Last week at SxSW I saw the premiere of YOU CAN CALL ME BILL from SxSW and Fantastic Fest alum Alexandre O. Philippe to a very packed and enthusiastic crowd, and even more so because Mr. Shatner was also in attendance for the screening!
ABOUT: Captain Kirk. T.J. Hooker. Denny Crane. Big Giant Head. Alexander the Great. Henry V. Priceline’s Negotiator. These are but a handful of the innumerable masks worn by William Shatner over seven extraordinary decades onstage and in front of the camera. A peerless maverick thespian, electrifying performer, and international cultural treasure, Bill (as he prefers to be called), now 91 years young, is the living embodiment of his classic line “to boldly go where no man has gone before.” In unprecedented fashion, “You Can Call Me Bill” strips away all the masks he has worn to embody countless characters, revealing the man behind it all.
JASON’S REACTION: Fearing I would get another clip show, talking head documentary, this very intimate look on William Shatner does have interview clips but the main talking head is Mr. Shatner in a very intimate setting sharing his thoughts which do seem random and wandering at times but anyone who has followed his career, he is more than welcome to do it. We get to see a lot of his spoken word performance and particular clips from movies to showcase what he is talking about. There is an extremely potent sequence where we see him talk about his death scene in STAR TREK: GENERATIONS and how he had a different “last line” that he wanted to use but never could. What I was surprised to see is that the documentary doesn’t feature a lot of his attendance at Fan Expos and other events which he is still doing constantly at a young 91 years old. That said, his mortality does come up a lot here and it’s a fascinating look at a man who is looking at the last remaining years and getting every minute out of them.
Filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe is no stranger to SxSW; I interviewed him for one of my previous outlets for THE PEOPLE VS GEORGE LUCAS along with the ALIEN doc at Fantastic Fest in 2019 and this doc is partnered with Legion M, a fan based production company, bringing this lovely look into Shatner’s personality. I do believe the movie will be released later in the year and should do quite well for Shatner’s fanbase. What I would also love is another doc to follow him on all of his travels to and from Fan conventions as he is so incredibly supportive of that market.
Boring Tech Notes: Bonus points for when the aspect ratios of the shows come up, they slowly swipe back to “full frame” a few seconds later making for a strong effect that I wish more documentaries would copy.
This film and many others like it showed at South By Southwest this year from March 10-19. For more information on this and other titles, point your browser to www.sxsw.com!