The Captains Page #7

home for dinner?''

And you say, ''Yes, dear,

we're on our last scene,

should be done by 6:30,''

This is like bad memories,

we all have 'em,

It's just like...

And then the camera

breaks down

and 6:
30 becomes 9:30,

Yeah, yeah,

And you get home at 9:30,

she says, ''I thought you were

gonna be here at 6:30,

Where were you?''

So I thought, what do you mean,

where was I?

I was pacing

back and forth,

just like, I gotta get home

for 6:
30

- and they say you can't leave,

- Yeah,

- What... Tell me, describe...

- Did you have kids during...

- Oh, yeah, I had...

- Did you have kids yet?

I have three children and all

three children

were born

in that period of time,

Yeah, yeah,

I only had

a daughter at the time

and then my second child was

born during...

during the time,

and part of the goal

was to get home for dinner

and also to see your kid before

they went to bed,

Yes,

And, you know,

about a year into it,

after we kinda figured out

what it was,

and I was a new actor,

I didn't have any kind of cache,

so I couldn't say,

I want this time off,

I don't want to work

these nights,

I don't want to get forced...

I don't want to have any forced

calls, you can't do this,

I just said, whatever...

You know, I'm there,

Whenever you

need me, I'm there,

You're an actor trying to make

a living, you're...

Yes,

You have the potential for

making a good living,

save this money

from ''Quantum Leap''

and you may not have any

worries,

at least ''not how to pay

the rent'' worries,

Unless you get divorced

and give half of it away,

I'm glad to meet ya,

And retire,

- Yes?

- Yes, right there,

- Exact same history,

- Really?

Of, I was

never there, Star...

This, for me, was ''Star Trek,''

I'm ''Star Trekking'' and I'm

getting home the same hours

you were talking about,

and my wife says,

''This isn't working out,''

And I've got three kids,

and it didn't work out and we

did get a divorce

and I found myself broke,

I remember once sitting around

a dinner table

and hearing colleagues,

actors, directors,

and hearing one of them say,

''I love my job,

but my family always

come first for me, always,''

And a voice inside my head

said, ''Not me,''

Wow,

I can say that now

because I've discussed that,

I've talked about this

with them,

and they know about...

My son, of course,

is now an actor,

but that was my life, my work,

and still is, essentially,

Are you lonely?

Never,

You're never lonely?

I've always been

content with my own company,

- Really,

- Even when others weren't,

What's it feel like

to be divorced?

I have two major

regrets in my life,

and they're both to do

with the failure of...

My failure in my marriages,

How I behaved,

what I did, um...

can't be corrected

and...

guilt, I think,

has gone,

but regret remains,

and I have that

very strongly,

And it is kind of

handicapped me a little bit,

I've been married twice,

divorced twice,

I don't know that

I could possibly do it again,

You know, I'm the only female

captain on this franchise

called ''Star Trek,''

And I think that the great

difference is I...

The female is hardwired,

once she has her young,

to take care of them

and to raise them

and I couldn't do it well,

You know, there were

16, 18 hour days on that set

for seven years,

And I had two little kids,

and believe me, Bill Shatner,

they resented it,

And to this day, they never

watched it, they disdained it,

they had nothing but dripping

contempt for it,

and I don't blame them,

so the woman

cannot have it all,

but I've watched you guys

and you guys can,

- So...

- Mm-hmm,

Brings me to the meat,

the heart of what

I want to talk to about,

How can you be a starship

captain, a real starship...

How can you be

a naval captain going off...

- To the Delta quadrant,

- to the Delta quadrant...

Yeah,

and have all those hormonal

things rage?

How can you be

Secretary of State?

It's very hard,

Well, ''hard'' isn't nebulous,

Isn't it impossible to have the

same objectivity

that a man has?

- Yes, of course it is,

- Ah, you admitted that,

It's impossible

to have the same gender,

I mean, I'm a woman,

you're a man,

Right, so it's

quite different,

It's absolutely different,

To be a leader,

a woman leader,

that's quite different

from a man leader,

There's no question about it,

Now, I'll sit back

and look at Mrs, AIbright

and Secretary Clinton

and I'll say to myself,

how do they do it?

But I asked myself

the same question,

It's just diabolically

difficult,

Now, they're both at

an age where they've let...

The rest of the hard work is

gone, the kids are up, right?

But the lack of hormones is

raging there as well,

I mean, it never stops,

It doesn't stop,

- No,

- So...

This could be unanswerable,

No, it has an answer,

But...

You have an answer for it,

Well, you have

an anSWRr,

I would apply this...

Let me apply it to myself

as an actor

and not as

a... a politician

or anything else, because I

couldn't speak for those woman,

I would say, this being the

second-oldest profession,

it's all right

to be an actress,

but it's not as kind as it

was even 200 years ago

when you were allowed to bring

your children with you

to the theater,

when children were

a part of your life,

Now everything is severely

compartmentalized,

and you know Hollywood better,

much better than I do,

It's tough,

It's a boy's club out there

and they're very tough,

You play by their rules

and you must subscribe to them,

so that doesn't have any...

See, that sounds very

politically interesting,

what you said, but it doesn't

make any sense,

What do you mean

you play by their rules?

You have to appear at 6:00

in the morning

and be ready with your

lines and say the words

and be there 'til the end of

shooting,

Right,

That could be...

8:
00, 9:00, 10:00...

You and I have worked

'til 12:
00, 2:00,

- 4:
00 in the morning,

- That's correct,

To complete the day's

work on a friday, especially,

That's right...

Then you're wrecked

for the weekend,

That's right, you're wrecked,

You gotta sleep

all day Saturday,

But you're not wrecked, 'cause

the minute you get home at 5:00,

you've got two hours before

those kids

- are jumping on your bed,

- Right,

Now, as a man,

I suppose you have the license

or the opportunity at any rate,

to say, go to your mother,

But if you're

a single mother, which I was,

with your two little children,

you get up,

So what do you...

- Now...

- You get up,

Okay, so I have just come from,

in the sequence of activity

that I'm doing,

I've just come from

England with Patrick,

- I know you have,

- flown...

I'm in jet lag, okay?

I've survived because I don't

have any kids with me,

my wife and I stayed in the

room, we rested, have gona...

and I am... I am energized

to talk to you,

- But if I were jet-lagged,

- And you look very dapper,

- Thank you,

- And let's be frank,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes