William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill
Shatner dares us to "Boldly Go" in this inspiring documentary.
One thing is for sure – William Shatner is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever encountered. Yes, I’ve met Mr. Shatner, spoken to him (a little), and walked away feeling like I’d almost had a spiritual experience. It’s hard to explain, but anyone who has spent any amount of time with him knows exactly what I’m talking about.
You’ll get that feeling after watching Alexandre O. Phillippe’s documentary “William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill.” If you go into the doc wanting to stroll down memory lane with Mr. Shatner, this isn’t the film for you. Instead, you get to listen to him romanticize about life, love, loneliness, and ultimately death. His passion oozes from the screen and will inspire you to live a better life.
That might sound like a bold claim for a film about an actor, but the beauty of William Shatner is his relentless pursuit of curiosity. It’s what has powered his life from an early age and what still inspires him today.
The documentary is broken into a prologue, five chapters and an epilogue. The story isn’t one that seamlessly transitions from one important moment in his life to another but rather highlights what makes him tick as a person. You’ll soon learn that he’s more complex than most give him credit for.
He’s a man who has the world at his fingertips yet is most comfortable sitting on one of his beloved horses. He’s an actor who’s loved by many but is consumed by loneliness. He’s a man of great wealth, but for his final curtain call, he wants to become a tree, literally. As it’s been said before, it’s Shatner’s world, and we’re all just living in it.
One of his passions, which only strengthened after traveling to space in a Blue Origin rocket, was how fragile our world is and how much it needs our help. He says it’s easy to lose track of how infinitely small we truly are and forget that we are just a speck in the universe.
He emphasizes the importance of being present in the moment, time and again. Live in the now, don’t fear the future, and don’t regret the past. Live where you are, love it, and don’t waste a second by looking away or blinking. This philosophy has served him well for almost a century and is something we should all implement in our lives.
One thing that really inspired me was when he dissected the phrase “Boldly Go.” It’s simple and profound: “Boldly go into life and live passionately,” and later, he continues, “Go boldly. Go with courage. Go fully. Go with commitment. That’s what it means.”
Along with going boldly, he implores us not to live with regret because the decisions we make at the moment are what we felt were correct at the time. How many of us live with regrets that steal the beauty from the present moment? I know my hand is raised, and I can guarantee I’m not the only one.
I’ve read a book or two by Mr. Shatner. The one thing he talks about a lot in recent years is his fear of dying—not the act itself, but the finality of it. For a man so filled with curiosity, one has to assume that curiosity also extends to what lies beyond this mortal plane. He just doesn’t want to make that journey just yet.
And that fear of dying goes to a central question he’s asked himself all is life – why. Why are we here? Why has the gift of life been given to us? Why must we love? Why must we suffer loss? Why must we die?
It’s so hard to describe this film and do it justice. It really is. It plays like a piece of performance art that Mr. Shatner is known for, yet it is soul-shaking in its profoundness. And I don’t say that lightly.
This is the kind of film that leaves you questioning your life and feeling inspired to make changes. This documentary was perfectly Shatner - filled with beauty and passion and the nudge to be forever curious. It’s like getting some great life advice from the coolest grandpa you could ever have.
William Shatner is as unique as they come, and “William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill” is equally distinctive. It’s an inspiring documentary about a man whose passions have shaped his life and who implores us all to go boldly into life, love, and, ultimately, the great beyond.