‘You Can Call Me Bill’ Offers an In-Depth View of Legendary Actor William Shatner

At the young age of six, William Shatner took to making people laugh, cracking jokes while onstage, and entertaining his fellow friends at a Montreal elementary school. Now over 87 years later, the legendary actor is letting people see the man behind the screen in the new documentary You Can Call Me Bill.

Ahead of his 93rd birthday, The Knock caught up with the icon and asked him about the doc, something Shatner says he was always approached about but never agreed– until now. 

“I’m totally conscious of the thinking to do this film,” Shatner told us at Lincoln Center last week. “When I was asked to do a biography my impulse was this: I’ve said no too many times.”

Shatner explained that he was approached numerous times in the past and has always said no, but it was the idea behind Legion M, the world’s first fan-owned entertainment, that really drew him in. 

“These are good people and the director, Alexandre O. Philippe, is wonderful. I thought I’ll do it this time, given the passage of years, that I’ll try and leave a legacy to my children or my grandchildren,” Shatner said before the New York City debut of the documentary.

“I didn’t want to try to think of–- a polite term for this is bullshit. I didn’t want to leave any bullshit. I didn’t want to make up a story,” the 93-year-old candidly said. “That’s cool and, you know, what does it matter if they believe it or not? I mean, it’s out there.”

“But this is like a gift to my people come after me. What was your grandfather like? Great Grandfather? What things had he said? I wanted this to be truthful for them, for my family. So this is in effect, a legacy that I’m leaving them. The songs, the money, the fame and all that kind of thing, sure– but whatever I would have told them and they could have asked me in years to come, here are some of the answers.”

The director of the documentary said he too was surprised by Shatner’s candid responses to some rather philosophical questions. Alexandre O. Philippe, director of other documentaries that follow household name stars such as ​​Lynch/Oz and The People vs. George Lucas, got the actor to open up by describing the face behind his mask.

“What’s fascinating to me is that you’re talking about a guy who essentially has an 87-year acting career. Try to wrap your head around that– he started when he was six,” Philippe said. “So the majority of his life, he’s been wearing all these masks, thousands of masks.”

The whole sort of idea behind this film was how do we get William Shatner to, you know, the man of a thousand faces, to take off the masks; to show and reveal who was actually behind that.”

You Can Call Me Bill does exactly that– it talks about masks for one, but it also shows a frank and unstudied view of Shatner as a person, something people rarely get to see behind his Star Trek, T.J. Hooker, Miss Congeniality, Boston Legal and many [many] more roles.

Shatner offers wise words of advice when looking retrospectively at his own career.

“How do I feel about my life?” Shatner asks when The Knock asked him about his storied on-screen presence that leaves people today still referring to him as Captain Kirk, T.J. Hooker, and of course, Denny Crane.

“What I may have learned was certainly not new. It’s that your life is like a book that you’re writing. You write your chapters and each moment in your life is written down. And if you look back, like right now, if I look back at this interview, I can say well, I felt a little awkward and couldn’t find the right words. And it also offers a perspective on your life.” 

“Well, that was a chapter. I’m going on to the next chapter. That experience that I just had. Good, bad or indifferent, was one chapter. And now onto the next chapter of the book I’m going to write and it’s going to be written with me and for me,” the actor-now-turned-philosopher added. “So I think of things or I try to think of things in that perspective.”

Philippe quipped that for him, being behind the camera offered a more affectionate look into someone we all have essentially known our entire lives. 

“It was obviously amazing. I’m just really fond of him as a human. I was a fan and I’ve been a fan for a long time but what a man. I think the messages that he has, I think for us are really important,” Philippe told The Knock. “They’re deceptively simple, but I think it will resonate. I’ve been touring with the film that for a year internationally, so I’m getting a sense that people are really responding to it in a really powerful way. So now we’re launching it in the States. I’m really hoping it’s gonna do well.”

Shatner’s main morale above all? It’s take whatever lemons life throws at you– and make as much lemonade as possible.

“I was opening on Broadway in a one man show and I had something, but whatever it was, I couldn’t leave the bathroom,” Shatner offered rather quickly. “So I came down to the theater very ill. In fact, there were two doctors whom I knew giving me intravenous fluids and stuff like that. And I had opened the one-man show on Broadway, and I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t leave the toilet.”

“I was assailed by the urge to go in the middle of the show. I said there’s been a technical difficulty and we’ll be right back,” Shatner said laughing between words. “And then I thought,  from a historical perspective, this is a good story that someday I’ll tell somebody about. But I mustn’t panic or get upset about this happening now. Because there’s a perspective to it, another chapter to be written, and that’s how I survived having done the show.”

“I had to go to the bathroom, and did go to the bathroom– on stage. Well, I’m able to tell you the story now with humor, because it worked out. There was a pause and I went up and changed my underwear and all that, came downstairs and continued the show. Nobody knew the difference. And I have this wonderful story to tell you.”

Philippe quipped that for him, being behind the camera offered a more affectionate look into someone we all have essentially known our entire lives. 

“It was obviously amazing. I’m just really fond of him as a human. I was a fan and I’ve been a fan for a long time but what a man. I think the messages that he has, I think for us are really important,” Philippe told The Knock. “They’re deceptively simple, but I think it will resonate. I’ve been touring with the film that for a year internationally, so I’m getting a sense that people are really responding to it in a really powerful way. So now we’re launching it in the States. I’m really hoping it’s gonna do well.”

Shatner’s main morale above all? It’s take whatever lemons life throws at you– and make as much lemonade as possible.

“I was opening on Broadway in a one man show and I had something, but whatever it was, I couldn’t leave the bathroom,” Shatner offered rather quickly. “So I came down to the theater very ill. In fact, there were two doctors whom I knew giving me intravenous fluids and stuff like that. And I had opened the one man show on Broadway, and I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t leave the toilet.”

“I was assailed by the urge to go in the middle of the show. I said there’s been a technical difficulty and we’ll be right back,” Shatner said laughing between words. “And then I thought,  from a historical perspective, this is a good story that someday I’ll tell somebody about. But I mustn’t panic or get upset about this happening now. Because there’s a perspective to it, another chapter to be written, and that’s how I survived having done the show.”

“I had to go to the bathroom, and did go to the bathroom– on stage. Well, I’m able to tell you the story now with humor, because it worked out. There was a pause and I went up and changed my underwear and all that, came downstairs and continued the show. Nobody knew the difference. And I have this wonderful story to tell you.”