Shatner’s Ego Kept Him out of Trek 11
Sci-Fi Movie News, Star Trek 11 (2009) Movie, Star Trek Universe — By Nix on September 9, 2008
I’m not what you would call a really big Star Trek fan, or Trekkie. (Or Trekkers, as I know some of them like to be called.) I mean, sure, I watched almost all of the Voyager and Next Generation episodes, but that’s because I just like sci-fi in general, and there wasn’t a whole lot of sci-fi on TV back then. (Or at least, big-budget sci-fi TV, anyways. I don’t even want to think about stuff like, say, Time Trax, etc.) So when news broke that William Shatner would NOT be in J.J. Abrams’ Trek reboot, fans were up in arms. I personally didn’t mind all that much, as I was never one to appreciate, as it were, Shatner’s acting style.
Anyways, so why was Shatner NOT included in Trek 11, when seemingly everyone else from the original cast were? Abrams finally addresses that issue while doing the promo rounds for his new show Fringe, set to premiere on Fox.
Via Joblo, here’s what Abrams said was the reason why Shatner was not included:
“It was very tricky. We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing, but the truth is, it didn’t quite feel right. The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn’t want to do a cameo. We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves. The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling. It’s funny — a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that.”
In short: Shatner’s ego kept him from doing Trek 11. He wanted more than he was given, and not getting what he needed meant no accommodations could be reached. Methinks Shatner thought he was more important than the series, and perhaps he is, but it sure didn’t look like Abrams agreed.
Below: William Shatner ponders the greatness of William Shatner during down times on the set.
Update:
The Shatner responds to Abrams’ accusations:
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1 Comment
I disagree about the “ego” thing.
Reread the quote from Abrams, specifically “that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves” Abrams agreed that he deserved more time on screen, but conceded that the story itself could not accomodate this. Afterall, Bill is not a 20 something, which the part is written for.
Cameo’s suck ass. McCoy’s cameo on STNG sucked ass too. I would rather shove a stick in my brain than witness cameos in movies. I wanted to shove a stick in my brain when they cast Charlton Heston as an ape in the Planet of the Apes remake.
If I were an actor being asked to reprise a role on an upcoming movie, I’d want a bit more than 30 seconds too.