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(He expects hell work onthe upcomingPicardseriesandMichelle Yeoh spinoff, too.)
As Frakes willingly admits,Star Trekhas been very, very good to me.
You were a working actor for a decade when you landedThe Next Generationin 1987.
How did that lead to an interest in directing?I realized theres a lot of sitting around.
Im a little more active than that.
I had done a little directing theater in college, so it seemed like a logical progression.
To decide to direct?To learn another craft.
I learned a lot about lenses and that sort of stuff from the DP.
And then Rick Berman, who ranStar Trek, was generous enough to invite me into post-production.
My secret passion was to be a musician, so we would go to the scoring sessions.
I would get involved in pre-production.
I was at casting sessions, and the concept meetings, and production design.
I was so overprepared by the time they finally relented and gave me an episode to do.
Ive worked with a lot of directors who are all about designing shots.
Theyre either intimidated by actors, not interested in actors, or scared of actors.
But actors, were a very needy, creative breed.
We like to be watched, and cared for, and appreciated.
Some directors behave as if actors are sort of a necessary evil.
We would sing and dance and fuck around right up until a director called action.
We drove some directors mad.
He set such a high bar for preparation.
We all came to work in the morning completely prepared.
We knew our lines and had broken down the script.
But that didnt fly on our show.
So the freedom that that allowed us between takes was crazy-making for some other directors.
It drove them nuts.
You were that crazy?Really, we were wild.
Especially on the bridge when we were all together.
And so they were hysterical to direct, and they took the piss out of me.
But ultimately, they were incredibly supportive and appreciative and encouraging.
I could appreciate how hard we were on directors when I started to direct.
You were given some great scripts to direct onTNG.
I thought he was fucking with me.
Every acts the same!
It was a directing exercise, Cause and Effect.
That was a great script.
Offspring was a great script.
The Drumhead was a great script.
Toward the end ofThe Next Generation,Deep Space Ninestarts.
You directed a few episodes.
How did you transition to that show?Rick was the keeper of the flame of all thingsStar Trek.
He and I had become not only collaborators but friends.
I brought the shows in on time and on budget and we had a very productive working relationship.
I was happy to do as many as he would give me, frankly.
So I was in the rotation.
And then the objective became: How do I getoutofStar Trekand expand my resume to include other shows?
So, how did you do that?
Why were you so eager to get away fromTrek?Its such nepotism to do onlyStar Trek.
I didnt want to be that guy.
But you get pigeonholed as an actor, and you get pigeonholed as a director.
Sometimes you dont get the job because youre theStar Trekguy.
So you became a director to escape fromStar Trek.I was trying to expand what I was doing.
It was very clear that that was the best job ever.
But that was a great period in there.
For example, inFirst Contactwe built a city in the forest that gets bombed.
I dont remember who attacked us.
Do you remember this?
They blew up the city.
Plant some M-80s in the ground and some plants and trees will fly?
And he said, Frakes, were blowing up thetown.
They built a town and they blew the whole fucking town up.
That was when I realized I was on a movie and not on TV.
I believe you also developed a nickname.Two Takes Frakes is what they call me.
Because youre so efficient?Thats what its become.
If take one was great, I was ready to move on to coverage.
My line producer told me, You gotta print two takes.
But now I also have a reputation for shooting efficiently, so its carried over.
Its a great moniker, isnt it?
So you hadRoswell, you did the feature films.
What a great gig that was.
You were wonderful on that show.Those puns at the endBeyond Belief, Im sure you remember.
They were really corny.
The reason I was hired was to play myself as the host ofBeyond Belief.
Theyloved Beyond Belief, isnt that weird?
Its huge in Germany!
AfterInsurrection, you didnt return to directNemesis.
Why?I would have loved to have doneNemesis, but it seemed like, Really?
Thats all youre going to do, isStar Trekmovies?
Its glib to say now.
I wish I had doneNemesis.
But instead you directed a family movie calledClockstoppers.Clockstopperswas a success.
It was clearly a great idea, and I was surprised that it hadnt been done.
After that, you directed an adaptation ofThunderbirds.Thunderbirdsput me in movie jail.
Because it wasnt a success?Themoviewas a success.
I thought it was wonderful.
So what happened?The first three movies I had done had made money.
Then I had an agent who was pushing me for jobs.
So I met onThunderbirdsand they said, You have to move to London.
I talked to my wife Genie.
We had two babies.
It was an incredible place to live.
I was working at Pinewood Studios.
It was like a dream.
I was living a fucking dream.
It was a huge movie.
Sir Ben Kingsley was in the movie.
Bill Paxton was in the movie.
Did you ever seeThunderbirds?
The studio liked what they saw so much that they changed the release date.
So it opened oppositeShrekandSpider-Man.
Oh no.And it was reviewed badly.
That was really the bottom line.
The movie was not ready to compete withSpider-ManandShrek.
We were living in London on the dole from Universal.
My kids were in two different schools.
Our house in L.A. was rented.
So we moved back to this camp we had in Maine.
I licked my wounds and Genie opened a store.
I had to regroup a little bit.
What exactly does movie jail mean?Its exactly what it implies.
No one will return your calls.
On television, you might take a shit and nobody notices who directed it.
With that comes the responsibility and privilege of success.
Joy goes with that.
And therefore, failure.
When a movie fails as significantly asThunderbirdsdid, my name was taken off the lists.
I went from 60 to zero.
It was a wake-up for me.
I had been so positive, and so blessed, and so fortunate.
A few years later, you bounced back into directing TV.Burn Notice,NCIS.
Were you feeling okay about it?At that point, I couldnt have been happier.
One year, I did 11 shows.
You take a stab at settle in around eight.
What changed?Its not a good time to be an old white guy, is the reality.
But I cant count on anNCISor two the way I used to.
That used to be my bread and butter.
you’ve got the option to look at peoples resumes on IMDb, as you do.
If you see one episode of a show, it didnt go so well.
If you see four or five, you know he found a home there.
Im very proud of my resume.
I started onStar Trek, and now Im primarily employed makingStar Trekshows.
Its been very, very good to me.
What ambitions do you still have for your career?Ive got some scripts.
One of them is a magical realism film about jazz.
Id like to do a musical.
Im dying to doKilling Eve.
I still hold out hope.
Id be great at that.
Id be great at directing single-camera character comedies likeModern Family.
I loveBlack Mirror.True Detective.
Those shows fascinate me.
Theyre hard to get on, you know.
