JJ Abrams Talks about Why William Shatner won’t be in the new Star Trek Movie
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- By drvenkman
AMC TV recently sat down with JJ Abrams to talk about his upcoming TV Show Fringe. During the interview William Shatner is brought up. I figured Shatner was not going to be in Abrams Star Trek but at least they tried.
Q: How do you react to William Shatner’s ire at not having a role in the movie?
A: 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.
So now we know for a fact that William Shatner will not be in the new ‘Star Trek’. This may alienate a lot of die hard Star Trek and Shatner fans. In the end the filmmakers tried to make it work, but Shatner has a lot of pride, and he should regarding this thing! The man is Star Trek. I totally see where he is coming from. I am really looking forward to this movie regardless.
I’m not sure how they could have pulled off bringing back Old Kirk anyway with out making the story go into a screwy direction.
Venkman Out
I don’t get that he wanted the “movie to focus on him significantly” but he didn’t want to be in it? wtf?
@ rick
It was either he’s in the movie and it focuses on him significantly, or he’s not in the movie at all.
*** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT ***
As I understand the leaked plot summary, the Romulans travel back and disrupt the time line, hence the story focuses on a young Kirk, Spock and company. Canon will be followed, but the time line disruption will also allow for some changes to canon to ripple forward, thus “reviving’ the franchise, whatever that means.
Nimoy will cameo as old/’present day’ Spock, who will somehow advise his younger self (Quinto) who will in turn thwart the Romulans. Kirk is dead ‘at present’. Shatner can not play his younger self, (duh!) so absent a worthless cameo as a nobody who was kicked out of Starfleet Academy for cheating decades ago, what role is there for Shatner?
Abrams has a singular opportunity to reset and restart the franchise. If this reset is successful then more movie (perhaps a return to TV), etc., if it fails then Trek is likely dead for decade or so.
Either way, Shatner is part of what was, not part of what is.