Interesting. Nimoy contends -- in I Am Spock -- that they offered Alley the role in TSFS, agreed on a salary, and then she and her agent later decided to up their asking price to one that was more than what even DeForest Kelley was making for the film, and that they were unwilling to talk or negotiate about it.
Anything to substantiate either story?
Only that Bjo's Kirstie anecdote was presented at a convention not long after the fact - and Nimoy's was
many years later.
And agents making a big counter offer is to be
expected. The counter offer was supposedly quite ridiculous - in the realm of Shatner's own salary, some rumours persist, but then the expectation was that Paramount would make a
counter counter offer. That's the normal procedure. And Paramount chose not to make a second offer. Since Nimoy then went to the trouble of recasting a very different actress, changing the look of the eyebrows, and directing Robin Curtis very firmly, not permitting her to inject any emotions into her dialogue, indicates that Nimoy didn't want the Alley style of Saavik in his movie.
If Alley's agent really did agree on a price lower than her ST II salary, she would have been right to fire him/her. Supposedly Paramount said they were offering less than ST II "because sequels never make as much money". Alley as Saavik was one of ST II's success stories and she had been groomed to
replace Leonard Nimoy. She had every right to expect a good deal.
There was a lot of fan resentment towards Alley for not returning and Bjo (who had had a chance to chat with her at the time) made an impassioned argument that Alley's choice was the best for her career at that time. Lead role in a prestigious play is an excellent, savvy addition to a brand new curriculum vitae.
Reduced pay on only your
second film in Hollywood (ST III) is not.
Funny you should mention De Kelley's salary. With ST V, Shatner made a point of getting him a big raise, since Paramount had underpaid him to be third banana on STs I-IV. He'd essentially retired from the business and his agent hadn't been very aggressive about salary, but he didn't have a very good pension fund. (Kelley also did his TNG appearance
for scale, as a favour to DC Fontana.) So Alley's agent asking for De Kelley's equivalent salary on ST III might be about right. Her participation would have required more days work than most of the other cast members, so fourth banana salary sounds deserved.
