Brandon’s book gets up close and personal with William Shatner

KELLY HARTOG meets Sydney-born writer Joshua Brandon, who has come home from Hollywood to launch the book he co-authored with the Star Trek legend about his life and insights.

It’s the stuff that dreams are made of: How a nice Jewish boy from Sydney made it big in Hollywood.

This week, Joshua Brandon is back in Australia from his home in Los Angeles for the launch of a book he co-wrote with Captain Kirk himself. Boldly Go, is 91-year-old William Shatner’s latest non-fiction book — part essays, part memoir — where he shares some of the most fascinating aspects of his life and his philosophies.

Born and raised in Sydney, Brandon, 39, ran a theatre company with his cousin, Steven, and was later involved in Kosher Theatre Sports, but always had a dream to write for television. So, at the ripe old age of 24, Josh and his cousin decided to try their luck in Hollywood. “We moved out here in 2008 and then slowly just ground away,” he says.

The grind worked. Brandon went on to write for high-profile shows including Fox’s Houdini and Doyle and SyFy’s Haven, which is where he first met Shatner. Brandon also recently released his first feature film, A Thousand Little Cuts, that he wrote and directed, and which aired on Showtime.

The Jewish Independent caught up with Brandon in Los Angeles, shortly before his Australia trip.

How did this collaboration with Shatner come about?

[In 2014] I was a writer on Haven and he did the last four episodes of the show. I met him briefly when he came into the writer’s room. But I'd stayed in touch with his assistant during the production. And six or seven years later, I had this idea for a book — not a memoir — but [more like] all the things he's done and what he feels, and what his philosophy is.

I thought, “What do I have to lose?” I sent [his assistant] an email. The same day I got a reply: “Hi, Josh, lovely to hear from you. I spoke to Bill. He'd like to call you at three o'clock tomorrow!"

So, were you a Trekkie before you met him? What was the draw, specifically, that made you want to write a book with him?

I’ve been a fan of his for a long time. He's so much more than Star Trek. Anytime it looks like he's faded into the background, he reinvents himself, and he's always working. I've read his other books, and one of his philosophies is, in most cases just say “Yes”, because you don't know what opportunities might come from that. But I've been a Star Trek fan my whole life. I've also been a fan of William Shatner.

Did you have a plan when you spoke to him about the book?

I did and it went completely out the window because he didn't like it. I pitched him William Shatner, and what wisdom he can impart. He said it would be arrogant if he told anyone that he had any wisdom to impart. “The only thing I know is what's worked for me.” And then he started telling me that what makes him spring out of bed every morning is the thirst for knowledge.

He told me this great story about how he was driving on a freeway in Southern Ontario in the 1970s, and there was an apple orchard on the side of the freeway, and some of the branches of the apple trees were hanging off the side of the road. So, he pulled over and stole an apple and he bit into it.

“That exact moment when I bit into that apple, it had reached its perfect maturation point. I can still hear the crack of the skin. I can still taste the juices flowing down my throat. It was a perfect moment in time — and I looked for those, every single day.”

I was taken aback. Here he is rejecting my book and telling me this amazing philosophy of how he goes through life every day. I said, “Bill, that's the book.” And he said, “Alright, why don't you write me a few pages and if I like it, let's see if anybody wants to buy it?”

He does talk quite a bit about his Jewish upbringing in this book. He’s been known for not talking about his Judaism. Did you pitch that as a theme, or did it come naturally?

I think it came up naturally. I knew he was Jewish and then he found out I was Jewish. And this the spooky thing, it turns out that my mother was born in the same little village in Vilnius, Lithuania, that his grandparents were born in. So, we're probably even related.

And I think it just crept in because while neither of us is religious, we both have an affinity to the culture and were raised in it. Maybe it's because we had been chatting about that side of things that he felt this was a part of the story he wanted to tell.

And I think that particularly with rising antisemitism, he wanted to say something about it. There’s a song on his latest album Bill called Toughie, which was his nickname in high school because it was not a fun time being a Jewish boy in Montreal in the ‘30s and ‘40s. And he used to have to fight people and prove how tough he was so that he wouldn't be bullied.

You have worked in theatre, television, film. You’ve written, directed and produced. Now you’ve co-authored a book. Do you feel they are interconnected?

That's the big theme of this book. Shatner believes that we are all connected. Like Carl Sagan said, we're made of the same stardust or star stuff as the atoms and the stars and everything on the planet. And that if you can be open to that, you can sort of see connections and try to go down that river with them.

So, I think it is all interconnected in as much as you make your own luck. I have no business being co-author of a book with William Shatner. But if you ask and give it your best, you never know what could happen. We're already talking about another two books that we want to write. If we're given the opportunity, if this one does well enough, we have more to say.

He’s a nonagenarian. You’re a millennial. What life lessons did you learn from him.

Just embrace everything. He said to me, “Anyone who is bored, anyone who feels there's nothing left to do, isn't looking hard enough. There’s always amazing opportunities.”

If I've learned nothing else, it’s to just ask — you never know what you'll get. You might get 99 no’s but you might get that one yes. And it could change your life. And that's kind of where I feel I am now.

Boldly Go will be launched in Sydney on December 7, from 7pm-9.30pm, at Easts Bondi Junction, Level 1/93-97 Spring St. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Photo: William Shatner and Joshua Brandon at a cowboy-themed horse charity event (Guy Noffsinger)