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Home :: News :: Visions of Layla: Taking the Voyage Home




Layla Sarakalo
Layla Sarakalo


'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'
Layla tells Chekov where the nuclear wessels are



10.27.2005
Visions of Layla: Taking the Voyage Home

Star Trek is full of many weird and wonderful stories from actors and production crew about how they ended up working on the show or for the feature films. One of these stories is certainly unique ...

In 1986, a woman by the name of Layla Sarakalo was living in San Francisco above the historic Jack Kerouac-era Savoy Tivoli café on Grant Avenue. One day, early in the morning, she woke up to find her car had been towed courtesy of a film production. In cities where location work is done, it is common to see temporary No Parking signs put up to help facilitate the parking of production trucks required for the shoot. However, Layla never saw the signs or received a warning and was determined to take action. Something was happening here and she knew what it was; that something had to do with recovering the towing fee with a day's work as an extra on the film that towed her car!

"Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," as everyone in the known universe is aware, focused on our intrepid crew returning in time to the 1980s Bay Area in hopes of recovering two whales required by a mysterious probe back in the future. The San Francisco street scenes provided some of the film's most memorable and humorous moments. It also provided an avenue for Layla ...

After deciding what she would do, Layla changed into a suitable outfit, grabbed her whippet Anubis (her dog) and headed down the street to where the action was taking place. After speaking with the assistant director on whether she could get a day's work, she was told she could and was instructed to stand with the group of extras already hired for the day.

Layla said to the others that she had never engaged in this acting thing before and asked what she should do. They told her to act naturally. With the cameras rolling, Layla walked down the street into shot and soon came to the spot where Uhura and Chekov were unsuccessfully trying to find out from passing pedestrians where the nuclear wessels [sic] were. Most of the extras who were asked this question looked at the two like they were from another planet and carried on. Layla, however, answered them. Naturally.

The problem was, she wasn't supposed to say anything. But, because she did, the filmmakers decided that this was good, spontaneous stuff and that they should use it! A bit of rancor by fellow extras aside, Layla's star was now lit and hanging in the firmament.

After some retakes, they finally broke for lunch. When production personnel approached her, they asked if she was in the union (Screen Actors Guild). "No," she replied with a smile, "I'm in the neighborhood."

Am I Still Dreamin' Yet?

Fast forward eight months, and Layla is at the Bay Meadows racetrack south of San Francisco. When the man selling the Daily Racing Form sees her, he says he saw her in "Star Trek IV" last night and that she was great. A bit dumbfounded, Layla walked away. Later that day, someone else told her she was in "The Voyage Home." She had better go see the film, she thought, and find out what all the hullabaloo was about. Layla went to the movie theater and, lo and behold, there she was on a 50-foot screen, talking with Uhura and Chekov!

As it turns out, Layla had some of the only unscripted dialogue in the entire film. The weeks of promotion around the film also saw clips from the movie shown on various TV shows, such as Good Morning America, clips that featured Layla's scene no less. Her part remained relatively anonymous, however, until someone pointed out that the scene had been mentioned on the American Movie Channel (AMC), and she was described as the "mystery woman."

A time after "Star Trek IV," Layla found herself living in Paris running a small fashion house. Her part in Star Trek notwithstanding, she had remained unknown to fans all these years, until now. She's come out of hiding, has done at least one convention so far, and may be attending some others soon. Keep an eye out for her if you do, she's fun to talk to and she's guaranteed to give you something extra. Her honesty and candor is refreshing.


Related Links:
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Special Edition DVD
EDITOR'S PICK: "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" Special Edition DVD

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Episode:
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home


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