William Shatner Weighs In On Releasing Snyder Cuts Of His Old Films - Exclusive
Ever since Zack Snyder and his fandom spent the better part of the last half a decade lobbying to get his version of the DCEU film "Justice League" completed and released, the world has developed a renewed interest in director's cuts of movies. People want more than just a Snyder Cut of "Justice League," they want a Schumacher cut of "Batman Forever," and they are getting a more serious cut of Sylvester Stallone's analysis of the Cold War, "Rocky IV."
It's fair to say that director's don't always necessarily see a perfect reflection of their visions on the big screen. Heck, sometimes people don't see any version of their films at all, like the time Marvel Studios gave Edgar Wright the boot on "Ant-Man" over creative differences.
Recently, while William Shatner was out supporting his appearance on "Expedition Unknown: Shark Trek" for the Discovery Channel's Shark Week festivities, Looper had the opportunity to sit down and speak with the actor-director. And with all these potential and actual director's cuts being spoken about, we wanted to know — are there any past projects William Shatner wishes he could revisit for a Shatner Cut?
Really, though: what does God need with a starship?
To be clear, when someone wonders if there's a Shatner Cut of something, they mean one thing and one thing only — "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier." The fifth Trek film is the only one directed by Shatner, but it's mostly known for being influenced by a writer's strike, featuring the question, "What does God need with a starship?" and, according to its producer, nearly killing the "Star Trek" franchise altogether. Yes, the film features a very odd fan dance by Uhura (Nichelle Nichols); sure we're introduced to Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) half brother Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) who no one had ever heard of before, but who knows what could have been? For all we know, Shatner filmed some things we never saw before that would cast "The Final Frontier" in a new light.
Armed with that curiosity, we asked Shatner if there were any Shatner cuts worth seeing. "No, I'm moving on," Shatner responded. "I have various projects going on. I have a new talk show called 'I Don't Understand' and I've got a show on History called 'The Unexplained.' I'm not working as an actor, but I'm working as an inquisitive human being and both shows are very good." It seems as though Shatner's revisiting of "Star Trek" will remain in conventions and his work as documentarian and interview on projects like "The Captains" and "Chaos on the Bridge."
"Expedition Unknown: Shark Trek" is available to stream on Discovery Plus.