Ricardo Montalban, who played the villainous Khan in 1982s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, told an appreciative audience in Los Angeles that it took him and director Nicholas Meyer a while to uncover his now-famous operatic performance. Montalban and Meyer spoke at a screening at Paramount Pictures of a new directors edition of the film, which will come out on DVD on Aug. 6."The function of a director is to be a loving eye for the actor, to help him give the best performance he is capable of giving," Montalban said after receiving a standing ovation. "Well, I never had a more loving eye from a director than I did from ... Nicholas Meyer. He was extraordinary. ... I was ... at the end of the sixth season of Fantasy Island. ... During my hiatus, I was presented with this script. ... The shock of my life was that after six years of doing Mr. Roarke of Fantasy Island?a controlled man, you know, he was in charge of the island, and so forth? ... the first time that I began to say the words out loud, ... I sounded like Mr. Roarke. ... And I thought the public is going to laugh me off the screen. ... I was so nervous."
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2002-08/02/13.00.film
