Shatner angry over Star Wars drop

Thursday, August 23, 2007

New York, Aug 22 (ANI): Actor William Shatner reportedly hit out at producer JJ Abrams publicly for dropping him out of 'Star Trek XI', the new 80 million-dollar movie blockbuster. According to a Gatecrasher source, the Canadian actor criticised the producer for not taking him but inviting actor Leonard Nimoy to rejoin as the emotionless Vulcan sidekick Mr. Spock. "We had our picture taken with William Shatner, and he was so [addled] and red of face that his eyes were watering," New York Daily quoted the source, as saying.

It seems that the 76-year-old former commander of the Starship USS Enterprise, James T. Kirk, is really upset about the whole issue, for during his rage he even mentioned an incident on his way to the conference when he challenged the driver calling himself Captain Kirk. "In his manic stream, he also related a road-rage incident he had en route to the conference where he got out of the car to confront a driver while saying, 'I am Captain Kirk, I am Captain Kirk!'" the source said.

Luckily the other driver turned out to be the actor's fan but it seems his odd behaviour has even raised Nimoy's concern for him. "Shatner was so manic onstage that Leonard Nimoy actually said, 'We're worried about you'," the source said. Shatner played Captain Kirk from 1966 to 1969 in the original TV series and in seven of the subsequent movies. Meanwhile, although the actor's misery has not put any impact on 'Abrams so far, grapevine is strong that he might play a cameo in the flick.