Star Trek icon William Shatner has reflected candidly about his own mortality, having admitted he knows he doesn’t have ‘long to live’ and that his ‘time is limited’.
Shatner, 91, has had a long and successful career in TV and film, having most famously played James T. Kirk in the Star Trek franchise – a role he first took on back in 1966.
Not content with his Emmys and Golden Globes for his turn in Boston Legal, in 2021, he decided to blast himself into space aboard a Blue Origin sub-orbital capsule, in turn becoming the oldest person to fly in space.
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He is now looking back on his incredible professional and personal highlights in a new documentary called You Can Call Me Bill, which covers everything from his Captain Kirk days to his love of nature.
Directed by Alexandre O. Philippe, the film will premiere at SXSW and also serves as a meditation on mortality – which is something the star has been thinking about a lot as he goes further into his 90s.
Speaking to Variety, Shatner was asked why he had decided to make the documentary.
He replied: “I’ve turned down a lot of offers to do documentaries before. But I don’t have long to live. Whether I keel over as I’m speaking to you or 10 years from now, my time is limited, so that’s very much a factor. I’ve got grandchildren. This documentary is a way of reaching out after I die.”
Shatner continued: “There was a time when actors, and I include myself in this, would portray death by falling to the ground and your eyes would flicker and you’d slump around and then you’re dead. That’s not how you die.
“This is how you die [Shatner’s eyes go wide abruptly and his breath stops]. See? I’m dead. Ever put a dog down? When I have to put a dog down and I’m at the vet, I cup my dog’s head and I say, ‘I’m with you baby, I’m with you.’ And the injection goes in and the dog looks at me with love, and that’s it. You don’t know they’re dead.
“That’s how you die. It’s abrupt. My wife’s brother walked out of the living room and into the bedroom. There was a thud. His wife walked in, and he was dead. Death comes anew to all of us.”
SXSW 2023 runs from Friday 10 March to Sunday 19 March.
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Jess Hardiman