Zachary Quinto's fingers glued together for Mr Spock's salute

IT IS probably the most famous greeting in the universe.

But the simple Vulcan salute left makers of the new Star Trek film with a galactic-sized headache - because Mr Spock just couldn't do it.

After much head-scratching, experts on the $150 million blockbuster - which boasts stunning high-tech effects - hit upon a low-tech but logical solution - gluing actor Zachary Quinto's fingers together, The Mail on Sunday newspaper in the UK reports.

Quinto, 31, admitted he found it impossible to form his fingers into the distinctive V-shaped gesture, saying: "It's much harder than it looks. Seriously."
One on-set insider said: "Zach could do the salute some of the time but only after he'd positioned his fingers the right way off-camera.

"In some scenes he has to do the salute while speaking his lines so they ended up using skin-protective superglue, like they use in hospitals, to stick his fingers together."

William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the long-running TV show and the first seven Star Trek films, was also unable to do the salute, so he used fishing line to tie his fingers together.