Zachary Quinto has always enjoyed playing villains, including a brain-eating serial killer in Heroes, a deranged doctor in American Horror Story: Asylum, and a child kidnapper in NOS4A2.
But in the new NBC medical drama “Brilliant Minds,” premiering Monday, the Emmy-nominated actor, who broke out as Spock on “Star Trek,” gets to play a different kind of brooding mastermind – a modern-day character inspired by the life and books of Dr. Oliver Sacks, the late British neurologist and author whom The New York Times once described as “Harry Potter and the sanctuary of medicine.”
In the new series, created by Michael Grassi (“Riverdale,” “Supergirl”), Quinto plays Dr. Oliver Wolf: an iconoclastic, larger-than-life neurologist who, after being fired from another institution for his unorthodox way of treating patients, agrees to take a job at Bronx General Hospital. As they explore the wonders of the human mind, Dr. Wolf and his team of young interns must grapple with their own mental health. Like Sacks, Quinto’s protagonist rides a motorcycle, loves ferns and swimming in the rivers of New York City, and suffers from prosopagnosia, or face blindness. (Sacks’ middle name was also Wolf.)
“I’m playing a character that is essentially based on a real person, but I don’t have to adhere to any of the person’s time constraints, idiosyncrasies or behaviors,” Quinto told NBC News. “I get to delve into all of the source material and the rich history of Oliver Sacks’ life and then use it as inspiration for a fictional character that we’ve created for our show, and make it more accessible and relatable to the audience.”
Sacks’ 1973 book Awakenings, in which he describes his experiences treating patients who had encephalitis and looked like statues, was made into a 1990 film with Robin Williams playing Sacks. But after executive producer Greg Berlanti approached him about adapting Sacks’ books The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist on Mars, Grassi was keen to create a prime-time medical drama centered on an openly gay character – and actor.
Grassi wrote the role specifically for Quinto. “It’s nice to see Zach tackle something he’s never done before – playing this hero, this doctor who leads with empathy, is really new and exciting for him,” said Grassi, who is also gay.
Quinto had just made his West End debut in a play about the political debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. Although he did not know much about Sacks, who was known for his ability to uphold the dignity of patients with largely incurable ailments, Quinto was drawn to the “deep soul of the man” in the character created by Grassi.
But unlike Sacks, who lived in self-imposed abstinence for 35 years before finding a partner and coming out later in life, the creative team wasn’t interested in a similarly emotionally closed-off main character, Grassi says.
“Dr. Wolf is so focused on making sure his patients have a fulfilling life on the show that he completely neglects his own life,” Grassi said. “A big part of the story this season is how Dr. Wolf starts living his life, and what that might look like romantically is an interesting question as well.”
“Brilliant Minds” also reunites Quinto with Teddy Sears, who played his husband in the first season of Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story.” Sears plays Dr. Josh Nichols, a gay, former military neurosurgeon whose clinical and demanding manner often clashes with Dr. Wolf’s more compassionate approach to treating his patients.
“Oliver Wolf and Josh Nichols don’t necessarily get off to the best start, but they both find something fascinating about each other,” Quinto said, suggesting that the initial animosity between the characters may be based on very different feelings.
Playing an openly gay lead on television is a particularly significant milestone for Quinto, who has become one of the most well-known actors in Hollywood since coming out publicly in 2011. Looking back, Quinto says he doesn’t know how different his career would have been if he hadn’t decided to come out, but he doesn’t think coming out hindered or held him back in any way. He’d rather not waste time thinking about it.
“I don’t know what made me so confident, especially back in 2011,” Quinto admitted, reflecting on his decision to come out on his own terms — without anyone else knowing — in a profile for New York Magazine. “I think part of it was that it took me so many years of internal conflict to get there. Once I accepted the truth for myself, the kind of precarious navigation of how to maintain a relationship with my career and my authentic self … I think all of that combined brought me to a place where I was just ready.”
The experience of starring in a New York revival of “Angels in America” in 2010 had forced Quinto, who had already come out to his closest family and friends, to wrestle with the decision to speak publicly about his sexuality. (He didn’t.) While on the media tour for his film “Margin Call” a year later, Quinto heard of the suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer — an LGBTQ teenager who, like Quinto, had recently filmed a video for the It Gets Better Project. Quinto was stunned to learn of Rodemeyer’s death and said he was forced to confront his own hypocrisy.
“I felt like I could no longer carry the burden of inequality between this privileged and charmed life at the time and these young people who were killing themselves,” Quinto explained. He knew how much it would have meant to his younger self to see an openly gay actor. “If I could make a difference in anyone’s life, I had to go in that direction. It wasn’t about concealing the truth or hiding to advance my career. So if it was going to have a negative impact on my career at that point, so be it. That really wasn’t a consideration I wanted to let hold me back at that point.”
In the decade since he came out publicly, Quinto has admired the evolution of LGBTQ representation, but acknowledged that there is still much work to be done. “I think the broadening of the spectrum of stories we’re telling now and the people who have had opportunities in the last five to 10 years that they never would have had before is really extraordinary,” he said.
But with the presidential election looming, Quinto believes the LGBTQ community is “fighting for our lives.” Having recently attended the Democratic National Convention this election cycle, the actor wants to encourage everyone – but especially members of the queer community – to get politically active.
Quinto, who campaigned for President Barack Obama in both presidential elections, said he will vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
“Given the options before us and how each of those options impacts our community in particular, there is only one path we can take to preserve the hard-fought and substantial progress we have made politically in our community over the past decade,” he said.
Since the release of Star Trek Beyond in 2016, Quinto and his colleagues have expressed a desire to return to the Enterprise, but future sequels have yet to be announced. Quinto said he would still be “more than happy” to reprise his version of Spock, adding that his time on the franchise played an important role in his personal and professional development, but that he also no longer has “any attachment whatsoever” to the character.
While filming his Star Trek films, Quinto developed a close relationship with Leonard Nimoy – the actor who originated the role of Spock and personally chose Quinto to portray his younger self – whom Quinto considered a formidable father figure. After Nimoy’s death in 2015, Quinto maintained his friendship with Nimoy’s widow, Susan Bay Nimoy, even casting her as an 80-year-old nymphomaniac patient in the upcoming eighth episode of Brilliant Minds.
“I’m so grateful that the legacy of storytelling with Leonard’s loved ones lives on,” Quinto said with a loving smile. “The legacy of storytelling with him, my connection to him and the fact that he’s a part of this show is really, really moving and meaningful to me.”
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