The call came while I was out, so I didn’t get the message until days later.
“Hi,” the young-sounding secretary said on my machine, “I have Rick Berman calling for Wil. Please return when you get the message.”
I knew.
I knew before she was even done with the message, but I tried to fool myself for a few minutes anyway.
I looked at the clock: 8 PM. They’d most likely be out, so I’d have to call tomorrow.
I told Anne that I had a message to call Rick’s office, and she knew right away also.
We’d thought about it for months, ever since I’d heard the rumors online. Of course, I tend to not put a whole lot of stock in what I read online…if I did I’d be overwhelmed with the sheer amount of hot teen bitches who want to get naked for me right now, and I’d be rolling in Nigerian money.
But it made sense, and I couldn’t fight what I knew in my heart to be true.
I returned the call late the next day from my car on my way home from work. I was driving along a narrow tree-lined street in Pasadena that I sometimes take when the traffic is heavy on the freeway.
Children played on bikes and jumped rope in the growing shadows of the July afternoon. The street was stained a beautiful orange by the setting sun.
“This is Wil Wheaton returning,” I told her.
She tells me to hold on, and then he’s on the phone.
“Hi kiddo. How are you?”
“I’m doing fine. You know I turn 30 on Monday?”
There is a pause.
“I can’t believe we’re all getting so old,” he says.
“I know. I emailed Tommy [his son] awhile ago, and he’s in college now. If that made me feel old, I can’t imagine what my turning 30 is doing to the rest of you guys.”
We chuckle. This is probably just small-talk, so it’s not as severe when he tells me, but it feels good regardless. Familiar, familial.
“Listen, Wil. I have bad news.”
Although I’ve suspected it for months, and I have really known it since I heard the message the night before, my stomach tightens, my arms grow cold.
“We’ve had to cut your scene from the movie.”
He pauses for breath, and that moment is frozen, while I assess my feelings.
I almost laugh out loud at what I discover: I feel puzzled.
I feel puzzled, because the emotions I expected: the sadness, the anger, the indignation…aren’t there.
I realize that he’s waiting for me.
“Why’d you have to cut it?”
This doesn’t make sense. I should be furious. I should be depressed. I shuould be hurt.
But I don’t feel badly, at all.
“Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with you,” he begins.
I laugh silently. It never does. When I don’t get a part, or a callback, or get cut from a movie, it never has anything to do with me. Like a sophmore romance. “It’s not you. It’s me. I’ve met Jimmy Kimmel’s cousin, and things just happened.”
There is an unexpected sincerity to what he tells me: the movie is long. The first cut was almost 3 hours. The scene didn’t contribute to the main story in any way, so it was the first one to go.
He tells me that they’ve cut 48 minutes from the movie.
I tell him that they’ve cut an entire episode out. We laugh.
There is another silence. He’s waiting for me to respond.
I drive past some kids playing in an inflatable pool in their front yard. On the other side of the street, neighbors talk across a chain link fence. An older man sits on his porch reading a paper.
“Well Rick,” I begin, “I completely understand. I’ve thought about this on and off for months, and I knew that if the movie was long, this scene, and maybe even this entire sequence, would have to go. It’s just not germaine to the spine of the story.”
He tells me that they had to consider cutting the entire beginning of the movie. He tells me that he has to call one of the other actors because they’ve suffered rather large cuts as well.
I stop at a 4-way stop sign and let a woman and her little daughter cross the street on their way into a park filled with families, playing baseball and soccer in the waning light.
I look them. The mother’s hand carefully holding her daughter’s.
I realize why I’m not upset, and I tell him.
“Well, Rick, it’s like this: I love Star Trek, and, ultimately, I want what’s best for Star Trek and the Trekkies. If the movie is too long, you’ve got to cut it, and this scene is the first place I’d start if I were you.
“The great thing is, I got to spend two wonderful days being on Star Trek again, working with the people I love, wearing the uniform that I missed, and I got to re-connect with you, the cast, and the fans. Nobody can take that away from me.”
“And, it really means a lot to me that you called me yourself. I can’t tell you how great that makes me feel,”
It’s true. He didn’t need to call me himself. Most producers wouldn’t.
“I’m so glad that you took the time to call me, and that I didn’t have to learn about this at the screening, or by reading it on the internet.”
He tells me again how sorry he is. He asks about my family, and if I’m working on anything. I tell him they’re great, that Ryan’s turning 13, and that I’ve been enjoying steady work as a writer since January.
We’re back to small talk again, bookending the news.
I ask him how the movie looks.
He tells me that they’re very happy with it. He thinks it’s going to be very successful.
I’m feel happy and proud.
I’ve heard stories from people that everyone had lots of trouble with the director. I ask him if that’s true.
He tells me that it was tough, because the director had his own vision. There were struggles, but ultimately they collaborated to make a great film.
I come to a stoplight, a bit out of place in this quiet residential neighborhood. A young married couple walks their golden retriever across the crosswalk.
We say our goodbyes, and he admonishes me to call him if I’m ever on the lot. He tells me that he’ll never forgive me if I don’t stop into his office when I’m there.
I tell him that will, and that I’ll see him at the screening.
He wishes me well, and we hang up the phone.
The light turns green and I sit there for a moment, reflecting on the conversation.
I think back to something I wrote in April while in a pit of despair: “I wonder if The Lesson is that, in order to succeed, I need to rely upon myself, trust myself, love myself, and not put my happiness and sadness into the hands of others.”
I meant everything that I said to him. It really doesn’t matter to me if I’m actually in the movie or not, and not in a bitter way at all.
I could focus on the disappointment, I suppose. I could feel sad.
Getting cut out of the movie certainly fits a pattern that’s emerged in the past two years or so.
But I choose not to. I choose instead to focus on the positives, the things I can control. I did have two wonderful days with people I love, and it was like I’d never left. I did get to reconnect with the fans and the franchise. Rick Berman, a person with whom I’ve not always had the best relationship, called me himself to tell me the news, and I felt like it weighed heavily on him to deliver it.
Nobody can take that away from me, and I’m not going to feel badly, at all.
Because I have a secret.
I have realized what’s important in my life since April, and they are at the end of my drive.
The dog-walking couple smile and wave to me.
The light changes.
Somewhere in Brooklyn, Wesley Crusher falls silent forever.
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The movie will probably suck.
The last one was not all that good. It may adhere to the old saying that Star Trek movies are always one on and one off, but the characters have stagnated in my opinion. When the TV show went off the air, the characters got stuck in place, and now it’s all going to be a big wank reunion like most of the Star Trek films.
Personally, I think you should try to get into another movie. You’d make a great bad guy because you have an innocent look. You’d make a good schizo I think.
If all else fails, pretend to be an alcoholic and check into rehab. That seems to work wonders for people’s careers. At the very least, you’ll get to be in an Elton John video.
Will.
You are the man.
That is all.
No offense, Wil, but I think you should have buried Wesley a long time ago. Star Trek is a neat universe, but the format of the shows, with the exception of the original series and Voyager, did a poor job of letting the actors explore their characters and generally weren’t written half as well as your own blogs.
“If you can stomach the cold, why dont you pack up the family, have a quiet word with Mr Sam Mendes and ‘Do a Gwynnie (Paltrow) or a Kevvy (Spacey)’ and partake in some theatre here in good ol’ Blighty? I know us Brits would LURVE to see you acting in London.
Posted by Foxychik at August 15, 2002 04:51 PM ”
Please do Wil! You could come in the summer. We’re often in the region of ninety degrees at the moment.
Ah, that does indeed suck. I would have liked to see you in there. The audience would have went wild! We can only hope this deleted scene will be on the DVD.
Hi Wil,
Taking bad news with an incredible strength of character is what truly makes a person a success. You may not be in that movie, but the experiences surrounding it have provided you with a moment of clarity…Happy Birthday!
“True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise; it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self, and in the next from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.”
Joseph Addison, The Spectator, March 17, 1911
you never cease to amaze me, wil.
Good God, you’re turning 30?!?!
the folks at paramount have got a great thing going with star trek…but they gotta start thinking outside the box they’ve trapped themselves in. “insurrection” was boring…the finished film surely did not deliver what the title promised…they need to add some youth…at least relatively speaking, to the beloved next generation cast…they need wil wheaton!…you know that guy from “family ties” that did those great pepsi ads back in the 80’s…the man can travel though space and time for gods sake!…and if gene roddenberry’s successors at paramount could see half as clearly as he could…they would see that the next generation of movie goers is represented with comments on this blog!…and they not only come here…but they spread out all over the web with those 50,000 keyboards!…it’s time to put the next generation back in star trek…it is time for wil wheaton…the man can act, the man can write…and the man can drink pepsi!
I forgot to mention that I hope you royally slaughter the guy-in-a-Barney-suit with Grudge-Match and CAFE. Wesley ain’t gone yet!
free wesley crusher!
okay, i meant 50,000 typewriters!
Yikes, it’s weird enough for me working on a film then seeing it and finding myself utterly omitted; sorry to hear the same for you but at least you were notified. As you indicate, at least you aren’t going to find out first at the screening.
Hopefully they’ll have the deleted scenes on the DVD.
http://realbadger.hollywood,com
http://ppl.hollywood,com
They should have left it uncut w/all 3 hours still in it in order to compete w/the ultra long “Two Towers” that will be released along side of ST:Nemesis.
Also, it sucks that you ain’t in it… maybe they’ll eventually show you as an Admiral w/a long white beard that reaches down to the floor in the “final” ST movie when the whole Universe gets blown up by the Klingons.
I say Boooooooo! We want Wesley!
Will,
The night I graduated high-school was the night I first seen you in “Encounter at Farpoint”. it was years after you had done it but it was the first time screened in Australia.
That night I seen a piece of Roddenbery in your character and closly identified with him.
I was impressed with your acting and have since seen everything you have done that is avalible over here.
I have always wanted to see you back, and Wes in a role where we could see you from time to time. I am so upset at the loss of your scenes.
Paramount seem to include little extras with their DVD editions here – I must say I hope that there is one-day where we will see an entire version of the movie.
Regards… Steve
Is this shit like the real Wil Wheaton? Or is this a spoof site? I can’t fuckign tell.
I am a complete loser with a tiny, tiny penis.
Well dude, I say its a bum rap. I mean 48 mins cut, sure ok, but cmon I know I have wished to see closure to the Wesley character like alot of people. Its great you are better then them and are taking it like a champ. Best of luck to you, and I hope Paramount doesnt screw us out of the extra scenes in the DVD!
Damn! The only reason I watch Star Trek is to see you and now they delete you from Nemesis. What is to happen next in this godforsaken world. I’m really sorry but I’m glad you can see the positives in the situation. We love ya no matter what!
DOH!
I am sorry, man. That sucks. I have always been a Wesley advocate. I posted a little piece on my site. Too bad I can’t Trackback to a Greymatter site.
It’s too bad. But hopefully they’ll put you on the DVD release.
Wow, 48 minutes of deleted material. That will be fun for the DVD viewers.
Sorry your scenes were cut out.
I saw you on TechTV sometime ago. Hope you do a return visit.
BTW, do you ever watch Red Dwarf?
Have a fantastic week!
Diana
Jesus Christ!
Is this thing STILL going?
TVsWW, from out of the ashes of your Trek X defeat emerges the Greatest Blog Comments Ever.
I can tell my kids I was a part of it. Time to add a couple more items to the Cafe Press section.
Greatest Blog Comments Ever mousepads. Greatest Blog Comments Ever shirt. Greatest Blog Comments Ever mug. Greatest Blog Comments Ever…
Tote bag.
New masthead:
“WWDN: Home of the Greatest Blog Comments Ever.”
This is like Woodstock.
Except no one is getting laid.
Lo, tbh I followed the url from one of your many detractors somethingawful.com . In all honesty its very easy to make fun of child actor types,I wont say i didnt chuckle at the idea of your axing , however upon reading your piece I am nothing short of repentful . I hated Wesley Crusher , he was a pissant frankly , but he was only a character you played ,your a different person, I cant say youve gained a “fan” but youve gained my respect and apologies for a rash judgement.
II too am saddened that you are not in this movie. At first it looked like it might be a very boring movie — like insurrection, so I said to myself, I’ll wait for it on DVD, but then I heard wesley was in it, and i thought, gee, if wesley is in it i should see check it out in the theatres, but now that I hear you were cut, i’ll wait til its on DVD. AND I probably won’t BUY it on DVD. I mean, I already have wrath of khan directors edition, why do I need what looks to be some rehash for TNG without ricardo montelban OR wil whaton?
Answer? I don’t.
Is this going to make it to 500 comments?
will this be the most commented ever entry?
Only 25 more to go…
wil –
it is truth you pass along – life is not defined by your part in a movie – life is defined by the peaole talking and walking in the park – people connecting to people. life does not rise or set on one role, no matter how cool – it is connecting to people you love, and driving down a tree lined street seeing people connect with each other – peace in the heart. blessings to you for finding truth in your walk – keep seeking
I’m terribly sorry, along with most of your commentors, to hear that your scene was cut from the film. But I wanted to congratulate you on a superb blog entry. Not only was it well written (which is difficult enough to achieve when the subject matter is so personal and emotional), but it was a pretty personal glimpse into your mind.
Thank you for sharing that much of yourself with your readers and fans, and doing it so poignantly.
Amazing responses! … and have to agree with the majority … I always liked Wes and was sorry when he was no longer a part of the ongoing story line in TNG …
So it was very frustrating to read that the character was considered disposable by Berman and company. I will probably see the movie anyway but consider this another way that the fans have been let down by Roddenberry’s successors.
By the way, I think the pepsi guy was Michael J. Fox … 😉
Wil,
Once again your blog entry has touched me deeply. Like a lot of other people I was very dissapointed to hear that your seen was cut. I honestly will think twice about seeing the movie now. But once again I was very impressed with how human you are. There are so many ways you could have taken that news and you choose to use the one that causes you to grow as a person even if only a few of us that read your site will ever know.
I have said it before on here, being a geek teen I could always relate to Wesley Crusher. I just hope if anything like that happens to me, I can react as well as Wil Wheaton.
Hmmm. Maybe they make a miniseries of this movie.
Like they did with Dances with wolves.
They sure have enough material!
Well I can tell you that i am disappointed that the scene featuring wesley crusher was cut. Let me explain why. I have been a Star Trek fan since I was a small child. I would watch The old show which is still my favorite and then the movies. When the next generation arrived on the scene I had some apprehension about this new interpretation of the old show. I watched with the millions of others and found the show different but definitely entertaining. I didn’t like the wesley character i thought it was shoving the wonder child image down our throats without a lick of sugar. As the show progressed all the other characters seemed to grow and few new challenges and the repeated father and father figure issues the wesley character seem to stagnate. Then when the character left there was a void not a hugh void but there was definitely something missing. I enjoy star trek but if you asked me to tell you a title of an episode i would have a better chance reciting the Thai national anthem in swahili, but the episode “the game” with the return of wesley crusher as a young man full of confidence and vigor rings in my memory as one of the best ever. The episode showed the growth of the character and the potential for future independent adventures. This was an important step forward as far as star trek was concerned. A character actually grew up as a show progressed and it didn’t cheapen the progression with a “very special episode” or some incredibly mundane situations.(ex. geordi laforge failed romances) For this reason I feel the omission of the scene does not only the character a disservice but also star trek because wesley was a member of the next generation crew like it or not. If this is to be the final movie outing for the next generation franchise then an acknowledgment of the character was necessary and i feel something will be missing.
Mark
heh…
“She hands me the receipt for my Fila track suit.
I tell her that I will really enjoy my Fila track suit.
I look over and see a child has just dropped his ice cream on the floor of the food court, right next to the T.J. Cinnabuns. An elderly woman is asleep in a chair watching an advertisement for Vanilla Coke.”
I love somethingawful
“Somewhere in Brooklyn, Wesley Crusher falls silent forever.”
\o/
Hey Wil!
Sorry to hear about the you being cut from the film. That’s gonna save me money bc I was going to see it in the theatre but now I’m just going to wait for it to come out on DVD.
Maybe you can talk to Rick Berman about having cast and crew interviews to put on the DVD. I’d really like to hear you talk about this on the DVD. And they better put your deleted scene on the DVD.
Since you’re no longer in the movie, can you tell us if you had any speaking lines or anything?
Maybe they will get wise and put you in the next film– if there is a next. Or you could do a voice in a video game. They should have Wesley Crusher in a video game..
luv,
-Su
just had to say that I admire your attitude to this news, it would have been way too easy to just bitch about it. Unfortunately with the way the hollywood money men work I can see why they want to cut the film:- 2 hour movie = more showings per screen per day than a 3 hour movie and therefore in theory more money taken. The thing that worries me about this is that they have only realised now that the film is nearly an hour too long with less than 4 months to the release date. i fear this will mean that scenes will be cut purely to shorten the film and as a result the movie will look incomplete and messy. Hopefully the cut scenes will be restored in a future DVD release but I’ll bet that won’t happen until after the movie has been released on VHS and DVD in the theatrical version to try and get people to buy it twice!
Hey Wil Im also a writer. I never knew you were a writer, I dont think I would have taken intrest if it wasn’t for Soju. Hey
Anyway I handle things through my lawyers and agents. Yes it seems a little demanding, that one has to twist someones arm to get noticed but hey, a little bit of pushing never hurt anyone.
Besides, your in the entertainment industry, and although I may not know you as well as some of your fans do. I still feel I should advise you to have a little bit more ego. Its show business, people expect it.
ouchey.
Pity about the cut – especially if it was going to elaborate something about where Wes has been in the space-time contiu-whatsit for the last seven/eight years (probably playing chess with Q…)
btw this is the 1st time I ever visited this website (how bizarre and refreshing to see someone like yourself take such an active interest in addressing fans)
As an actor struggling to make it (in Ireland) I admire the attitude – and hope that the blissful suburbia you’ve described is as authentic and fulfilling as it sounds.
I’d agree with the rest – it probably should and wil (excuse the pun) make the dvd.
LOB
p.s. I always was jealous of Wes’ foray with that cute ensign played by Ashley Judd. Maith an buachaill.
What a well-written entry.
You have a wonderful talent for painting the scene with your words. That is probably the most poignant story I’ve read in a while. Thank you.
Spudnuts wrote:
This is like Woodstock.
Except no one is getting laid.
“WHAT?!?…Woodstock got LAID?!?
Does Snoopy know???” lol.
Apologies to Spudnuts. I couldnt resist.
Damn!
Tough break, but excellent outlook.
You da man.
-Rick
Man, Wil, that sucks.
You’ve handled it remarkably well. If it were me, I’d just be sitting on the couch, Eric Cartman like, mumbling “so… pissed… off.. I hate you guys… so much…”.
Well, they can’t write you out of TNG, can they?
Ask Berman if he can stick your scene on the DVD release. I’d buy it.
I am sorry that your scene was cut. I am looking forward to this movie though. I’m not going to let this get me down. I hope that they put the 48 minutes on the dvd that comes out.
Like the other 500 or so comments here, I was looking forward to seeing you in Nemesis. I just saw the trailer today, and then came home to find out you got cut. A friend said to me “Did you hear about Wil Wheaton?” and I panicked. I hadn’t read your weblog in so long, and it reminded me of coming home from prom at 4am to find that Douglas Adams was dead. It was almost a relief to find out that you’d just been cut.
I’ve enjoyed reading your site, as it’s allowed you the transition from just another actor to someone that I can relate to. You like Cake and Hitchhiker and a dozen other things that I like, and you write with emotion. It’s been good getting to know you, Wil.
And maybe there’ll be cut scenes on the DVD, eh?
We will absolutely see Wesley Crusher again in the pay-cable version, Sci-Fi Channel edition, or Director’s Cut Special Edition DVD of Nemesis. These days, the Cutting Room floor is not at all the end of a scene, sequence, or actor’s contribution. It’s only the beginning of variant versions that play in “exclusive venues.” What I want to know is, what the hell makes the first release of a movie worth 8-10 bucks in a theatre, when the cable tv or DVD editions are almost guaranteed to be more complete and feature-laden?
You’re right about one thing, pal. Your real home and family are the true gold in your life. If you keep that in mind, your gifts and talents will find their proper audiences and full expression, almost without you even trying. Why? Because the home will amplify the positivity that the family generates in you (and you in them). With that going for you, you can’t be stopped. Best wishes.