"Where Movie Critics Get A Taste Of Their Own Medicine"
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PART TWO: March 18, 2005 |
When I saw a news clip on TV that William Shatner was in Riverside, Iowa filming a sci-fi movie he wrote 30 years ago called "Invasion Iowa," I was shocked! I knew nothing about it and I'm generally well informed on film news in Iowa. Immediately, I called William Shatner's personal assistant to arrange for an interview and obtain information about the movie. They had nothing and refused to talk about it. Then he suggested I contact a Jeanmarie on the movie set and she could help with a possible interview. Thus I began my trek to Riverside, Iowa - future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk.
When I arrived in Riverside, I drove past the Kwik 'n' EZ convenience store, and a park displaying a replica of the Star Ship Enterprise. Seemed like a nice, quiet town, but I saw no signs of a movie being filmed. Later I would learn the crew was filming at a nearby farm. Driving up to the farm house, a policeman told me the crew had just finished and I saw some of them leaving. I asked one member where I could find publicist Jeanmarie. They handed me her business card and then I called her on my cell phone. I told Jeanmarie I was in town, but that didn't seem to matter to her. She kept making excuses why I would have to wait until the end of next week to do an interview with Shatner and warned me all the filming was on closed sets. So I agreed to contact her again later in the week.
Driving out of town, I pulled off the road and stopped. I thought to myself, the heck with it! I'm already here. Critic Doctor will simply invade the movie set of "Invasion Iowa" incognito. So I turned the car around and back to Riverside I went. I drove up to a place called Murphy's Bar & Grill where I saw several people going into the building. Following them inside, I saw video cameras were everywhere, recording everything - and the bar/restaurant was packed with lots of people.
I sat down at a booth to watch what was going on. A tall, young man walked up and asked if he could sit in my booth so he could watch the Cubs play on a nearby TV. I said, sure. We exchanged a few thoughts on the game and I asked him his name. He said Herb. "Herb? Well, that's my name, too." I replied. "I don't meet a lot of Herbs these days."
Herb didn't seem too impressed. When he told me he works for William Shatner as his personal assistant, I asked, "Hey, didn't I speak with you earlier today on the phone?" He looked at me confused and said no. I started to ask more questions and he appeared to act nervous and stood up and said it was nice to meet me and then walked away.
I thought about what happened earlier that day when I spoke to Shatner's personal assistant and I remembered his name was Carmen or maybe a Chris - but not Herb. I thought that was strange. I simply brushed it off thinking Mr. Shatner must have several assistants. Uh, yeah right.
Anyway, I ordered this huge, tasty tenderloin from Murphy's and it was absolutely delicious! Then I noticed the production crew was preparing a tiny room in back of the restaurant for filming. I finished my meal and walked over to investigate. To my surprise, they were getting ready to show dailies (footage filmed earlier that day). Dailies are normally viewed behind closed doors, not in public. Strange they would show this in a public setting - especially with all the secrecy involved with closed sets. (Not so strange if it's a reality show!)
Video cameras were situated and ready to capture people watching the clips. I asked one patron what the deal was with all the video cameras constantly filming everyone. He said the movie people were filming a documentary of the movie alongside the movie itself. Well, that made sense to me (duped!). A crew member asked if anyone else wanted in the small room to watch the dailies, so I volunteered. They made me sign some publicity release form and took a Polaroid head shot of me. I thought, cool. Maybe my mug will actually end up in the DVD documentary (You're getting suckered again, Herb!)
I stood up against the back wall with a room full of people seated in front of a big TV screen. A few were wearing hats they called Shats. William Shatner promoted it as a mood hat and it came in three colors Green (indicating a good mood), Yellow (proceed with caution) and Red (stay away). People loved it! Of course, I avoided standing next to those with red Shats.
Shatner himself finally appeared and stepped into the small room. He was greeted with a warm welcome of applause and he joked around with the crowd for a few moments and was eager to show the footage. The film clip began to roll.
My God it was cheesy! This was Shatner's dream movie he wrote 30 years ago? I watched local towns people acting right alongside this big movie and television star. The dialogue had more cheese than this dish I make called Chicken Schwing!
I watched the footage and my heart began to sink. I started to feel sorry for William Shatner. Then I began to feel sorry for the people around me. They all seemed so excited to be in this movie, but the movie was nothing near the high quality production I had expected. This is going straight to DVD, I thought to myself. The people of Riverside are going to be so disappointed. I even tried to make excuses in my own mind why this might actually work, but then I had to slap myself back to reality.
Should I leave now, I was thinking, and pretend I never came to Riverside and that way I wouldn't have to write about this movie? What is a Critic Doctor to do? My curiosity, however, compelled me to stay. Observing William Shatner and the people of Riverside interacting and having fun with each other was an unusual and interesting thing to see. Shatner appeared to be a good natured celebrity who was more concerned about having fun with people than concentrating on the seriousness of movie making.
At this point, I didn't know what to think. William Shatner's "Star Trek" character - Captain James T. Kirk - was one of my childhood heroes, so I had a strong interest in his work. Yet here is William Shatner - standing right in front of me - making one of the worst movie decisions of his life. Has Bill Shatner lost his mind, I thought? Whatever the case, he was a joy to watch as he mingled with people around the set. Shatner seemed to know everyone by first name and he was, indeed, making a real connection. Shatner was like common people.
Speaking of common people, Shatner has a new music album out called "Has Been" (produced by Ben Folds). I listened to the song "Common People" on the internet and it was a combination of spoken word and music. Surprisingly, I liked it. But I wondered if the album's title "Has Been" was a prophetic indication of what was to become of Shatner's career after he finished this "Invasion Iowa" movie.
Yet here is a man who just won an Emmy for his role on "The Practice" and now appears on a new show called "Boston Legal" as Denny Crane. He is extremely popular on the Priceline.com TV commercials and is a successful writer of novels. Shatner is certainly no has been, but what on Earth compelled him to make this thing he calls a movie?
I returned to Riverside for the next several days, incognito, to observe. Shatner was quite accessible, walking around town apparently scouting new locations for various scenes. I kept my distance, however, so I would not bring any attention to myself. Later in the day, I watched a scene being filmed where a fire truck rushed to a burning vehicle and Shatner was filmed putting out the fire. The dailies offered another batch of cheese and then I decided it was time to contact publicist Jeanmarie for another attempt at an interview with Mr. Shatner.
Jeanmarie surprised me and said the filming was going to end early. She said I could come to a premier the next day. A premier? A premier of what? She said it was something for the movie. It seems this "Invasion Iowa" thing gets crazier and crazier the longer I hang around. Now they want to have a premier of a movie that isn't even complete? There was no way I was going to miss this event.
On September 28, 2004 - William Shatner stepped before a crowd of 900 people or so and announced "Invasion Iowa" was a fake movie. They were really filming a Spike-TV reality show depicting how a small town reacts to the craziness of Hollywood. He then presented the town of Riverside with a check for $100,000.
MY JAW DROPPED. My heart was instantly filled with joy. I was so happy for the people of Riverside, Iowa that they would not end up in some corny, straight to DVD sci-fi flick. It actually made my eyes water and everyone around me was ecstatic!
It turns out William Shatner is a brilliant and creative man with huge heart. The man who once played my childhood hero on "Star Trek" is now a real-life hero to me today.
"Invasion Iowa" may be a fake, but the personal relationships and bonding between William Shatner, his TV crew and the people of Riverside are genuine. My personal week long observation on the set of Spike-TV's "Invasion Iowa," and the experiences that would follow, confirmed this. For me to have a front-row seat (in person) to watch William Shatner and crew bring so much happiness to this small community - is something I will never forget.
Now it was time for my own reveal - and get to know the people.
What would transpire the next several days, weeks and months would
affect my life in ways I never would have imagined.
-- CRITIC DOCTOR
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