Frakes had Hollywood royalty on the set of “The Drumhead” with Jean Simmons. The two-time Academy Award nominee (for Laurence Olivier’s “Hamlet” and Richard Brooks’ “The Happy Ending”), and Emmy Award winner (for “The Thorn Birds”) had been cast as a retired Starfleet prosecutor appointed to investigate a potential act of sabotage on the USS Enterprise. The script was a clear throwback to such conscience-stricken courtroom dramas as “The Caine Mutiny” and “Judgment at Nuremberg,” which were made during the peak of Simmons’ stardom. It was a strong piece of material, and Frakes felt this called for a departure from the visually conservative house style of “TNG.”
Showrunner and executive producer Rick Berman understandably took an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it view when it came to the direction of a “TNG” episode. Frakes knew this better than anyone, but he felt obligated to do something special, especially since Simmons was a Trekkie and had lobbied to appear on the show. And so, as he told Variety, he colored a wee bit outside the lines:
“I tried to stretch the envelope. Rick was very strict. He was very traditional in his cutting. I wouldn’t say I broke any boundaries. But I wasn’t told not to do it, so I did it. I was very big on connecting questions to answers. I remember moving around the room and climbing up and down and staying with people, instead [of] it being cut, cut, cut, cut. I love when you connect what someone has said to the person who it said about or to.”
Source From: www.slashfilm.com
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