Shatner Recollections Of The Wrath Of Khan
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On September 10 and 13, over six hundred theaters will show the digitally-remastered Wrath of Khan (Director’s Cut) and William Shatner is out-and-about promoting the film.
Shatner spoke about heroes and villains, aging, his relationship with Gene Roddenberry, and more.
Having a strong villain made Kirk appear stronger. “It’s a truism, that the more powerful the villain is the more powerful the hero,” said Shatner. “If the hero can overcome a powerful villain, look how much stronger that makes the hero. So the better the villain, the better the hero. Here was an enormously powerful individual, but even more than that…Ricardo himself, even though he was hurting with his legs, his upper body was so powerful, and he was such a good actor that he made a magnificent character.”
In the old days, characters didn’t get to age in a series or have their characters develop. “Because a series…if you’re lucky, goes five years. There isn’t an opportunity to show the aging,” said Shatner. “…if something that occurred in episode one teaches the people, the regulars in the series, something that they can reflect on in episode fourteen, I think that’s really good. So let’s not repeat the mistake that we made in episode one in episode fourteen. And that kind of experience added to your character begins to evolve you. I think that’s really good.”
How did Shatner think about Roddenberry? “Gene… Gene was… it’s a matter of how much we want to reveal,” said Shatner. “Gene was a typical writer in that he lived in his head a lot. It’s my view that people write – professional writers, people who do a lot of writing – sit in their office, their chair, wherever they’re writing, and are by themselves and living in their head. And they may do so because they’re not adept at dealing with people. So they make fiction. Then, when they become hyphenates, which they did in those days, so the writer became a producer, writer-slash-producer. The fit may not have been exact…if I could put it that way.”
The rest of the interview can be read at the referring site.
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