Confirmed: William Shatner NOT in Trek XI

[johnconner]

Jonesy said:

johnconner said:

Jonesy said:
I can't see this movie, which has gone into the shooting stage & has frigging millions of dollars being pumped into it, will somehow later (after the writers strike is concluded, which will happen when???) be substantially rewritten and refilmed, just to get Shatner into it.

The strike may or may not be a factor, depending on whether it was already written.

And there's no reason that anything should have to be "substantially rewritten and refilmed." You think Shatner's involvement necessarily means the story changes that freakin' much? Why?

Because he died in the last feature film we saw him in. Bringing him back into the picture means a whole lot of screentime will then have to be devoted in explaining and showing just how the heck he gets back. And yes, that will require a substantial amount of change to the film.

No it won't. See Cogley's excellent suggestion for one. For another, alternate endings and scenes are shot ALL THE TIME in Hollywood productions. "If Shatner is in, we go with Ending A. If not, Ending B."

Re "whole lot of screentime and change": If Shatner does cameo, I'd prefer it if both Kirk's death and resurrection were NOT the focus of the movie, but a happy byproduct that Spock always counted in but we as the audience don't suspect. If they could pull that off, I think it would be ideal. And there's other ways to do it too. I guarantee you no extensive rewrites or excessive screentime is necessary.

There are always possibilities. We don't have to take our story structure from ST: III or GENERATIONS in how ST deals with Kirk's resurrection.

Jonesy said:
I could believe them sticking Shatner in at some point if Kirk, as a character, was not going to be in it. But we already know that he will. Shatner, as an actor, will not be.

johnconner said:
That sounds extremely convoluted. And congratulations on the recent crystal ball purchase.

No it doesn't sound convoluted at all. If Kirk, as a character, was not going to be in the movie - I would put a lot more weight into the notion that they might go back and put Shatner into it. But they already have Kirk, as a character, cast. Not to mention that they already have the script, as a whole, written & that Abrahms and Paramount agreed to greenlight that very script.

Why would they have Shatner in it if he's not playing Kirk? I can't imagine anybody thinks that's a good idea.

And since no one outside the studio or prod. team has read the script, I really don't see how greenlighting it has any bearing on this conversation.

And no, there's no crystal ball. Shatner not being in the movie is, as of this writing, a fact. And highly, highly likely to stay that way. The only people who really put any sort of weight into the idea that Abrahms and Paramount are going to substantially rewrite and change a major multimillion-dollar project at the frigging' shooting stage are Trek fans with a tenuous hold on reality.

Again, no substantial rewrite or change is necessary.

I still don't understand why this simple fact is so difficult to comprehend.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Jonesy said:
Because he died in the last feature film we saw him in. Bringing him back into the picture means a whole lot of screentime will then have to be devoted in explaining and showing just how the heck he gets back. And yes, that will require a substantial amount of change to the film.

No it won't.

Because if that were true, then it would be a certain fact right now that William Shatner will not be in the movie.

His version of Kirk simply has no significant part to play in this film. End of story.

 

[johnconner]

Starship Polaris said:

Jonesy said:
Because he died in the last feature film we saw him in. Bringing him back into the picture means a whole lot of screentime will then have to be devoted in explaining and showing just how the heck he gets back. And yes, that will require a substantial amount of change to the film.

No it won't.

Because if that were true, then it would be a certain fact right now that William Shatner will not be in the movie.

His version of Kirk simply has no significant part to play in this film. End of story.

Yup. Key word: significant. I can't imagine a scenario where Shatner gets a lot of screentime at this point. That wouldn't make any sense. But an effective cameo? Sure.

 

[Jon1701]

^ Shatner won't do cameos.

Unless you pay him a shit load of money.

 

[trey3]

that sucks in my opion!!!!!!!!

 

[johnconner]

jon1701 said:
^ Shatner won't do cameos.

Unless you pay him a shit load of money.

That's the word on the street.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I am holding out for the special director edition HD DVD, that will have the Shat replacing Nimoy done by fancy CGI...we know its coming.

 

[Noname Given]

Starship Polaris said:
Yeah, but he may be later.

When Bob Orci says it's settled, I'll believe it's settled.

Personally, with the script finalized and the WGA on strike and no script changes allowed; the issue was 'settled' LONG before this.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Noname Given said:

Starship Polaris said:
Yeah, but he may be later.

When Bob Orci says it's settled, I'll believe it's settled.

Personally, with the script finalized and the WGA on strike and no script changes allowed; the issue was 'settled' LONG before this.

Not necessarily.

 

[trevanian]

jon1701 said:
^ Shatner won't do cameos.

Unless you pay him a shit load of money.

We call those pricey cameos 'priceline commercials.'

 

[Arash]

I dunno, guys, this could all be a huge publicity stunt, right? Maybe he's _always_ been in it.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

No.

 

[Captain59]

Arlo said:
Jesus people, let it go. The Shat is not in this movie. Move on.

He's in the movie, and our Savior has nothing to do with it.

 

[Jon1701]

I don't think he is.

 

[Woulfe]

I have a theory.... It goes like this....
If SHATNER DIED tommorow folks will still insist he's going to be in the film, that he somehow rose from the dead just to do his cameo for it....
We'd tell the Shat-fans that theres no way it'd happen....
They'd still believe that hes in it still....

 

[johnconner]

^Hey, as long as you can prop his stiff corpse up, there's a chance. You'd at least get better emotional range than Robert Beltran.

Or even better, Chris Pine could do his Ben-Affleck-lip-synch routine from Smokin' Aces.

 

[Tralah]

Woulfe said:
I have a theory.... It goes like this....
If SHATNER DIED tommorow folks will still insist he's going to be in the film, that he somehow rose from the dead just to do his cameo for it....
We'd tell the Shat-fans that theres no way it'd happen....
They'd still believe that hes in it still....

This is so true. I'm amazed at how the depths of denial some people are willing to go to delude themselves into thinking Shatner's going to be in this. I suppose there's a CHANCE, but then again there's a chance I could win the lottery too.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Tralah said:

Woulfe said:
I have a theory.... It goes like this....
If SHATNER DIED tommorow folks will still insist he's going to be in the film, that he somehow rose from the dead just to do his cameo for it....
We'd tell the Shat-fans that theres no way it'd happen....
They'd still believe that hes in it still....

This is so true. I'm amazed at how the depths of denial some people are willing to go to delude themselves into thinking Shatner's going to be in this. I suppose there's a CHANCE, but then again there's a chance I could win the lottery too.

Shatner won't be in the film because there's no REASON for him to be in it. It's a story told from Spock's point of view, and any revisitation to Kirk will be to Kirk in his earlier years (regardless of whether it's time-travel or simply a "flashback" style narrative).

The only story I can imagine that would work for having Kirk brought back was told, AS A JOKE, by Dennis on here... oh, what, two months ago now, was it? It really worked, though... and if they made that film, I'd want to see it. The gist being that somehow, time gets altered and Kirk is alive again... and Spock has to go back in time and fix things, knowing that to put things back as they SHOULD be, he'll have to let Kirk stay dead. That would, as Dennis pointed out, give us a GREAT character-based conflict, and finally give us a "Death of Kirk" that would actually have MEANING.

I know he was just pulling it out of his ass... But... it's the only possible "return of Kirk" story that I've ever seen that would be truly dramatically satisfying on every level.

 

[Aragorn]

Shatner and Harlan Ellison are going to split off and make their own renegade Trek movie called Never Say Guardian of Forever Again. Everyone else will be recast or ignored but Shatner will be Kirk. The ghost of Kevin McClory is going to produce.

 

[seigezunt]

well, that's that. I guess there's always the next movie, if there is one. Indeed, having him in a sequel might ratchet up interest, maybe. Maybe not.