Captain Kirk comes home to Iowa

Shatner making low-budget movie in small town

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updated 2:53 p.m. ET Sept. 22, 2004

RIVERSIDE, Iowa - Capt. James T. Kirk came home to Riverside this week.

William Shatner, who played the commander of the starship USS Enterprise in the ’60s “Star Trek” series, arrived Tuesday to hold auditions for four small parts in a low-budget, sci-fi movie he wrote with “Star Trek” co-star Leonard Nimoy.

The working title of the movie is “Invasion Iowa.”

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Shatner called the film “his baby,” and said he’s dreamed of putting the story on the big screen for 30 years.

The 73-year-old actor and more than 100 crew members will be in Riverside for several days to film scenes for the movie.

Although Kirk’s hometown was never mentioned in the TV series, Gene Roddenberry, the show’s creator and executive producer, wrote in “The Making of Star Trek” that Kirk was “born in a small town in the state of Iowa.”

The Riverside City Council picked up on the idea in March 1985, declaring a site behind what used to be the town’s barbershop the “future birthplace” of Kirk.

Shatner is a native of Canada.