William Shatner reflects: “The moths of extinction will eat my brain as they will my clothing and it will all disappear”
William Shatner gets existential prior to the premiere of his documentary, You Can Call Me Bill
Aux News William Shatner
Ahead of the premiere of his documentary at SXSW, veteran actor William Shatner has shared a lot of notions on death through a deeply existential lens. The 91-year-old actor will soon appear in the documentary You Can Call Me Bill, which he made with director Alexandre O. Philippe. For him, he says documenting his career and life has become a matter of importance as he stares down the barrel of death.
“I’ve turned down a lot of offers to do documentaries before,” Shatner tells Variety. “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.”
In his older age, it seems the prolific actor has realized that memories fade and eventually all of us will have to leave behind everything we’ve collected throughout our lives as our bodies turn to rot. Even if we’ll be able to go chat with an AI version of Shatner long after he’s gone, that won’t stop his physical form from decomposing, making it impossible to wear all those suits he has.
“The sad thing is that the older a person gets the wiser they become and then they die with all that knowledge. And it’s gone. It’s not like I’m going to take my ideas or my clothing with me,” Shatner explains. “Today, there’s a person going through some of my clothes in order to donate or sell them, because what am I going to do with all these suits that I’ve got? What am I going to do with all these thoughts? What am I going to do with 90 years of observations? The moths of extinction will eat my brain as they will my clothing and it will all disappear.”
And what does he think happens when it’s time to go?
“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,” Shatner explains. “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.”
He continues, “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.”
The making of the documentary is far from Shatner’s first time thinking about what all happens when it ends. In 2015, following the death of Shatner’s longtime Star Trek co-star Leonard Nimoy, conversation sparked when Shatner missed his funeral to speak at a fundraising event for the Red Cross. When reflecting on the event nearly 8 years later, Shatner offers some interesting musing on legacies and the communal memory of Cary Grant.
“I chose to keep my promise and go to Mar-a-Lago instead of the funeral, and I said to the audience, ‘People ask about a legacy. There’s no legacy. Statues are torn down. Graveyards are ransacked. Headstones are knocked over. No one remembers anyone. Who remembers Danny Kaye or Cary Grant? They were great stars. But they’re gone and no one cares.’” Shatner says. “But what does live on are good deeds. If you do a good deed, it reverberates to the end of time.”
Shatner’s been a little more existential since his trip up into outer space on one of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin expeditions. It’s spurred him to get more involved in environmental activism as he thinks about humanity in a greater sense.
“When I came out of the space ship I was crying, just sobbing, and I thought why am I crying? What’s going on? I’m in grief. What am I grieving about?” Shatner says. “Oh shit, I’m grieving about the world, because I now know so much about what’s happening. I saw the Earth and its beauty and its destruction. It’s going extinct. Billions of years of evolution may vanish. It’s sacred, it’s holy, it’s life and it’s gone. It’s beyond tragic. We stupid fucking animals are destroying this gorgeous thing called the Earth. Doesn’t that make you angry? Don’t you want to do something about it?”
Well, happy Friday everyone.
48 Comments
I remember Danny Kaye. Always with the singing and the dancing, drove me up the wall.
They may not remember Danny Kaye or Cary Grant, but they’ll damn sure remember……. even if he can’t remember himself.
This is my favorite role he’s ever done.
Same. So much fun and quite moving at points. Those two are also my favorite on-screen relationship of any type (romantic, friendship, enemies, etc…) They were flamingos together!
There’s another show that didn’t overstay its welcome. IIRC, it was dropped because of subtle ageism.
“William Shatner lecturing us all on mortality” was not on my 2023 bingo card.
““When I came out of the space ship I was crying, just sobbing, and I thought why am I crying? What’s going on? I’m in grief. What am I grieving about?” Shatner says. “Oh shit, I’m grieving about the world, because I now know so much about what’s happening. I saw the Earth and its beauty and its destruction. It’s going extinct. Billions of years of evolution may vanish. It’s sacred, it’s holy, it’s life and it’s gone. It’s beyond tragic. We stupid fucking animals are destroying this gorgeous thing called the Earth. Doesn’t that make you angry? Don’t you want to do something about it?””
Well said.
Or … and hear me out ..“You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you!”
I was really, really hoping Bezos, after getting up there, would get the same effect as Shatner and pretty much every other astronaut. It’s a real mental phenomenon and imagine what we could do if we had at least ONE billionaire who was completely devoted to preserving life on this planet.
After reading Neal Stephenson’s Termination Shock, I’m starting to come around to the idea that that might be the best chance we have, which is kinda depressing. That is more or less what happens in the novel: a billionaire starts a project to shoot a bunch of sulfur into the stratophere (in order to create a barrier to reflect sunlight)*. I have no doubt that the governements of the world *could* get together and solve this problem, but I doubt that will happen before we are the knife’s edge, so close to an extinction-level event that it becomes impossible to ignore. Someone with enough capital can just decide to unilaterally kickstart a massive geoengineering project with little oversight (or quickly enough that they only have to worry about oversight in hindsight).*I don’t know enough about the science to know how feasible the scheme is. Even in the book, it doesn’t work out perfectly (some countries are negatively affected by it).
There’s a lot of sulfur in Venus’ atmosphere, resulting in surface temps of +800 degrees.
As an environmental engineer: In theory, stratospheric aerosol injection, especially with sulfur, could work to increase the earth’s albedo (reflectivity) and reduce incoming solar radiation. (It’s the same basic principle as a sufficiently large volcanic eruption causing a volcanic winter—e.g., 1816 as the “year without a summer” following the eruption of Mt. Tambora.) There might be some practical or economic issues to solve—e.g., what is the lifetime of such aerosols in the atmosphere, and how often would they need to be replenished?—but the basic physical principles are sound.In terms of potential risk, however, I would say we should adhere to the precautionary principle and not remotely adopt such a strategy. Even relatively simple systems can exhibit second-order effects that are computationally difficult—if not impossible—to predict. (The classic example is the introduction of grey wolves into Yellowstone in the 1990s to help cull deer—this led to a change in deer behaviour, and in turn a vegetation growth patterns, and in turn a significant transformation in the local ecosystem.) In the case of something as complex and important to us as the atmosphere, the potential risk could entail ecosystem collapse. For instance, the aerosols might react unexpectedly in the atmosphere that may not be an issue with acute events like eruptions but may if the aerosols are chronically injected into the atmosphere—e.g., there is a reasonable fear it may directly or indirectly lead to ozone depletion. (Even if we consider this outcome to be low-probability—which isn’t something we’re really in a position to assess—we need to consider potential impact as well when assessing risk.)I’d also argue that such geoengineering schemes only really aim to address one symptom of one ecological disaster we’re courting—rather than addressing the human actions inducing it. (Bear in mind we’re also facing many other anthropogenic ecological disasters—e.g. topsoil depletion induced by widespread, yet entirely unsustainable, agricultural techniques.)All that said, our brains haven’t really evolved to assess second-order effects or risk, and historically our collective nature has been to neglect the precautionary principle—as is currently happening with generative AI—so I’d be surprised if some geoengineering schemes aren’t attempted as the world’s food systems become more and more stressed in the coming years. I’d also be surprised if this didn’t only lead to our taking more species down with us than we already are.Phew. Have a lovely day!
Thank you for the very thorough reply!
The Snowpiercer Effect.
There HAS been a covert effort to deflect heat away from the atmosphere. That’s what the chemtrail phenomenon is all about. And no I’m not talking about contrails.
“if we had at least ONE billionaire who was completely devoted to preserving life on this planet.”Lol now think about how they got to be billionaires.
To become a billionaire I think you have to destroy that part of your brain.
He had to take a vanity rocket ride that probably burned more fuel in a few minutes than everything I’ll do in my life combined to get to that conclusion, but better late than never.
I’ve always liked Shatner, but this speech made elevated him to one of my all-time favorite humans.
The Earth will be fine, just fine; it’s humans and many of the species who had the cosmic misfortune to share the planet with us during our brief tenure who are fucked.
It’s really not necessary to specify, when mentioning “the Earth” in this context, that yes, it means the biosphere on which we rely rather than some other biosphere or the physical structure of the planet.
Fair enough, but to be clearer, the Earth’s biosphere has survived numerous mass extinctions; we won’t make it through the one we’ve caused, but there is no question that capital-L Life will, which is something I honestly don’t think a lot of people who are rightly concerned about the environment realize.
KHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Danny Kaye was the Paladin of the Lost Hour. Also starred in White Christmas
Extremely relevant:
Great track off of an amazing album.I was like everybody else, making fun of Shatner’s “music” career but then Has Been came out and I finally got it.
I genuinely believe that his cover of “Common People” is far superior to Pulp’s original.
He ain’t wrong!
It’s true… you will eventually lose your pants when you die. Dunno about some of that other stuff, though.
“Can’t happen fast enough for me!”
Is Werner Herzog a Vulcan and did he grip Shatner to mind meld with him?
“The Moths of Extinction Will Eat My Brain as They Will My Clothing and It Will All Disappear” sounds like the title of a badass death metal song.
Sounds more neo-psychedelic to me.
Cannibal Corpse: “SHATNER stole our lyrics!!!”
“The Moths of Extinction Will Eat My Brain as They Will My Clothing and It Will All Disappear” sounds like the title of a badass death metal song.
Shatner’s got enough written documentation and recordings of him that down the line, they probably could make a very plausible AI version of him – or maybe even some kind of emulation. Not true immortality, but something of you.
Reminds me of my grandfather’s 90th birthday party, where the whole extended family came together to celebrate Grandad’s big day. After lunch and cake, we all gathered around and got quiet to listen to his raspy, whispered wisdom, and he told us: “The thing you don’t realize about getting older…is how much everything hurts, all the time.” Great day. Truly joyous occasion.
My dad feels fine at the moment as far as we know. On the other hand he doesn’t turn 90 (hopefully!) until late August.
Nutrition, healthcare and life expectancy has come a long way in a generation, even if general fitness of the population hasn’t.
One of the things I’ve always liked about William Shatner is that he’s sometimes very practical and realistic about things. Behind the entitled star behavior, you find a guy who’s worked hard all of his life to make a living, and hasn’t had any illusions about the craft of acting transcending the fact that acting is still a job at the end of the day. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t *have* to keep up his pace at 91, but he does it anyway. Probably something to do with surviving on 15 cent plates of fruit salad when he was getting started, and living in a truck while doing summer stock play productions after “Star Trek” was cancelled so he could keep up his alimony and child support payments.
Boldly go, Shat. Boldly go.
Fuck you, Bill, I’m constantly thinking about Danny Kaye movies.
Giving off big “Newly-dumped Ron Donald listening to Dust in the Wind on repeat and climbing into a coffin to hotbox” in season 2 of Party Down vibes
I want to believe he went to the Red Cross event at Mar-a-Lago(yuck) because he wanted to keep his commitment but all the stories of how petty Shatner can be makes me wonder if he skipped it as a last fuck you to Nimoy. They had a long friendship but apperently were not speaking at the time of his death
That was also 2015, back in the innocent days when Mar-a-Lago was just a tacky resort in Florida.
Lots of people remember Cary Grant though… Just the other day I was randomly wondering why the hell he talked like that.
Reminder that Shatner has been a vocal proponent of anti-autistic hate group “autism speaks.” Not relevant to the substance of this article, but still important to remember.
“Sir, this is an Arby’s.”