Long before I was hired to write a column there, I gave an interview to a reporter for the LA Weekly. The piece never ran, which made me sad. I spent a lot of time sitting in the corner, listening to The Queen is Dead and crying softly while I wrote 88 kinds of bad poetry with a crazy kind of urgency. On a Pee Chee folder, of course.
Today, via one of my favorite blogs, Hero Complex, I saw that the Weekly ran the interview:
It’s three o’ clock on a weekday afternoon and I’m in an Old Town Pasadena bar having drinks with a former child star. Were this person a faded pop tartlet, or perhaps named Corey, we might be planning a trip to a nudie bar or recollecting days spent riding the silver bullet. But this star is Wil Wheaton, and instead of strippers and blow, we’re talking science fiction with the bartender — a squirrelly looking but pleasant British fellow who looks as if he’s been playing this moment on loop in his head for a decade, waiting for it to finally come true.
“I’d have to say the past two seasons of DSN [Star Trek: Deep Space Nine] are as good as anything I’ve seen on television,” he tells Wheaton provocatively. “The storyline with the Cardassian war is unparalleled.”
For many former Star Trek actors — Wheaton played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, or TNG in today’s parlance — I imagine this is the kind of conversation they dread getting sucked into. Out for a quiet afternoon drink when suddenly a nerdy fan-boy wants to talk phasers and Cardassians, the stuff of Galaxy Quest parody. But for Wheaton, such a statement can’t go unchallenged.
“No way!” he responds with genuine incredulity, jumping to his Chuck Taylor–clad feet to lean over the bar. “Better than Battlestar Gallactica?”
Wheaton, you see, is an unabashed geek. “It’s like high school,” he tells me later, “you’re either one of the cool kids or you’re not — and I am definitely not.”
I irrationally despise the term “child star.” It conjures up images of total fuckups who are complete failures as adults. I could have easily followed that path, but I worked very hard to stay off of it. Sure, I was an actor when I was a child, and for a brief time in my early teens, I was one of the stupid famous kids who was in the damn teen magazines, but I don’t think I was ever a child star in the common understanding of the words.
Nevertheless, it’s a great interview that was a lot of fun to do, and to my great delight, Matthew Fleischer captured the moment perfectly.
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That was a terrific interview….. even if he did call you a child star.
But there was one thing that I absolutely disagree about. You are seldom wrong, and normally I would not be so impolite to correct you. But you, sir, ARE cool!!!
I think there were quite a bunch of “child stars” that grew up to be normal adults. They just don’t get as much press as the screw-ups! For instance, I’m not in jail… and trust me, it’s not helping my career any!
To be fair, I think the idea was that the usual idea of “child star” matches what you suggest, and that you are significantly different, and that the writer was merely attempting to contrast as a way to open the article.
On the other hand, you do say it’s irrational, so there’s really no justification. But I always think of you more as “writer Wil Wheaton” and “Voice Actor Wil Wheaton” well before I think of your earlier works, if that helps.
Keith, there are better ways to jumpstart your career than going to jail. You could start a blog, parlay that into several wildly net.popular books, and end up being talked about by people like Jonathan Coulton and Felicia Day.
All you’d need would be a really awesome editor. Maybe Wil knows one.
@Andrew *laughs maniacally* That was a good, you forgot the wink and the nudge though
Squeeeeeeeeeee
Great interview! I enjoyed it. 🙂
This was a nice piece — but I have to admit, I’ve reached a point where I tend to think of you as “author Wil Wheaton” every bit as much as “actor Wil Wheaton” — tho never “child actor” which for me dredges up dreadful images of early hollywood “child actors.”
As for what’s “cool,” that rather depends on who one asks, doesn’t it? ;>.
I’ll admit, even though I first knew of you as a “child star” (at a time when I, myself, was also a “child”), I find it kind of odd to see it used as an adjective in context, these days.
I think the author painted a quite a complimentary picture, though – right down to the Chucks. (;
So, tell us about teen magazines. How does one get anointed? Is this all the doing of publicists? Did they recycle generic publicity photos or did you get your own Tiger Beat photo shoot?
Even though I first saw you in Stand By Me, you’ll always be OMG, THAT TOTALLY CUTE GUY FROM TNG!!
Some people just get stuck in my mind in a place and time. I think you’d have to screw a goat or something to become anything else than my teen crush even at 40.
Yeah, well, when I was an early teen, I worked equally hard to not be a fan of yours. You wouldn’t believe your fandom amongst early teenage girls at Space Camp. Even when they read your profile from the teen magazines, in which your favorite bands were my favorite bands at the time (Depeche Mode, Oingo Boingo), and had no idea who they were, I didn’t rush to educate them.
I ponied up when I read “Just a Geek.” Does anyone *not* have a moment when “Never Let Me Down Again,” isn’t the most poignant song of their teenagedom? I wonder.