Leonard Nimoy (Spock) told a newspaper reporter that the has the contractual right to approve any other actor cast to play Spock in the Star Trek franchise.

Speaking to The Toronto Star, Nimoy responded to a question about whom he might like to see cast as young Spock if, in fact, the J.J. Abrams prequel film focuses on that character by saying, "I haven't gone there yet. I think it's premature. Although I do, by contract, have the right to approve the casting."

Nimoy and William Shatner (Kirk) both claimed to be out of the loop when it came to current Star Trek film development and said they had read the same stories that are widely circulating in the news. "All I know is what I've been reading, probably the same as you, that [Abrams] has been engaged and expressed interest in a Star Trek movie, and the idea expressed so far is that it would be a prequel that would deal with the time and place where Spock and Kirk first met in their academy days," explained Nimoy,

Shatner - who did not win a second consecutive Emmy Award for Boston Legal last night, though the show picked up a few awards, including Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing For A Series and Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series for Christian Clemenson, the award Shatner first won for playing Denny Crane on The Practice - said he had no idea precisely what was being discussed for the Abrams film. "All I know is I've received an okay from Paramount to go ahead with a series of books that I'm writing on the young Captain Kirk and the young Mr. Spock. I started work on that just recently. And that will be my idea of what the story should be...the troubled adolescence of Spock and Kirk lead[ing] them to a series of adventures that make us conclude that they will become the wonderful people that they did become."

Shatner and Nimoy both said that they enjoying making convention appearances together in public, as they will do in Toronto at Sunday's Fan Expo Canada event. "I enjoy teasing him in public," said Nimoy, who recently appeared via videotape on the roast of Shatner for Comedy Central.

"I enjoy his company very much," Shatner said of his longtime co-star. "He's very funny on stage and we seem to balance each other very well." Shatner called appearances at conventions "an exercise in improvisational entertainment" and said that it was interesting for him to speak to fans of Star Trek: "Many times I can see the growth that people have made from pure curiosity about Star Trek to other subjects."

The original article is here. Shatner spoke to Canada's Globe and Mail as well about Star Trek and Boston Legal. The Signal reports that Nimoy will appear at Santa Clarita's Congregation Beth Shalom on October 21st to present a multimedia show, See What I See: Shekhina.

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