Zachary Quinto is wearing an elastic band round his fingers to prepare for the new 'Star Trek' film.
10/24/2007 - Zachary Quinto - 17th Annual Environmental Media Awards - Ebell Club of Los Angeles - Los Angeles, CA - USA © Chris Hatcher / PR Photos
The 'Heroes' actor, who is to play a young Mr. Spock in the sci-fi movie, is so desperate to perfect the alien space traveller's Vulcan salute - which involves splitting your four main fingers in the middle - he has undertaken a drastic and painful measure.
He said: "I've been practicing my salute all the time, even on the 'Heroes' set. I've put an elastic band round my fingers loads to try and get it right. I need to brush up on this stuff."
The 30-year-old star has already had the character's famous 'pointy' ears made for his new role, but the process was extremely time-consuming.
Quinto said: "They put a bald cap on you, rub Vaseline in your eyebrows and then cover you in goo from your shoulders upwards. They keep your nostrils open with tubes while three people slather it all over your head. Then it dries, so they put the actual plaster on that.
"Your head then weighs about 20lbs, and it takes about 25 minutes. If you're claustrophobic, I imagine you'd be in big trouble. I swear, there were a couple of times when I had a take a really deep breath."
Mr. Spock was played in the original 'Star Trek' films by Leonard Nimoy.
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