Paranormal Zachary Quinto

In The Boys in the Band, Zachary Quinto leads an all-star cast of openly gay actors back to the days when being out was career suicide. By Amy Larocca

- Amy Larocca

On a bright, cold Saturday morning in a squat, unmarked building in Brooklyn, the actor Zachary Quinto is sitting at a card table while a man from Kansas City explains that he was, 14 years ago, drugged and subsequently implanted with a series of microwave chips by a (former) friend who wanted to zap him into giving up the rights to a hygienic soda-can cover that both men were convinced would, eventually, make them millions of dollars.

It’s a very confusing conversation, but Quinto is steady. The interview is being filmed for In Search Of, a History Channel show of which Quinto is both the executive producer and the host. (This particular episode is about mind control.) “Are they still following you?” Quinto asks. His heavy, famous brow is furrowed. Quinto definitely has sci-fi chops—he was personally approved by Leonard Nimoy to revive the role of Spock in the J. J. Abrams remakes. He played a serial killer with superpowers on Heroes and had roles on two seasons of American Horror Story. He’s exactly the person a midwestern contractor who believes he’s been the victim of brain tampering would trust to take him seriously.

“They are following me,” says the man. “I saw them on my flight.” Quinto leans forward. He nods. “I believe you.”

In Search Of is a reboot of a show of the same name that ran from 1977 to 1982, hosted by Nimoy. Nimoy’s version was about phenomena that seem a little quaint now: yetis, the Bermuda Triangle, aliens. Quinto’s show expands to explore the interference of technology in a format he describes as “less turtlenecks and blazers, more Anthony Bourdain.”