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The Many Iterations of William Shatner
pickens writes "The NY Times weekend magazine has a long profile, well worth reading, of self-described 'working actor' William Shatner. He began acting at age 6 and at one point in the late 1950s was mentioned in the same breath as his contemporaries Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, and Robert Redford — until, without explanation, his career faded before it bloomed. Shatner, now 79, pulls no punches in his memories of the Star Trek years. 'I never thought it'd become a big deal, just 13 episodes and out,' says Shatner. 'I didn't think I was hard to get along with. There were a few disaffected actors who came in once a week. I had nothing to do with them. Friendly! I was working seven days a week, learning 10 pages of dialogue a day. They had one line!' Which was the beginning of the William Shatner character. 'They said I was this William Shatner character, and I figured I had to be it. Pompous, takes himself seriously, hardheaded.' Shatner said that that character evolved slowly, until one day he realized he couldn’t change it. 'So I played it. But I didn’t see it. That character doesn’t seem like me to me. I know the real William Shatner.'"
Yes.... well... this... should.... be an interesting.... read...
"If one has a very high standard of living,one sometimes has to do a very low standard of movie" - Michael Caine, but I think relevant there as well. Shatner, like Caine, describes himself as a working actor not a precious artist.
Cheers,
Ian
His best role was as himself, hosting Saturday Night Live, years ago when it was funny. I remember a skit set at a sci-fi convention, and all the convention goers insisted on asking him questions about the science and logic of specific episodes. He blew up at them, telling them to get a grip. Best line: "You... have you ever *kissed* a girl?"
The CB App. What's your 20?
Shatner was definately talented.
Not sure if he lacked "big screen" presence, just had a couple bad breaks on the big screen, or if he got typecast by Star Trek.
He seemed to break free of the typecasting at the end. Denny Crane is not Kirk.
And as the other person said, Shatner had both a large ego and a unique ability to puncture that ego himself.
Not sure about the bad blood between him and the other stars. Could just be the nature of the game (He and Nimoy were bigger stars and got different treatment).
I thought Galaxy Quest was an excellent send up of the whole trek phenomenon.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
...News day?
Have you heard about SoylentNews?
...I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.
Certainly I don't know what Tim Allen was doing. He seemed to be the head of a group of actors and for the life of me I was trying to understand who he was imitating. - William Shatner, on Galaxy Quest
At the 2009 Vegas ST convention Shatner was on stage and fans were asking questions. A fan of the original series went up to the mic and told him how good of an actor he was; he then proceeded to take the next 20 minutes agreeing with her. At some point I said in a low voice 'It's like throwing gasoline on a flame,' (a quote from Galaxy Quest describing the parody character of Kirk at a convention) and the entire section burst out laughing so much he had to stop talking to find out what was going on.
"Powers. I have them."
I like Shatner, he might come across a little larger than life sometimes but there's a lot who are a whole load worse in the acting industry. And I'm not even much of a fan of the original Star Trek (do I lose my slashdot membership for saying this?) I'd certainly put him in the same class as Caine, in as far that both can easily mock themselves with a wry grin.
and regardless of negative traits assigned to him I see him as what I would want in most actors. Yes he stuck with the Kirk role a long time but he did good clean breaks from it. Kirk was an iconic character and any actor with that as part of his resume will always be shadowed by the character's traits which may not necessarily be the actors. Yeah, read all the "Bad blood" between him and Takei, the "feud" with Nimoy, but honestly, which of all them did as much as he did? He didn't stop. Of course I do like Koneig from TOS too. At least Shatner wasn't afraid to make jokes about his role, let alone slip little asides into other shows which automatically connected you back to Kirk without being outlandish (his phone on BL was pretty good and subtle)
73 years, I wonder what it is like to do something you love for so long, hell I would be happy with half that in a career I enjoyed.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Bottom line, the world will be a less place when he is gone......he is an entertainer, through and through
In an Michael Caine movie, you can be pretty sure it will at least have a bit of good acting. But there's no guarantee about anything else in the film; it may be crap, so the fact he's in it is not, in itself, much incentive to go see it. In contrast, an actor with a good track record is a big draw, and that is reflected in the actor's paycheck. Both quantity and quality are valid strategies for turning a buck, but are you saying the strategy of quantity is actually more respectable?
Oh, yeah? I'd ask Wil Wheaton about that.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/