William Shatner - Actor
By: Dominick A. Miserandino
William Shatner recently worked on the movie "Shoot or Be Shot," but to us, the better question became, how do you choose these films? How does the man who was on two hit television shows, like "Star Trek" and "T.J. Hooker" decide what to do in his career?
DM) In looking over your career, you've done some pretty serious material, but it seems that you've also taken roles where it seems that you've joked about a characterization of yourself. It seems that you're okay with joking about yourself. Is that a safe assessment?
WS) I think that's a reasonable statement. I try not to take myself too seriously, especially when you're in the public eye. Even when people give us this celebrity role, you can't make yourself out to be too important.
DM) Is that a lesson that you've learned over time or something that was always in you.
WS) I think that is a lesson that you learn eventually. Nothing is that important. There are very few things that are important and those are the very few that we all know.
DM) I imagine it must be pretty frustrating to have a career in the entertainment world where it seems that you can hit highs and lows pretty easily. What makes it worth it?
WS) You try to do some good work. You try to spread a little love and do a little good for other people; those are the important things.
DM) Thinking along that vein, what are you most proud of?
WS) I think that sounds like flying a flag and waving it. If you're waving a flag you can get shot. Those are the people that they shoot isn't it. You charge ahead and don't wave any flags and try to accomplish your mission without dropping dead on the battlefield.
DM) It sounds a bit like flying under the radar.
WS) Yeah, that doesn't really work, now does it? To accomplish the goals, you need to be in the radar too. It's a mixed metaphor and doesn't really work. (laughs)
DM) At this point in your career, are you looking to expand your career or enjoy yourself?
WS) One of the things that I think I learned was that there is no such thing as advancing your career. It's like President Bush going to war, you think you're doing something, but you find out life and fate had something else in store for you. You might set in motion certain events, but you really have no control over them. I think one lives with an illusion if they think that making certain moves will advance their career. I suppose you can shave the chances off of the role of the dice, in your career. You really don't know what the throw of the dice will give you.
DM) Are you talking about pre-destiny then?
WS) I think it's chaos.
DM) Sort of like, "there are a lot of things that you can't control in this world so you just keep going forward?"
WS) Exactly. You keep going, endure and perhaps something good will come of it. If you're really an expert, maybe something bad won't come of it.
DM) Do you get disheartened when something doesn't go your way?
WS) Disheartened is probably a good word that comes to people from time to time. Whether you think you've made the epic of all time and nobody thinks that way or whether you think you've done something grand and it turns out to be not. Those things happen all of the time. Nothing's as good as you want it.
DM) Do you think nothing is as good as you want because of other people's perceptions?
WS) No, I think one may overestimate their abilities. For example, in talking about a performance in a film, there are so many other people involved. The performance is pretty much controlled by the editing. You're now relying on the editor and the director. If you're editing the film, you're relying on the actor and the support team and on the terrible hand, you might not be doing enough.
DM) It sounds like, with anything in the entertainment industry, that they're so many factors that you can't control.
WS) Yes, it's precarious. The chances of success are few. That's the way the odds are. It's hard for it to come out the way you want. You just hope to go onto the next project and perhaps make that one better. When I do something like, "Shoot or Be Shot," I do it because it is good, the script is good, Harry Hamlin is good, and I thought it would be fun. It turns out that it was fun. It was a nice little movie.
DM) It sounds like when you go into it, you're not looking at it's success possibilities, but whether you're enjoying it.
WS) That's right, you do the best you can; you do everything you can to make it right. You work on perfecting the script and, then, you wait to see what happens. The most magnificent film and best of intentions turn out frequently not to be successful, and then you have films that nobody thought would go beyond a release are incredibly successful. There's no accounting for the taste of the audience.
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