RED CARPET PREMIERE: William Shatner hosts screening of his new ‘Star Trek’ doc on NYC’s Intrepid

Trekkers (or Trekkies, if you prefer) turned out in droves to New York City’s Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum Saturday, July 30 for Epix’s free screening of The Captains, a documentary directed and starring William Shatner. The actor, best known for playing Capt. James T. Kirk on Star Trek: The Original Series, introduced the film before a crowd that numbered in the hundreds, many of them donning their favorite Star Trek uniform. One woman, who went on to win the costume contest, wore a fully-lit, homemade USS Enterprise as a headpiece.

Introducing the film, Shatner said he was visually stunned by the Intrepid’s view of the New York City skyline and that the night would be a “magical” one.

Speaking earlier on the red carpet, the actor gave some insight into how the idea developed for The Captains, a film that features interviews with every actor who has played a captain in the Star Trek franchise, from Patrick Stewart to Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula and Chris Pine.

“The idea blossomed,” Shatner said, “And through a series of very curious circumstances, I was able to make the film. I got to meet five delightful, interesting, deep people who I tried to examine in some depth and make an entertaining film at the same time.”

In The Captains, Shatner covers many topics with his subjects. From the strains that television work can cause on a marriage to their feelings about life after death, the documentary digs deep for the similarities among the assembled actors.

For Shatner, the filming process was an emotional one. “I had five acquaintances before I started the film,” he said. “I think I’ve made five friends.”

Besides learning about the actors who have filled the captain’s chair after him, Shatner also does some of his own soul-searching in the Epix film. On camera he fully admits to one point in his life being embarrassed over his turn as Kirk, and that he never took credence in the zealousness of his fans. Filming The Captains changed that view.

“I think Star Trek is a cultural phenomena in all of its iterations,” he said. “A lot of people’s lives were influenced. In the film, I make a realization that I didn’t fully comprehend. … So there’s a lot of people’s lives that have been affected by this show. It’s unusual, if not unique. And I examine that in the film.”

The spontaneity of the directing process was one Shatner relished as well.

“I interview the people, and in many cases select the shots and the ideas and the places the interviews take place,” he recalled. “Although it’s difficult to say that you direct a documentary, because a documentary is always evolving. It’s like an interview; you don’t quite know what the person is going to say. One question leads to another from the answer. You don’t quite know where it is. But in a general sense you know where you want to go.”

For the assembled Star Trek fans, who were greeted with free posters of The Captains and music from the Z100 radio station, Shatner’s presence was well received with shouts and applause, proving that his documentary about the cultural phenomena is quite prophetic.

• Click here for more information on The Captains and Epix.