J.J. Abrams: I Wanted Shatner in "Star Trek"
September 9, 2008 by Jane Boursaw
I’m all abuzz over J.J. Abrams’ new show Fringe, but lest we forget that he has a ton of irons in the fire, not the least of which is Star Trek.
AMCtv recently posted an interview in which Abrams addresses the controversy involving William Shatner. Apparently, he was irked that he didn’t have a role in the new film.
“We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves,” says Abrams.
More after the jump…
“The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling. It’s funny — a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that.”
Ok, what about time travel? It happens. Apparently not for Shatner, though. It’s interesting that Abrams tried hard to accommodate Shatner, but realized that it wasn’t going to work. That takes guts.
Image: William Shatner, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 1979
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