J.J. Abrams vs. William Shatner, Round Whatever

Trek director responds in magazine to actor who responded to Trek director via YouTube

By Joal Ryan Oct 16, 2008 9:24 PMTags
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J.J. Abrams and William Shatnerstill aren't on the same hailing frequency. 

This time in the maddening, media-enabled relationship between the Star Trek reinventor and the Star Trek icon, it's Abrams talking to Entertainment Weekly about Shatner talking to him, Abrams, via the William Shatner channel.

"I don't know how my life has become a thing where William Shatner talks to me through YouTube," Abrams tells the magazine, which scored a cover photo of the filmmaker's new Trek stars, Zachary Quinto as the young Mr. Spock and Chris Pine as the young James T. Kirk. 

Abrams was responding to a Shatner video posted last month in which Shatner said he was not in Abrams' upcoming franchise reboot because "nobody asked me."

Shatner himself was responding to an Abrams quote on AMCtv.com in which Abrams said he'd written a scene for Shatner, but that it didn't work.

The two men have been addressing old classic Captain Kirk's absence in the new Trek for much of the latest Stardate calendar. The problem is, for them, they've been doing it through media go-betweens, and not with each other.

Back in January, Shatner and Abrams traded quotes in USA Today: Shatner said he didn't know why he wasn't in the movie; Abrams said he wasn't in the movie because Shatner's Kirk died in Star Trek: Generations; Shatner said Abrams could think of something; Abrams said he couldn't think of something that wouldn't seem lame.

And on and on the dysfunctional dance goes: In the YouTube clip, Shatner said he wouldn't have done a cameo anyway, a sentiment which Abrams, in EW, said he "totally appreciate[d]," even as the director added that "we did try" to land Shatner, an overture which Shatner, in his video, said didn't happen.

"Maybe you wrote it, but it never presented itself to me," Shatner said.

At least Abrams and Shatner, in the true spirit of Trek, have been civil. In EW, Abrams said he's a "huge fan" of the 77-year-old actor; on YouTube, Shatner said the impresario behind Lost is a "wonderful guy," and  "the smartest writer-director."

Abrams' Shatner-less Star Trek is due out next summer. In EW, Leonard Nimoy, Shatner's longtime bridgemate who does put in an appearance for Abrams as the elder Spock, said he regrets the unity-promoting movie won't be out sooner.

"I think the world could use it," Nimoy says. "Don't you?"