<font color="#0066FF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" color="#FFFFFF">FROM THE PRESS KIT, COURTESY OF WARNER BROTHERS:</font></font>

<font size="2" color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Another of the film's memorable characterizations is provided by William Shatner, who takes a good-natured swipe at his own celebrity status and television persona in Showtime by playing himself - more or less. As the former star of the popular police drama T.J. Hooker, Shatner is hired by Chase Renzi to show the reluctant Mitch how to act like a police officer on camera because to people like Shatner and Renzi, reality isn't real enough until it has the proper staging that television audiences have come to expect. Hence, we have an actor attempting to show a real cop how to look like a cop by adopting a repertoire of theatrical action moves that any actual member of the police force would find laughable.</font>

<font size="2" color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">De Niro appreciated the parody and says, &quot;Shatner's very funny. He has a dry sense of humor. The whole idea of having him there taking shots at what he represents is a great joke.&quot;</font>

<font size="2" color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">During a scene in which Shatner intently applies his T.J. Hooker technique to the business of taste- testing drugs or barrel-rolling into a room with pistol cocked, while his eager student Trey Sellars matches his every move, Shatner and Murphy couldn't resist doing a little ad-libbing. &quot;The scene is scripted,&quot; Murphy says, &quot;but it was just such a funny situation and Shatner made it so much funnier the way he was playing it, saying things like, 'Who stole the money, Trey' in this serious T.J. Hooker voice, we just started doing different takes on our own, trying to get the most out of it.&quot;</font>

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">What the Shatner character doesn't get, but Shatner himself does, is the fundamental absurdity of the scene which, of course, he plays in absolute earnest. As the actor explains, &quot;Playing funny is not funny. Trying not to be funny, but staying at the edge of it is what works. It's a mystical area.&quot;</font>

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Shatner was great, says Dey, enthusiastically. &quot;He was a lot of fun and he really enjoyed joking around with his image and the whole T.J. Hooker thing.&quot;</font>

<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Showtime was directed by Tom Dey and is rated PG-13. For more information, visit the official Showtime website. Better yet, go out and see it this weekend.</font>

<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="" size="2"><font color="#FFFFFF">Shatner &amp; Friends International is William Shatner's official fan club. We are a community of friends drawn together by an appreciation of William Shatner, the actor and the man. </font></font>

<font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">O</font><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">ur first newsletter, The Best of Times, is posted online. Each issue features the latest news about Bill and his activities, exclusive interviews, articles, lots of candid photos, charity updates and much more. The next one will be published in the end of March.</font>

<font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> We will post time sensitive information concerning Bill's appearance schedule within Bill's online calendar. It's updated regularly, so keep checking back. </font>

<font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">We are excited to be part of WilliamShatner.com and will be making regular contributions to the website. If you happen to be going to Creation Entertainment's Grand Slam convention in March, stop by our table. We'd love to see you.</font>