William Shatner is out promoting his new sitcom $#!* My Dad Say (see our preview from last week). And in a new interview Bill talked a bit bout the new regime at Star Trek, including commenting on the new Kirk, Chris Pine. Excerpts of that below, plus some fun video of Bill from the CBS Late Late Show.
Shatner on Abrams and Pine
The Collider interview focuses on Shatner’s new series, but he did talk a bit about Star Trek, here is what he had to say:
Collider: Are you hopeful that something is going to work out for the next Star Trek film, now that you’ve been in touch with J. J. Abrams and his people?
William: I’ve become a buddy of J. J., but I don’t know if they can solve the problem of how you put the body I’m in now with the Kirk that we remember from 40 years ago.
Collider: Did you see echoes of your own performances as Kirk, in what Chris Pine did?
William: I appreciated his performance. I didn’t see what some people have written about, but I’m not that observant.
Go to Collider.com to read the rest.
Bill swaps seats with Craig Ferguson – ends up on floor
Last week William Shatner was a guest on the CBS Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, which included this funny moment of Bill and Craig chaging their sitting positions and ending up on the floor.
You can watch the full episode at CBS.com.
“I appreciated his performance”
The Shat doesn’t tend to compliment other actors. Pine’s lucky he got that!
In the final scene, Pine does an excellent job of channeling Shatner when as Captain Kirk, he saunters onto the Bridge and says, “Bones!” Then he enthrones himself comfortable in the Big Chair, crossing his legs. It was a clear homage to the Shat. Well done, Mr. Pine. However, I loved the idea of the Shatner voiceover at the end of the film as Kirk/prime in a memo to Spock/prime. That might have worked really well.
As for “$#!+ My Dad Says,” that has great potential if it translates well to TV. The book was hysterical especially because I imagined Shatner reading all of the father’s lines.
Shatner’s the best!
What Harry said.
Pine’s best Shatner moment was his little line at the end of the Kobiashi Maru scene – can’t remember the line, but he says it really fast. Pure Shat.
2 T’Cal
I thought the same thing.
theres were some great Shatner-isms from Pine:
“Bones!….buckle up!”
“Spock!!…it’ll work..”
eating an apple during the KM test (like when The Shat explained it in TWOK)
The way he sits in the Captain’s chair – the ‘out of the chair’ scene – tilted forward and to one side with his head resting in thought on one hand….and also the way he sat cross legged at the end …pure shat
plus there were lines from other characters that referenced Shatners Kirk – stuff like “I know your face from Earths History…James T Kirk was a great man….but that was another life” (that line was pretty much the writers saying – ‘William Shatner was a great Kirk..but that was another time’ )
also “A trick i learned…from an old friend…”
Just little hints of Shat,,,maybe just a hint had a greater power than a full on Shatner cameo…
#2 – Yup, that Shatner hologram scene would have really sealed the deal, at least for me. What a shame.
And very well written, Mr. Orci. Classic stuff.
I bought Pine as Kirk but I don’t know how much of it was Pine’s performance and how much was Nimoy effectively pretending that Pine was Shatner.
@9: a VERY good point! I never even realized that, but it totally makes sense!
I think that with Pine working with Nimoy he was realy able to learn about how to be Kirk in Trek. With a great Acting coach like Nimoy. Pine could not faail and I would give Pine a B+ for his Acting on James Kirk.
Speaking of Pine & Nimoy…something kinda interesting…when Spock Prime first sees Kirk, he maintains his unemotional Vulcan posture and says, “James T. Kirk…how did you find me?”
But if you watch the behind the scenes docs on the DVD, you see a different take of the same scene where Nimoy looks more surprised and says, “Jim?”
#8 and # 2
I’ve been saying this for a year. Giant missed opportunity, but could it be inserted into the sequel? I think it could. A present from old Spock to young Spock, to be opened at a time of uncertainty about his new captain/friend?
Best written scene that never made it into Trek. Too bad the supreme court couldn’t come to a decision on it. Perhaps it’ll fly for next time.
Hope so.
Shatner really, really must be a fan of Brett Farve….I like both of them, but they really need lessons on a graceful exit…
After that I think CP is totally free to play Kirk, his way!!!!……He no longer needs to be paying homage to Mr. Shatner……Now I’m really mad Mr. Shatner!!! ….LOL…..but Mr. Shatner is great anyway!
CP was a great young Kirk!!!!
I would be jazzed to see Shatner play a Klingon villain in the next film. Kor, perhaps. Who could follow John Colicos but The Shat? :)
Seriously, BIll. Aim for a very classy “looking back” kind of cameo. Frankly, I don’t want Kirk to be 80. I am SO thrilled that you are more active at 79 than I have been all my life. But, Kirk is a different matter. He’s an ideal. Me, I’m just human. You, you’re SHAT and that’s saying a lot. But, Kirk is an ideal. Let’s let other actors take a crack at the role. We like some Bonds better than others. We’ll always love your Kirk. (Lord, did I just say that?)
Why are the Collider questions in a bold style?
Mr. Shatners’ comments should be the ones in bold.
@16. Plum “I would be jazzed to see Shatner play a Klingon villain in the next film. Kor, perhaps. Who could follow John Colicos but The Shat?”
It would be… GLORIOUS!
Craig Ferguson 9/16/10A Late Late Show sketch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJqspyjMovo
Craig Ferguson 9/16/10D Late Late Show William Shatner PT1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKj8aDk4-sE
Craig Ferguson 9/16/10D Late Late Show William Shatner PT2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCgU3zItZ1U
Elderly, overweight Shatner as Kirk = No-Win Scenario…
14. Phil.
It’s Favre, not ‘Farve”. And, BTW, Brett Favre had his best season ever last year so what heck are you talking about, homeboy?
Actually, it’d be easy to fit ShatnerKirk into the next movie.
If they cover previous material, necessarily the outcome has to change or it’s just repetition, which cancels the point of a reboot.
So — do Space Seed but with a Gene Coon style ending. Flash forward sixty years: Kirk returns to Ceti Alpha V as forecast in the original story, and hey! everything turned out fine after all.
“Kirrrrk, my old friennnnd — GET ME OUT OF HERE! MY GRANDCHILDREN ARE DRIVING ME CRAZY!”
“Khan! This is a starfleet uniform! It doesn’t have — lapels!”
If the film makers really want to shoehorn Shatner into the next movie, they could easily use the ‘fountain of youth’ tech used to make Jeff Bridges look twenty years younger in Tron: Legacy. While the effect hasn’t completely reached the so-called ‘uncanny valley’ of believability, it is getting pretty darn close. Maybe by the time the twelfth or thirteenth Trek movie goes into production the technology will be perfected.
Anyway, elderly man or not, I don’t know many men Shatner’s age who could crawl over a desk like that. You rock, Bill!
“23. Forrest – September 20, 2010
Actually, it’d be easy to fit ShatnerKirk into the next movie.
If they cover previous material, necessarily the outcome has to change or it’s just repetition, which cancels the point of a reboot.
So — do Space Seed but with a Gene Coon style ending”
Me: We always appreciate a Coon reference around here!
Hey! It worked! I haven’t been able to post here in a long time. I almost gave up. My computer electrons are all discombobulated, or somesuch.
“I didn’t see what some people have written about, but I’m not that observant.”
I love Shatner but that is just rude. He should have cut it off after the first sentence.
Rather than Kirk in the next film i would love to see them go against their stated wisdom and do another time travel movie.
This time Kirk and co go into the future and find that although earth have managed to stave of the Borge so many other worlds across the universe have tot and not they are becoming an even more increasing threat.
While Picard and Janeway work to stave of yet another invasion Kirk works out a way to get to all the hives and wipe out their technology for central command.
Chris Pine I think did a magnificent job playing a rather difficult character to play. Shatner inhabited that role and made it his own in a way the others didn’t seem to do besides Nimoy’s Spock but Pine I thought just showed us that what in 2008 some believed to be an impossible task, was indeed possible and that the character of Kirk (and indeed what Quinto showed us with Spock) could be played by someone else and with aplomb.
I don’t think Shatner should be in the next movie regardless of what technological marvels they can perform – for better or worse he was killed off in Star Trek: Generations with no B4 or Vulcan ritual as an excuse to bring him back. The other more important reason is that Pine, Quinto and the rest deserve to go it alone in the 2nd movie. Nimoy did a fine job in passing the torch, now its the new guys turn to make Star Trek and these characters their own.
#8
I agree. They should definitely include the hologram scene. The feedback has been all positive. The supreme court does listen to fans. Just like on the issue with the engineering set. I.m sure Bob would vote for the scene again. Just need to convince JJ about all tha has been said about it on this site
Chris Pine was brilliant in the role of the young Captain Kirk I’m glad William appreciated his performance.
Always entertaining and quite nimble for a guy pushing 80…
And stingy with compliments about other actors, but still…
You gotta love the Shat.
I’m not sure the general audiences would get as big a kick out of a Shatner cameo as I would. Then again, how many more opportunities are there to have Shatner portray Captain Kirk again. On the other hand, I would want it to be a more limited role.
Craig Ferguson would have made a better Scotty but I guess he’d have to be younger for NuTrek. He knows his whiskey, though!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dGaoDcOVM0&feature=channel
Don’t get me wrong, tough. I am a big fan of Simon Pegg!
That was funny!
” I appreciated his performance. I didn’t see what some people have written about, but I’m not that observant.”
A lot of what an actor does is instinctual. So when you watch someone else trying to play a character the way you would it is difficult to see things that are obvious to others.
Shatner needs to remember that if he played Kirk Prime in the next movie he doesn’t need to look like he did 40 years ago, only 16. And he hasn’t really changed that much.
I’m a huge Shat fan — he’s grown on me (absolutely no pun intended, mostly). I’m still hoping there’s not a cameo (as Kirk) or a full-blown role, because it would require that most of the story be built around it, wouldn’t it? I’d like to see if the new guys can manage a movie on their own.
And as to Shatner playing one of Kirk’s descendants — well, wasn’t Michael Dorn a bit too distracting in The Undiscovered Country?
I don’t think anyone will ever forget that Shatner is the original Captain Kirk.
I didn’t think Michael Dorn was distracting in TUC at all. I found it more distracting that Klingons had defense attorneys or anything at all resembling our legal system.
It’s one of my favorite Trek movies though.
#38
“Well, wasn’t Michael Dorn a bit too distracting in The Undiscovered Country?”
Nah. With Shatner, Plummer and De Kelley in the same room—well, it’s kinda hard to steal the spotlight from those guys. But, yeah, I see your point. The next movie should be about something new, not some cheesy made-for-TV, Brady Bunch-ish reunion movie.
Shatner had his time as Kirk—and he was terrific! But now it’s time to let Pine make it his own. Roger Moore was no Sean Connery, but he was a great Bond with his own style. The same will (and should) happen with Pine’s Kirk.
Hey, at least they didn’t get a Lazenby to play the young Kirk… ;)
It could have gone so horribly wrong with someone else playing Kirk! Thank gawd they cast Pine!
Well, it would be wise to at least convince Shatner to film a framing narration for the last of maybe three movies under JJ. An “and that’s the way it was”… with him ‘closing the book’, turning out the light, etc. Or looking at a snowglobe. Or waking up from a dream next to BarBara Luna saying “Bill, are you having that dream again where you’re an astronaut on some kind of star trek? You need to stop watching so much Star Wars.”
#42
Ha ha! Love the Newhart reference!
:D
Barbara Luna from the Mirror universe? How about Joan Collins from Earth?! ;)
I, for one, simply think they were both good Kirks
They can totally do age regression now with CGI, like what they did with Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy.
Like totally radical!
The one thing the have to do is give Karl Urban more time. For someone who wasn’t born when Star Trek was on TV, he had DeForrest Kelley down pat. The voice inflections, the mannerisms. Did a wonderful job, but not enough of him in the original. Fix it next time.
47
I agree with you 100%. And as great as Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto were as the new Kirk and Spock, there is no way they will ever match William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Karl Urban, on the other hand, seems to have nailed the McCoy character dead on. Every time I watch the movie, I have to remind myself that it is not DeForrest Kelley who I am watching. The thing is, the Kirk and Spock from the new timeline are a bit different from the Kirk and Spock from the old timeline, but Dr. McCoy is basically unchanged and Karl Urban matched that perfectly.
I’d like to know Mr. Shatner’s thoughts on Karl Urban’s performance.
If they’re smart, next time they’ll haul out a TOS Captain’s chair from backstage and ask, “Bill, would you be more comfortable in this?”.
40.
Lazenby was a MUCH better Bond than Moore!