long-term friend and assistant Denny Flinn. He directed the picture, which was the final film to feature the entire classic Star Trek cast. This film was again a success at the box office, grossing $74 million in the domestic market.
