How Nepotism Got Christian Slater His Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Cameo
by Danielle Ryan · /FilmCameos and "Star Trek" go together like cake and ice cream, in large part because celebrities are big fans of the franchise themselves and want a chance to be a part of it. Whether it's superfan Seth MacFarlane, who created the "Star Trek"-inspired series "The Orville" starring in two episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise" as a Starfleet officer, or classic Dracula actor Frank Langella playing a Bajoran politician on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" because his kids were such fans, it's always great when people just want to be a part of the massive sci-fi franchise.
For one seriously intense "Star Trek" fan, getting the chance to play a tiny role in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" was more than just a dream come true, it was also a really lucky break courtesy of some good old nepotism. Actor Christian Slater could probably talk his way into a small role in a "Star Trek" movie or TV series these days without much trouble, but when he played "Excelsior Communications Officer" in "The Undiscovered Country," he needed a little help to get the part. Thankfully, he had someone very close to him working as the movie's casting director: his mother, Mary Jo Slater.
From Pump Up the Volume to a Starfleet uniform
Slater has been vocal about his "Star Trek" fandom for some time, and when speaking with Graham Norton's BBC Radio 2 show, he admitted that he got the role in "Star Trek VI" because of "a bit of nepotism." He elaborated a bit further while speaking with late night host Conan O'Brien, revealing just how that whole experience felt for him as a young man:
"Of course I love 'Star Trek' ... that's one of the things I get recognized the most for, actually, is I did an appearance in 'Star Trek VI,' my mommy cast that. And I was about 20 years old, and I got to be in a scene with Captain Sulu, George Takei. [...] In the movie he's the captain of the Excelsior, and that was a big deal, it was one of the scarier days of my life."
While Slater had some success by that point, having starred in films like the satirical high school black comedy "Heathers" and the incredible and deeply underrated coming-of-age film "Pump Up the Volume," he was still young and building his career, and besides, it has to be nerve-wracking sharing a soundstage with your sci-fi heroes. Later in life, Slater would get to collect some pretty impressive "Star Trek" swag, including a Captain Kirk chair from "Star Trek: The Original Series," but when Conan asked if he had ever worn a "Star Trek" uniform while sitting in the chair, Slater was dodgy, saying: "I can't really confirm or deny that!"
The actor would certainly have the opportunity, however, as he owns the "Star Trek" uniform that he wore on set in "The Undiscovered Country," and it has a sensational backstory.
Getting into Shatner's pants
In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Slater revealed that he discovered something incredible about his uniform when checking the wardrobe tag:
"I had to wear one of the uniforms and I had a scene with Sulu, and I put the clothes on and looked in the wardrobe, in the little tag in there, and it said 'William Shatner, worn from "Star Trek II."' So I was wearing his outfit that he wore in "Star Trek II." So they recycled his outfit for the lowly Ensign and then I snuck off the Paramount lot with it."
Slater also joked on Norton's radio show that he felt lucky to "get into William Shatner's pants," and it's pretty wild to think about Christian Slater wearing Kirk's exact uniform from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." (For what it's worth, he's far from the only star to steal from wardrobe, as both Christopher Walken and Gary Oldman have done so, and these were pretty incredible circumstances.) If he can still fit into the same size clothes he wore when he was 20, then it's totally possible that Slater could wear Captain Kirk's screen-worn uniform while sitting in the official captain's chair, which is as close to the ultimate Trekkie dream as you can get. All thanks to a little help from his "mommy" and good old-fashioned Hollywood nepotism.