I'm sure he was paid quite handsomely. They don't pay people the amount of money they have paid him if they don't believe he will be a profit to the franchise and the Paramount in general. There would not have been a ST TMP, WOK, SFP, VH, FF, or UC without Kirk. But, for them to have the success they did have with each of the Star Trek movies that had the original cast they needed Kirk, they needed Shatner. I'm also willing to bet that with what it sounds like they are doing with this next movie, we will see a box office flop both domestically and internationally. People are not going to accept different actors in these roles. I might be wrong, but I doubt that I am. He has played varying roles within the franchise to say the least. But, I would say his value to the Paramount, and Star Trek are about equal to that of Shatners. Nimoy will be a draw, but without Shatner the chemistry is not going to be what it could be with the two of them together. Much like ST Generations, having Doohan and Koenig was great. But, it would have been far more satisfying to have Shatner and Nimoy on that bridge instead.
Right on target. To give you an example of the difference in each man's contribution, another Harve Bennett/TSFS story: Comes the scene on Mount Seleya where the priestess comes out and Spock and McCoy are both laid out in preparation for the fal tor pan. Mr. Shatner is not happy. The camera is not on him, and he is not happy. Keep in mind that Nimoy's simultaneously directing and acting and, AFAIK, being paid what he would have been for doing one or the other. Because if they'd paid him more, that favored nation clause would have meant they'd have to pay Shatner more. Anyway, for most of the scene the camera's not on Spock's face, so Nimoy's behind the camera and either his stunt double or a dummy is in his place on the slab. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Shatner fidgeting. "Cut. Bill, what's the matter?" Shatner wants to talk to Nimoy and Bennett, urgently. He's got an idea for how they can improve the scene. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the priestesses and the gong and the torches, all nice. But somehow Admiral Kirk has to get up there with T'Lar and - direct quote from Shatner - "Make things happen." Bennett, by now, is about to explode, but Nimoy winks at him. "Interesting, Bill," he says, nodding, listening. "Interesting. Tell you what...we'll shoot it both ways." They do. Shatner's placated, and Nimoy's got final cut. And we know which version ended up in the movie.
Shatner is such a chowderhead. Back when I used to watch latenight television, he did a bit with Jay Leno. Jay took Shatner, a Burt Reynolds look-alike, and some other look-alike and took them out on the town to see who they thought looked the most like the actual celebrity. Because Shatner was sure everyone would immediately recognize him, he insisted on wearing a ridiculous prosthetic nose. Pretty much the whole segment consisted of people guessing amongst the various look-alikes, with the comment being "Yeah, that guy looks a little bit like William Shatner, but what's the deal with the fake nose he's wearing?" Or a time he was on...Letterman? Letterman. I was like "OK. I'll stay up for that. Shatner's an interesting guy who has aged more or less gracefully." No. Kirk is an interesting guy who's aged more or less gracefully. Shatner was a jackass and a boor and it was painful to watch him.
Nimoy, quite correctly, noted that of the people for that scene, the only one that needed to be portrayed by a specific person was Kirk. Everyone else was interchangable.
I met The Shat at a book signing. He was rude to the family right ahead of me. I'm sorry, you don't speak to people in a tone like they are children, in front oif their own children. Also, you don't talk down to them after they just bought your book and waited for your signature. I have yet to meet Capt. Kirk. But, the Shat was kind of a jerk.
And, in fact, Walter Koenig was a second choice when they couldn't get Nichelle Nichols due to a prior commitment.
IIRC correctly, the lore was it was originally Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. DeForrest Kelley was happy with the exit his character made in Encounter at Farpoint, and Nimoy gave the above criticism as a reason for not joining. I hadn't heard the bit about Nichelle Nichols being the next choice for one of them.
Going from memory here, and it's been a while, but you're correct that the Wish List was to get the Big Three back together. When that didn't work out, IIRC, the Suits contacted Doohan, Takei and Nichols, but, for whatever Suit reason, not Koenig. Doohan grabbed the role. George, Nichelle and Walter are good friends off-camera, and they talked. When George found out Walter hadn't been asked, he and Nichelle told the Suits "if you don't need Walter, you don't need us." Nichelle was on tour with her one-woman show, and it would have been very difficult to change her schedule anyway, so she probably would have bowed out regardless. The Suits got huffy, told Takei they didn't need him, and asked Walter. Which is why you have a different Sulu at the helm. At least that's how I recall its being told to me.
I think one good way to at least tip the hat to Shat is to wait until the very end. If Spock is indeed reminiscing or whatever about the past, then after you had the climax of the film, just before the credits roll, Jim could walk up and make some remark like this: Kirk: Wouldn't it be great to get back out there Spock?" Spock: "An acquaintances of mine once remarked that 'galavanting about the universe is a game for the young', if I recall correctly." Kirk: Really? I hope you didn't listen to him - sounds like an idiot." Both exit - fade to credits Now, you will say "but Kirk died!" and when you realize that, you get the point - you both salute the movie that wasthe high point of Trek films AND dismiss the much hated "death of Kirk" with a single scene - and don't trouble yourself to answer the question "how can Kirk be alive here?"
^ Well, it would get points for pure camp. When I checked IMDB a little while ago, the speculation is that If that's the case, I just saved $9.00.
^^ People will trouble themselves anyway . . . and quite possibly decide that Spock's ol' brainpan has finally flipped. ^Sounds like someone had just seen FC and NEM.
If I hear that either part of that is true, I'm going do more than keep my $9. I'm going to stock up on ammo, drive to the set, and end production personally.
I'd put it as an easter egg post-credits. No fade or exit either, just a musical beat and black. That would kick ass, especially if the Nimoy segments of the film were expressly stated to be post-Generations. Of course, Shat would never go for it .
