William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill - Getting Metaphysical on the Record
By John Kirk
Rating: A-
If you’re a fan of the man, William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill is an easy sell.
However, this is a William Shatner that many people haven’t seen. To converse with Shatner is to meet a man with questions for you. He’s curious to know about what you do, how it influences others and finally, how it all connects. He’s a man who’s seen a lot of life, and still wrestles with it.
One of the highlights that stands out for me is the anecdote he shares about Timothy Leary’s last words. He tells us that, among the last words the poet said were “Of course.” Leary also said, “Beautiful” and to his son, “Why not?”
Shatner taps into the spirit of these words and uses them to demonstrate that life is meant to be lived in the now, that every experience is part of the great exploration we are permitted before the inevitable and that death is just something else to discover.
With the amount of public information about this man, there will be a mixture of reaction to this documentary. He has a reputation for being dismissive, egotistic, for over-acting and for being someone who takes himself far too seriously. This, while maintaining that he doesn’t take himself too seriously.
But frankly, the message that stands out strongest in William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill is that he accepts those perceptions, but that it isn’t all of who he is, just part of his life experiences.
Shatner shares that his greatest acting inspirations were Lord Laurence Olivier and Marlon Brando – as diametrically opposite as two performers could be. Remember, Shatner was a Shakespearean actor on stage at Ontario’s own Stratford and understudied for Christopher Plummer, which he describes in the documentary with great pride.
This is Shatner as honest and as raw as he can present himself. And after about 70 years of stage, television and film experience, it’s a new and vulnerable look. It's a bold stance that resonates with fans and it makes Shatner more understandable to those who don’t know him.
There are five segments to William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill. The prologue is titled: The Miracle, in which we are given a somewhat meandering pseudo-philosophical diatribe about the poignancy and miraculous nature of life. It’s not a great start, but what comes out of this section is the importance of what we have all been given and how we all connect to everything. It’s a bit of a wander, but it’s honestly vulnerable and signals to the viewer the spiritual direction of the documentary.
Chapter one is titled Love, Death and Horses. Chapter Two is titled Masks. Chapter Three is given the label of Boldly Go. The fourth part is titled Loneliness and we end with a final chapter titled So Fragile, So Blue.
Peppered with highlights of his performances in the past, there are honest admissions of bombing on stage, errors in friendships, his mistakes in relationships and about as pure and objective accounting of his life and beliefs as much as he can manage.
Director Alexandre O. Philippe is to be commended for displaying the connections between those episodes in his career and his life story. For instance, Shatner was informed at noon in the filming of the Star Trek (The Original Series) Episode “Devil in the Dark” that his father had died. He was asked to come home. He filmed the rest of the episode and left but recounted and acknowledged how much Leonard Nimoy and cameraman, Jerry Finnerman “stood by me.”
Go back and watch that episode. There is a distinct difference in the way that Shatner carries himself in that performance. When you see Nimoy’s interaction with the Horta, it is particularly emotional and is now completely made real with that understanding in mind. That’s only one instance of how Shatner opens himself up in this film.
This is a man at the end of his life who sits down in front of the camera and shares it with us. He is regretting that he will never see what his grandchildren will become; a man who doesn’t want to leave. Bill shares that he is more active in this stage than he has ever been and doesn’t want it to end.
Confined by the limits of his lifespan, the only context he has is his own life. And in this personal documentary, he shares the wonders he has seen, what he values and what frustrates him. His eventual death is what frustrates him the most.
The end? Be kind. Leave moments of kindness. He asks us to consider what we will leave behind and he tells us what he will leave.
To my mind, it’s the third chapter that is the part that shows the connecting threads amongst all of these divisions. It’s the part that really speaks to how Shatner not only pursued his career but every aspect of his life. It’s the purest form of recollection that helps us to understand him better. It ties in his Star Trek experience and why Captain Kirk is the character that he will always be remembered for. In this part of the documentary, there are aspects of care, hard work, and reflection that provide greater insight into his personality.
I have seen some of these parts of this man’s character. I was fortunate to host him on stage, and coordinate with him backstage about what I would say about him. This was the Working Bill. When I was interviewing another Star Trek actor, Shatner made a surprise appearance, and I saw the Caring Bill who gave my daughter (and me) a gift of a memory that I will always treasure.
To me, they’re all just Bill and this film solidly reinforces that.
William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill. Directed by Alexandre O. Philippe. Opens in Theatres Friday, March 22.