Shatner Wants 'Meaningful' Role in 'Trek XI'

"I love the challenge of the work. It's usually fun," William Shatner (Kirk) told an interviewer, explaining why he's had some of the busiest professional years of his life over age 70, winning his first Emmy for Boston Legal and remaining involved with Star Trek via the new game Legacy and discussions with J.J. Abrams about the upcoming eleventh film in the franchise.

"There's something embedded in the Star Trek franchise that is of continual interest to people. Maybe the fact that we take the position that humanity exists, 200, 300 years from now, which is always open to question" Shatner told IGN. "So people love the affirmation of it."

Shatner said he was pleased by the resurgence in Star Trek games such as Legacy, for which he performed the voice of Captain Kirk. Asked whether he needed to prepare to play Kirk again after all these years, the actor said, "It's pretty effortless, but you need to prepare for the game, because it's not like having a straight forward script" due to the gaming variations that must be recorded. On occasion, he said, he tweaked Kirk's dialogue, though "I had to have the approval of the people running the game. But we certainly worked on that."

The actor was less troubled by the idea of someone else playing Kirk in the upcoming movie than the "Get me a young Shatner" trend, which makes him feel his age. He said he believed that the writers were going to put an older Kirk and Spock into the story. "But in order to do that, it's a difficult story to write...in order to entice Leonard [Nimoy] and myself into the movie, it has to be meaningful in some way." As for who should play the younger Kirk, Shatner suggested someone "young, handsome, funny and rich."

Shatner said he jumped at the chance to play Denny Crane in part because "the character seemed so outlandish" and said he has a wonderful time filming the show. "They're laugh out loud scripts...by January 4th, we'll shoot a balcony scene in which I dance with James Spader, who's dressed in a costume. And it's one of the laughs of all time." Spader, like Shatner, won an Emmy for Boston Legal, and Shatner said, "I loved winning it for Denny Crane. It's great."

The full interview is at IGN.

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