Director Makes Trek Into New Medium

The phone is ringing off the hook and scripts from studios are flooding the Sherman Oaks home office of “Star Trek: Generations” director David Carson, but at the moment, the British-born director is more interested in studying an enormous antique wall clock in the hallway.

He crouches down on the ground to show a visitor the very bottom of the impressive timepiece, built in England in 1720.

“Look at that,” he says, as though looking at the clock for the first time. “See the little piece of mahogany? No doubt it was replaced decades ago because in the old houses, the floor would rot upward and then the furniture would need to be rebuilt.” He stands up and takes a step back admiring the antique. “Remarkable piece, really.”

Not unlike the 18th-Century clock, the “Star Trek” film series had in recent years begun to show signs of creakiness. But Paramount nonetheless bet on Carson, a first-time feature director, who had directed the pilot and two episodes of “Deep Space Nine” as well as several episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” over several big-name Hollywood directors.

And like the antique, the film franchise has gained a new appreciation in its resilience. Carson has helped infuse the comfy old premise with a head of steam, not the least of which was last weekend’s opening gross of $26 million. The film’s debut has turned the 43-year-old director into a hot commodity.

“People in the industry have said to me, ‘Why would you want to direct ‘Star Trek’? Well, the amazing thing about ‘Star Trek’ is that you have the opportunity to tell stories that actually say something about the human condition.”

“David is incredibly tenacious,” observes “Star Trek: Generations” star Patrick Stewart, who plays Capt. Jean-Luc Picard. “I know of no other director that has the kind of determination and energy for work that he has. He’s utterly tireless.”

Carson confesses a passion for the stage and screen that has existed virtually his entire life. Raised in Southeast England, Carson remembers the precise moment he fell in love with the big screen. “I was taken to see ‘Ivanhoe’ (with Elizabeth Taylor) when I was 4. From then on, I would play knights and damsels and stage plays for whoever would listen.”

Later, in a private all-male English school, he became enamored with the theater. After rugby practice one afternoon, he and a mate crashed a play audition for the school’s production of Moliere’s “Tartuffe.” Much to their surprise, they landed walk-ons, and he was hooked.

He continued to act and direct plays while attending Cambridge, earning an arts degree in 1972, and not long after founded the London Theatre Company and then the Direct Current Theatre Company. He has directed more than 50 plays throughout Great Britain.

In 1980 he moved into television work, earning acclaim for his productions of “Sherlock Holmes,” “Souvenirs” and the short film “Waiting for Godot.” He became disillusioned with the paralyzed British film industry and came to Los Angeles five years ago without a job or representation in the states. Directing gigs on “Star Trek,” “L.A. Law,” “Northern Exposure,” “Homefront” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” soon followed.

Carson says he prefers living in Los Angeles to England, and would rather raise his family here. “People say to me, ‘Oh, how can you raise your children in L.A. with all that smog and gridlock?’ I say, ‘Have you driven in Rome or London? Have you ever stood on the street and smelled the exhaust fumes from leaded petrol?’ ”

Carson is married to former British actress Kim Braden; their children are Matthew, 12, and Mimi, 6. Braden and the two children appear in “Generations” as part of Capt. Picard’s imaginary family.

Though Carson is keeping mum about his next project, it’s clear his debut has given him a lot of options. His longtime friend Stewart says: “The erroneous assumption that those who work in television are somehow less talented than those who work in film is the most monstrous snobbery and very unfair to those who do extraordinary work in television. I had no doubt very early on in production that with David, this was a major film career in the making.”