Trivia

His shooting screenplay for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) was subtitled "The Undiscovered Country", which was what William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" called death. This was a metaphor for Spock, who dies in that film. The film was ultimately renamed "The Wrath of Khan" by Paramount executives. When he was signed on to help create Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), he again used the subtitle, but this time it was a metaphor for future peace between two warring galactic superpowers, loosely based on the end of the cold war unfolding at the time.

Credits his success at writing the Star Trek films with his near-ignorance of the original series. Despite heated disputes with creator Gene Roddenberry, Meyer stuck to his vision of a more nautical-style Starfleet, and is widely credited, along with Harve Bennett with reinvigorating the franchise.

Following disputes with network censors over the amount of violence in The Day After (1983), Meyer vowed to never work in the medium of television again.

His novel "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution", teaming Sherlock Holmes with Sigmund Freud, hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, remaining on it for 40 weeks.

Originally urged to use Mick Jagger as Jack the Ripper in his first film Time After Time (1979), he persuaded Warner Bros to use David Warner instead. After Warner Bros. rejected his idea of Derek Jacobi as H.G. Wells, he persuaded them to give the role to Malcolm McDowell. He insisted on hiring Miklos Rozsa to compose the music.

He was awarded the 1980 Saturn Award for Best Writing in Time After Time (1979), the 1983 Saturn Award for Best Director in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), the 1984 George Pal Memorial Award, and the 1992 Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).

Received his Bachelor's degree in theater and filmmaking from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa (1968).

The final shooting draft of the script for Fatal Attraction (1987), dated January 1987 from Paramount Pictures story department, credits both original screenwriter James Dearden and Nicholas Meyer. Meyer apparently did a set of revisions prior to filming, but did not receive any on-screen credit.

Currently resides in Santa Monica, California.

He has directed one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).

Classmates with Marc Furstenberg at the University of Iowa.