"I mean, he’s a major presence, I think, in any scene he’s in. He’s terrific," Abrams said in a group interview in Santa Monica, Calif., on July 14, part of the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour. (Abrams was promoting his upcoming Fox SF series Fringe.)

Abrams has been tight-lipped about the storyline of Star Trek, except to acknowledge that it deals with the original series characters of Capt. Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy. Nimoy and Heroes star Zachary Quinto both play Spock, presumably at different ages.

As for Nimoy, Abrams said: "It was really just a dream experience working with him. … He’s everything you’d want him to be. He’s funny, and he’s incredibly thoughtful and was surprisingly open to and receptive to direction."

Abrams praised Nimoy’s family and added: "The other day, we were doing some ADR, [additional dialogue] recording. He was there, and … because we weren’t shooting anymore, … I was standing there, and I just, like, started. I just like looked at him as he was doing his thing. I was like, I wanted to burn it on my hand, because it was so great to get to work with that guy. He’s just an amazing man and terrific in the movie." Star Trek is in post-production, with an eye to a May 8, 2009, release.