Few things give me as much pleasure in life as speaking with William Shatner. I've interviewed him before and, I hope, will one day get to chat with the man in person.
Today's call was part of the promo push for the DVD re-release of Groom Lake, a film Shatner shot in 2001. I won't lie to you, Groom Lake isn't exactly the man's finest hour. But it is a decent enough Area 51 story that features Shatner hiding in a space suit, Dick Van Patton launching rockets from behind a bank of iMacs and a glowing, near-naked geriatric. I think Groom Lake is best seen with a group of friends and a fun, forgiving atmosphere.
Shatner discusses the film a bit, muses a bit, and also gives us an EXCLUSIVE SCOOP about which controversial man from his past will be joining him on Shatner's Raw Nerve.
UGO: Where are you calling from?
William Shatner: My home, in Southern California.
UGO: Now, in my mind, you have a ranch with horses just galavanting around. Is that correct?
WS: No, I'm in the hills of LA. I've got a house with a view. And a swimming pool, and a gym, and a media room with a big TV. My horses are elsewhere.
UGO: What was the last movie you watched in that media room?
WS: The last movie was The Reader, the night before last. I was trying to see all the nominated films. And I voted prior to that.
UGO: Did you by any chance see In Bruges?
WS: You know, I did. And I thought it was spectacular.
UGO: It is. It has a lot of humor, but it tells a wonderful story.
WS: And it's done so evocatively.
UGO: Right. And what I was going to say was that even though you wouldn't necessarily call it a comedy, it has elements of humor in it which is something I always find in the projects of William Shatner. You can see it when you turn on Raw Nerve. And you can see this going all the way back to Captain Kirk. He always had element of humor underneath. Is this something inherent in the scripts that you choose, or is it something you bring to the projects that you work on?
WS: It's probably me. People view life with some sardonic humor, or with tragic consequences. I'm on the far side of the irony of life.
UGO: William Shatner, you have so many projects. What brings you to this phone call today?
WS: First of all, there's Groom Lake, being re-released. It's a movie that I made shortly after my wife died, and it was something I wanted to do very badly. So I did everything I could to get the film made.
UGO: It's an action story with sci-fi elements, but you're telling me it's coming from a very painful and emotional part of your self, how did that translate?
WS: It translated apparently, and I didn't realize this until I met the actress a year later and we discussing how difficult the shoot was. We were shooting next to the Mexican border, and we had people running through. One of the other difficulties was, when we got to a scene in which the heroine says, 'I don't wanna die,' and her love of life overwhelmed her. It was very difficult for all of us. I didn't realize it, but the cast knew where I was emotionally when we were about to shoot that scene.
It was an interesting experience in getting close to the subject of the film. But what makes things entertaining is that mixture of humor and drama. Sometimes you're very successful, and sometimes you're not quite as successful.
UGO: Was making the film a fun time? You mentioned there were some difficulties.
WS: It was fun in that solving problems brings an exultant feeling. "Boy I've solved that problem."
UGO: Sure.
WS: And so there's a series of being exultant. Or being slightly downcast because you didn't solve it to it's full possibility because there were things in the way, like money of time.
UGO: Well those quick triage moments around our house we call "Putting our Scotty hat on" to bring it all back to Star Trek. You have to do what Scotty would do and then you do the quick fix.
WS: Ah, yes.
UGO: Let me ask you, what's happening with Shatner's Raw Nerve? It's a pretty exciting program, in that every time I flip, I see another star and you going off in a weird, no BS direction and talking about stuff you don't see on television.
WS: Well, we've got 200 names were OK'ed this past week, and we're now actively gearing up to shoot another 13. And apparently it's become quite a thing in the Bio channel. And next time when we go in for a renewal, we're gonna ask for longer time.
UGO: Does one of those names rhyme with Forge Gatay, by any chance?
WS: (laughs) George Takei. George has been OK'ed. As soon as we get gearing up, I'm going to approach him.
UGO: Do you think he will appear?
WS: This is hot off the presses. This is exclusive .
UGO: You're telling me, William Shatner, that you will make an offer to George Takei to make an appearance on Shatner's Raw Nerve?
WS: That is correct. And even George doesn't know yet, that's how exclusive that is.
UGO: Do you think, as a betting man, that he will say yes to this?
WS: If you print that I laid odds on the way I think, then the odds go down.
UGO: Okay, so I won't press you. Because, needless to say, everyone in the world, I think, wants this to happen. Not because we're looking for arguements, we're looking for peace. This is the Obama administration now, and we want ... you know, the old scores --
WS: There are no scores on my part. But his eyes glitter with a madness I don't understand. And I'm glad you recognize that. So, I'll deal with it, I have never had an axe.
UGO: Mr. Shatner, let me say, just between you and me....I'll put it in a way you can understand. There's an old French Canadian saying: the man is a little meshuggenah.
WS: (laughs) I will be anxious to put this all to bed. But, you know, what I would be most interested in is nothing of that [the arguements] kind.
UGO: You'll do what you did with Leonard Nimoy, which was you barely talked about Star Trek, where you talked about his life and your friendship, and it was wonderful. The moment when he showed you his camera was very touching, it was obvious that you guys do have a fondness for each other.
WS: Exactly, and I'm going to his house for dinner tonight.
UGO: (repressing enormous nerdgasm the size of the Mutara Nebula) Oh!
WS: He's cooking. Well, somebody is cooking.
UGO: What will you be having? Will there be Romulan ale?
WS: (kinda ignoring that crack) He's cooking, and I'm bringing the food.
UGO: I think Star Trek fans love that the two of you are pals, or maybe some are surprised to know you two are having dinner tonight. Either way, that's great.
WS: Yes, well, Groom Lake has also been remastered.
UGO: You've re-touched it up? There's a new audio or visual aspect?
WS: There's new audio. The audio was always never terrific, so we fixed that and a little bit of the artwork. And I'm interviewed on it, so that's part of the DVD. It'll be out there March 17th.
UGO: And the Shiva project, you're working on? The Shiva Club?
WS: We're so close. We had dinner last night with potential investors and it sounded good. I'm reasonably optimistic that I'll get the funding in the next short while, and I'll make it this year.
UGO: That's great news because we need some new projects now that Boston Legal has ended. We need to keep you busy.
WS: Thank you, and a pleasure to talk to you.
