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By GustavoLeao / 05:17, 17 October 2005 / General Genre/SciFi
Starbase972 just posted an exclusive interview with writer/director Robert Burnett. Burnett marked his feature writing/directing debut with Regent Entertainment's multiple-award winning 1999 theatrical release FREE ENTERPRISE, starring William Shatner, which took Best Film and Best New Writer honors from the 1998 AFI Film Festival. Here are a few excerpts.
Starbase972: As a STAR TREK fan for many years, what is your opinion about the current situation of the franchise? What will be its future?
Robert: I've been disappointed with the current state of the TREK franchise since the second season opener of VOYAGER, "The 37's," when the crew encountered a '30s pick-up truck floating in space.
When originally broadcast in 1960s America, shows like THE TWILIGHT ZONE and STAR TREK were able to confront issues which no other television shows at the time could touch, because of the moral and social climate of the country. Social issues like class struggle, racism and even the war in Vietnam could be dealt with on a weekly basis, because network censors and sponsors saw these programs as unreal fantasies. STAR TREK especially, with episodes like "A Private Little War," "Miri," "Errand of Mercy," "A Taste of Armageddon," and "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," related directly to what was happening on the streets of the country. The episodes reflected directly back on the American audience itself.
Now, however, STAR TREK is really only about, well, STAR TREK. Because there's so much of it now, Trek threatens to become irrelevant under its own weight. Rather than reflect the current state of humanity, STAR TREK now seems more about temporal anomalies and internal TREK history than anything relating to the current state of the world.
Even the film FIRST CONTACT was really only about internal STAR TREK continuity and didn't really have much to say about the human condition, unlike WRATH OF KHAN, which was all about aging and mortality.
However, STAR TREK isn't going away. Currently, Pocket Books is still publishing novels every month. Fan-produced episodes are all over the web, growing more sophisticated all the time. 2006 marks the 40th anniversary of the franchise... and I'm sure Paramount, now under new management, is eager to keep the franchise rolling. It may take a few years... but it's only a matter of time before we see a new incarnation of the Trek franchise.
Starbase972: What is the current situation of FREE ENTERPRISE 2? Please share with us what do you plan for this movie. We heard there's a possibility you'd film in Israel.
Robert: Currently, along with my partner Mark A. Altman, I'm finishing up the screenplay. In the story, Mark and Rob's lives have changed. They've drifted apart as friends. They've become people they never thought they'd be. Basically, they're unhappy with who they've become. Then, when William Shatner disappears, both men have reasons to go and find him. Unfortunately, because they really don't know Shatner as a person, they have to go to the one man who knows Shatner better than they do... Leonard Nimoy. The three of them hit the road on... well... a Search for Shatner!
We've yet to approach Mr. Nimoy, but Shatner said he could get him to be in the movie. We'll see. I wouldn't want to make it without him.
In the original draft of the script, Nimoy finds Shatner at the top of Masada, in a secret base, studying to be a Rabbi. To get him to come back to the states, the Orthodox Nimoy then goes head to head with Shatner in a battle to see who knows more about old testament scripture. If Shatner wins, he'll stay and finish his teachings, hiding forever from the real world. If Nimoy wins, he'll haul Shatner back to Las Vegas to perform Rob's wedding ceremony at the STAR TREK Experience in Las Vegas.
Now, I don't know if any of this will make it to the finished film, but I can promise you this, the climax of the film does take place at a wedding with Shatner and Nimoy singing "Sunrise, Sunset" from "Fiddler on the Roof" (or...as we have in the film, "Mel Brook Presents FIDDLER ON THE MOON.
The full interview can be found here.
FREE ENTERPRISE is a sweet Halloween treat and jolly Christmas stocking stuff. DVD on sale in the U.S.A., Canada, the United Kingdom, and Deutschland.
In a February interview, Robert Burnett says, "The blame for the delay with "FREE ENTERPRISE 2" really lies with me. I've been in New Zealand for the past year working on THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE DVD for Buena Vista Home Entertainment, so I really haven't been able to finish the script. But, working on this new FREE ENTERPRISE DVD has strengthened my resolve. I think we've written a terrific script, a much larger film, which I hope to finish in the next couple of weeks. We really need to make it this year to celebrate the 40th anniversary of STAR TREK, which happens next year. I'd love to make it for Paramount Classics, so we can finally use proper STAR TREK iconography. I will tell you this, I said to Shatner, "So, Bill, at the climax of the sequel, you have to eject out of an Israeli fighter jet, parachute to the outskirts of Las Vegas (there's a convention in town, so the pattern is full), jump on a horse and gallop down the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard so you can make it in time to preside over a certain wedding. How does that sound to you?" After a long pause, Bill says, deadpan, "Well Rob, it's nothing I haven't done before." Frankly, the film would be a slam dunk. I'd love to have the entire original cast return, plus a few crucial additional cast members."
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