William Shatner Wonders If He Can Be De-Aged For Star Trek Sequel Like Jeff Bridges For Tron

Leonard Nimoy may be out of the game, but his friend William Shatner has made it clear in the last few years that he is interested in another go at being Captain Kirk. New comments from Shatner reconfirm his interest in the role, and the tech used to de-age Jeff Bridges for Tron Legacy has the original Kirk intrigued.

 

Shatner – de-age me!

When we last heard from William Shatner at a June Trek con, he talked about how he still talks to Star Trek director/producer JJ Abrams, and how he is still wonders how they could work his Kirk into the new movies, noting he has aged since his last appearance as Kirk. Now in new comments (via Showbizspy), Shatner again talks about Trek, saying:

I don’t know if they can solve the problem of how do you put the body I’m in now with the Kirk that we remember forty years ago. They just did a ‘Tron’ with Jeff Bridges and de-aged him but I don’t know how they did that. It’s going to take a lot of electronics on me!

William Shatner’s last film as Kirk was Star Trek Generations in 1994, where he died. If Shatner’s Kirk were to be brought back, it could require some de-aging to approximate his Generations (or earlier appearance).  


William Shatner in Generations (1994) and at TCA media event last week

To see what Bill is talking about, here is the new Tron Legacy trailer which shows the CGI de-aging of Jeff Bridges.

And of course Shatner has already been ‘de-aged’ before to play Kirk. In 2006 DirecTV used some de-aging software to put Shatner back into scenes from Star Trek VI (from 1991).

 

POLL: Shatner in Star Trek sequel?

It is time to poll on this yet again. Do you think that the Abrams team should find a way to put William Shatner into the Star Trek sequel?

 

[poll=608]

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I don’t know if CGI has come THAT far!

I didn’t think he was “de-aged” in the directv commercial. I thought they just filmed his face and slapped it onto the body that was already there.

That hologram scene that was written would play well as a prologue for the next movie.

I think they should just use old footage of Shatner from UC, and have Shatner dub over.

I would love to see Shatner in the sequel but I think he would take the spotlight of the young crew :0/

The DirecTV commercial must show a relatively primitive process. I have never thought that it was very convincing. It looks a bit like the computer just slapped some video pancake all over his face.

Even the effects de-aging Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in one of the X Men movies seemed unpersuasive.

Youngification software needs to make progress before the results would look natural.

i think the way disney did bridges head is actually a bit poo, it looks plastic in the trailer.. what about the way they did magneto and prof x at the beginning of xmen 3?

hey hat rick, looks like you beat me..i think teh mckellan and stewart one wasnt that bad though, its better than the tron legacy one for sure though…

Bit of a comparison between the 1982 version of Jeff Bridges (28 years ago) and the youngified version:

http://liveforfilms.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/tron-legacy-comparison-of-jeff-bridges-then-and-cgi-now/

The “kids” of the Abrams-verse Enterprise crew have to grow up and move out on their own if they’re going to survive and thrive. If they stay in the shadow of their TOS “parents,” they’re not going to get too far beyond the second movie.

There might be a million good reasons not to get Shatner in the next film, such as letting the young crew stand on their own first etc etc etc…

BUT…

In an ideal world, Shatner showing up in Movie 3 or 4 might be best. The man is, what, 80 years old? You put him in now in case you can’t put him in later.

Jeff Bridges hasn’t been “de-aged” though, it’s just a CGI Jeff Bridges.

Interesting to see that more people would rather forego William in the next JJ Trek than those that would like to see a cameo or have a fully fledged role.

I guess that means most of us want to see the new movies stand on their own two feet.

Tribble – right now, more people want to see Shatner IN the next move. Shatner “in” leads the poll 51%-49%

De-age Shatner? There isnt enough computer power in the world that could handle that.

If Shatner can lose the weight to match the body of Generations then they can try to de-age his face to fit. But he’s got to do the work and improve his body first.

he could always appear as JTKs Grandfather – no need for CG

or have nuKirk or Spock look at some holo recording of pre death deaged ShatKirk (like the original intention for end of ST09)

I love Shatner, and I truly believe that he was destined to play the role of Kirk until he decides not to anymore. The inevitable part of it though is putting him in the next movie will only come off contrived for the sole reason on getting Shatner in the movie.

hmmmm. how about they bring back Kirk (the one that passed away) as a “hologram” (like the DR) and Kirk could voice his part. Holograms in the Prime/Not Prime timeline would not be as convincing as the TNG timeline, sooooo, an AVATAR type Kirk could fit into the new trek.

He could be fully aware just not there (in his true bulky Shatner form).

Sorry, Mr. Shatner, I don’t mean to disparage.

It’s now or never.

If that made any sense at all.

Leave the old crew out now. Let the new crew grow. Nimoy was needed in star trek 09. Shatner is not needed. The stage has been set

if they do de age shatner i hope they have him with the “TJ Curly” and not the current “Denny Crane saturday night special”

Get him in the movie – de aged or not. Would love to se what could be done with this technology. Golden opportunity already missed though in the last film- to have the original kirk and spock one more time together on the big screen. will always feel sad about that.
Greg UK

that is one awesome head of hair in that Generations picture – i bet even Justin Biber would be envious of that

Best way to de-age Shatner is to do an all-out animated Star Trek. Get Pixar on the job; they can start with a style similar to The Incredibles and work from there :)

Shat looks freakish in that commercial. The ship has sailed in any return as James T. Kirk.

Bill, It’s possible!

ive a feeling the de aging as seen in X3, T4, Tron 2 etc will get more common place as the CG gets better (just like actual CGI started out in the likes of TWOK, Young Sherlock Holmes etc – now virtually every movie uses it)

eventually maybe it’ll spell an end to remakes and reboots – e.g. instead of Indiana Jones the reboot – just make another sequel with a deaged Ford (without even having to have 70+ Ford in it) or start making 007s with Connery again…or why search for another Superman when you could have Reeve back again?

hell maybe they could even ‘remake’ ST09 with the original cast (looking younger than they did in TOS) and Jeff Hunter as Pike!

Shatner in the next movie, please. There’s only one Bill Shatner.

Why should they de-age him to the Kirk we remember from 40 years ago? We have a new actor portraying the young Kirk now. If Shatner is to be in the next film—Caesar forbid!—it’s enough to de-age him to the way he looked between 1991 (ST VI) and 1994 (Generations).

Bill, please don’t fool yourself. And stop making a fool of yourself. This whole thing was fun at first. Yeah, “Shat being Shat, stirring the pot, etc.”. We got that. But any attempt to put Shatner in the film other than as a much older, much fatter Kirk would be pathetic. The amount of CGI necessary to do otherwise would be the equivilant to the animation in Shrek. Basically, a Shatner voice over of animation.

Mr Shatner still thinks there can be a sequel to Generations.
STAR TREK 2012 The search for Kirk.

comeon Bill, be realistic!

This is dicey –if they include him, and it’s as we last saw him in “Generations” let’s say, then what are the implications of it given that ST09 sets up a whole new universe in which the original timeline has been seemingly replaced by this new one? And if it is an alternate universe that we’re looking at let’s say, and the original prime timeline is intact and unaffected as Orci has also contended, then what place would original Kirk have in this new setting?

And are we supposed to ignore the difference in eye color between the two Kirks even as they’re appearing side-by-side in the same movie?

While I have a modicom of interest in seeing Bill Shatner return as Kirk de-aged, I must say that it’s time to let THIS cast move on. Having 40-years-ago Kirk would only stand to show us a side-by-side comparison of how Pine and Shatner look so very little alike. I know the entire cast says, “We thought it was over…. BUT IT WASN’T” over and over… But, Bill, I think you can (or should) safely say IT IS OVER! You were a great Kirk. You created a character that will last for (heh) generations! BE HAPPY WITH IT AND MOVE ON!

What would be so wrong with bringing Shatner back. :0/

I don’t care how they do it, but I DO want the Shat one last time for a proper sendoff, not that abomination called Generations. What’s hot right now, but the man is getting older.

Do it!!!

The younger Jeff Bridges’ head is all CG, so yeah bringing the Shat back is possible. The body will be a stand in, and the face will be CG. Will Bill ok with that, he can’t do his own body stand in work, he has a big belly.

#36 —

If the goal was to have -somewhat- new adventures while remaining engulfed in the past, then sure. Let’s bring Shatner back.

But the goal, as I understand it, is to move forward. Shatner would add little to nothing. Some fans might be excited, some would see it as contrived. Non-fans would still be wondering why old Trek faces were showing up. There’s simply no point. As much as I love classic Trek and the Prime Timeline, it is time to have a completely new set of stories with a new, albeit familiar crew. Prime Kirk no longer fits into the equation.

I meant #37

Shatner is the Brett Favre of Star Trek.

If you’re going to use a de-aged Shatner, I’d say go all the way back to his appearance in the Motion Picture. Young Kirk meets his mid-life crisis version, and all that. But for the record, I think it would be a waste of money and story time. We’ve already been moved into the new universe, and parallel-universe crossings and/or time travel would be redundant.

I’ve always liked the idea of a Trek TV show that’s animated, especially an antholgy in which each episode stands on its own. Sure ocasionally there would be a return to a previous episode’s story but the rest would cover various eras, ships, species, events, space stations, etc. Keep it on cable so the creators have some freedom. Bring in Shatner for this type of project regularly.

If they do find a way to shoehorn The Shat into the next one, I hope they use better software than they did in the DirecTV commercial. He looked like Walter Matthau, for God’s sake. LOL!

Do it now. Well there’s still time.

I watched the new Star Trek movie again on Sunday. And I’ve finally let go of the past and now accept the new cast as the crew of the Enterprise and expect to see those faces AS the crew in the next one. It’s time for Shatner to let go as well!

He had a great run. But it’s time to bow out like a gentleman!

Kirk must mean so much to Shatner that he wants him to return I don’t see why not

…”a LOT of ecletronics on me”….definitely !!!….sorry Mr. Shatner but NO!!!

electronics, of course!