An interview with William Shatner seems to suggest that he has always viewed himself in an unusual manner, one might say as having an inflated sense of self, and his work suggests nothing otherwise. The artistic sense of this self adoration finally came to fruition in his movie titled ‘You Can Call Me Bill’. In a world where ego is curbed, Shatner excels in celebrating his self, and the recently released, You Can Call Me Bill, breaths an artistic flair, in fact, Shatner has taken eroticism to unfathomable heights, becoming the icon of postmodernism artists. On one hand, he adores destruction, and on the other, he views hiding behind walls as interesting, and encourages his audience to explore every facet of humanity and creativity.
Instead of the usual ‘A lists documents’ and ‘Hollywood gossip’, the 90 minute neuroscape of self reflection and unearthly discovery transcends the typical limits. Shatner’s worldview stands out as typically alien; On making a conscious attempt to view the universe and ourselves as a whole, Shatner crossed all boundaries. The movie also stands out, due to Shatner’s ability to constantly engage his audience, even while offering succintly his interpretation and relationship with existentialism. Be it loneliness, god, or the complexity of “exquisite agony” known as evolution, Shatner allows viewers to endorse a plethora of ideas, while also advocating the preciousness of snails.
In between the hyper-alertness, bits of traditional documentary capture is also done. We explore Shatner’s fascination with films (his dad had to pull him out of a theater after watching Bambi two times in a row) and address his childhood bond with his mother, as well as his acting styles and career milestones starting from J.T. Kirk and T.J. Hooker to his latest jolly ride to outerspace inside a Blue Origin rocket starred by Jeff Bezos.
In some of these instances, the messiness of the format becomes annoying Philippe allows Shatner’s mind to largely wander without making any effort to rein him in and just cuts to some Star Trek footage that relates in some vague way to what he was saying. It is during these sections that the philosophical flotsam and jetsam come thick and fast for instance, some of Mr. Shatner’s more hackneyed soundbites (‘Live in the now’ ‘Take care of our inner child’) sound like they could have been embroidered onto a cushion in a Cotswolds bed and breakfast. However, Facebook-y aphorisms overpass the facebook-y aphorisms, there are real gems here too, such as shockingly private confessions (‘I never really had a real friend,’ Shatner tells me at one moment in our conversation, ‘and I’ve been alone all my life’), or even interesting reflections on working in the world of acting, as when the actor regrets his work for the death scene of Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations of 1994 (‘I only wish I had another opportunity,’ he says, looking genuinely pained about the whole situation).
As moving as the film is in philosophy and humanity, one thinks that You Can Call Me Bill shines when it depicts the subject’s light-hearted moments. Shatner has a reputation of being overly dramatic, yet in this case, he comes across as being bluntly foolish and self-effacing. He sets fire to ‘Method’ acting (“When you finish, it’s over a soldier doesn’t go back to the barracks and finish the table”), and good-naturedly mocks the imitation of his much-paced ‘staccato’ style of speech. In addition, the 2005 video where he gives the George Lucas’ AFI Life Achievement Award and ‘confuses’ it with a Star Trek’s fan’s event in front of a smiling Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg is brilliant.
There is quite a lot here where navel gazing might have been toned down the film might have been improved had there been one or two other interviewees (Shatner is the only voice here) but is hard to begrudge such occasional bouts of narcissism. Shatner is too much of a phenomenon not just of the sci-fi genre, but of popular culture in general and he has lived a very interesting story as he is at the ripe age of 93. It is indeed refreshing to listen Shatner speak so openly and straight about it.
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