FAN EXPO Boston to welcome Henry Winkler, William Shatner and more

BOSTON — Two iconic stars will be beaming down to the FAN EXPO Boston this weekend at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

The "one and only" Henry Winkler — the actor who originated the role of Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on “Happy Days” and, more recently, the Emmy-winning role of narcissistic acting coach Gene Cousineau on HBO’s “Barry” — and William Shatner — the actor who originated the role of Captain James T. Kirk on “Star Trek,” as well as the Emmy-winning role of Denny Crane on “The Practice” — are two of the celebrities slated for the comic con event.

In addition to Winkler (who's going to be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday) and Shatner (who's going to be Friday and Saturday), FAN EXPO Boston will host Hayden Christensen, Robin Wright, Zachary Levi and Stephen Amell (all Saturday only); Baccarin, Danny Trejo, Jason Lee, Emily Swallow and Vivien Lyra Blair (Saturday and Sunday); Ashley Eckstein, Garrett Hedlund, Danielle Panabaker, Gabriel Luna, Peter Weller, Oscar Nunez, Leslie David Baker and Creed Bratton (all three days).

“The great thing about these comic cons, I don’t stand behind a table. I stand in front of a table,” Winkler said. “I do it all the time and I don’t do it for effect. I do it because I look at these people in the eye and these people come and they watched you with their parents. They watched with their grandmother. They watched under one television screen. They are so happy to meet the person that they saw, and I don’t take that for granted.”

Henry Winkler is cool, not “Fonzie cool,” even though he originated his most famous role 50 years ago next year, but a genuine cool and warmth all his own, while the larger-than-life William Shatner is one of the most charismatic and dynamic people you can ever meet. And, at 77 and 92, respectively, both are more popular than ever, and neither are showing signs of slowing down quite yet.

Exhibit 'Aaaaay!!!'

Winkler, who has suffered with dyslexia since a child (but didn’t realize he had until he landed the role on “Happy Days”), has an up-and-coming autobiography, “Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond.”

“The book scared me to death because I never actually though of doing it. It came in the same way that everything does, out of the blue, and I then walk around with the thought of it for a long time,” Winkler explained.

A successful children’s book author, Winkler said not in his wildest dreams did he ever think he could write an autobiography.

“That’s Woodrow Wilson stuff,” Winkler shrugged.

But at the urging of his youngest son, Max, and securing of a book deal by his longtime agent two hours after hearing the idea, Winkler poured his guts out for 70 hours to noted biographer James Kaplan, who helped shaped the story.

“I realize now the book is about the journey of this stilted, be-who-you-think-you-should-be-growing-into individual, now just starting to be who he actually is.” Winkler said. “Growing up, they just labeled me a thousand times. And, then it’s like little ducklings following their mothers. We get imprinted. Children believe what you say. And if you say it often enough, it must be true. Even though there’s something inside you that goes, ‘Oh, come on. I can’t be that stupid.”

Winkler, with the critical success of “Barry,” said he’s feels he’s in the prime of his life.

Created by “SNL” alum Bill Hader and “Seinfeld” writer Alec Berg, “Barry” is a black comedy crime drama that ran for four season. Hader plays the title character, a hitman who finds himself joining an acting class taught by an eccentric teacher (Winkler) and Barry begins to question his path in life. The critically-acclaimed HBO show ended its 32-episode run on May 28.

Wrinkler credits therapy, which he started seven years ago, for opening “a sub-basement, blocked metal door” in his mind, and being the catalyst that made him able to write his autobiography and to play the role of a lifetime on "Barry."

Winkler said it took him nearly a year to find out if he landed the coveted role on “Barry."

“I got the phone call that I was on a short list. And I said, ‘OK, I’m going to ask you one question. Is Dustin Hoffman on that list?’ And they said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘OK, I’ll come in.’ Because if Dustin Hoffman is on that list, he’s an Academy award winner. He’s gonna get it,’” Winkler recalled. “I auditioned. I didn’t hear. Then I come back in. And I didn’t hear. And, finally, Bill (Hader) said, “I can’t get you out of my mind. Would you like to play this part?’ And I went, ‘My God! Thank you, Lord!’”

“I had like 14 or 15 acting teachers. Some of them could do it. Some of them couldn’t. Some of them were just ca-ca,” Winkler explained. “I took a little from everybody and then also, there was the guy that Bill and Alec wrote from notes that Alec’s wife took when she took acting class and I put my imagination there and mushed it all together and out came Gene.”

Without ruining it for our readers who might have not seen the “Barry” finale or have yet to discover the series, Winkler recalls his gut reaction and the burden of knowing the contents of the final, top-secret script.

“During the making of the last year, Bill came to me, like in the fifth episode, and said, ‘Oh, we finally broke the eighth (final) script. Want to know what happens?’ I said, ‘fine,’” Winkler recalled. “You can’t imagine that’s going to be the ending. So I started to shake. I said, ‘I have to get an avocado toast at the craft services.’ And I had to keep it a secret until it aired. I could tell nobody in my family because it is such a shocker. Nobody would be able to keep that a secret.”

So how does Winkler top “Barry,” arguably the best role of his career? The consummate actor, who had a similar moment at the end of “Happy Days,” said he has no clue.

“I, literally, sat in my office at Paramount when “Happy Days” was over and I was in psychic pain. I had pain in the very center of my brain because I thought I have now lived my dream. I have no idea what to do. I have no Plan B,” Winkler confessed. “People are saying he’s so funny, so great, but he was ‘The Fonz.’ I don’t know what to do. So I was, at least, smart enough to realize when you don’t know what to do, don’t do anything. Let it percolate and, all of a sudden, out of the ooze will come a sense, an instinct, that tells you, all right, we’re going to do this now.”

Strange new worlds get stranger

You have to love Shatner. He has the uncanny knack to makes any career project or business venture sound, as Spock would say, fascinating.Giving new meaning to Jackie Gleason’s adage, “To the moon, Alice,” Shatner has partnered with Space Crystals LLC, which through the company’s “Immortalize Me” program, people — for a $150,000 fee — can have their DNA grown into a pair of crystals, with one of the crystals sent to the lunar surface.

“You will supply the company with your DNA, most likely some plucked hairs,” Shatner explained. "They will make two crystals. One of those crystal will come back to earth and you will have it in your possession. The other crystal will go in a box that will be attached to a moon lander ... The box will be ejected. And your DNA will be on the moon, well, I guess eternity is too big a word but, certainly, but for a long, long time."

When asked if these are “dilithium crystals” like the ones that use to power the USS Enterprise’s warp drive on “Star Trek,” Shatner, without missing a beat, said, “They very well might be. What is dilithium? And we can have a paper describing what we think dilithium is and, low and behold, it’s your crystal.”

Wondering if the good captain has forgotten about the SS Botany Bay, I asked Shatner if he was worried that this could trigger a “Space Seed”/“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” chain reaction and be the catalyst that causes the rise of genetic superhumans like Khan Noonien Singh (aka Ricardo Montalban) and start the Eugenics War from "Star Trek" yore?

Shatner's answer had nothing to do with the pointed question.

“The human mind has encompassed the idea of something living after their mortal body decays. That has been in their minds for a long time. I don’t think some of the other animals that are highly intelligent on earth have that thought,” Shatner said. “I guess that’s where spirituality comes in. But, here’s something concrete. We can point to it. I am up there on the moon. And I will be up there long after you are gone.”

The subject of a recent feature-length documentary “You Can Call Me Bill,” Shatner joked that what he learned about himself is, “The slow dawning of the wisdom of age is that I know nothing. The more I think about, the less I know.”

While he said he is loved and his life is secured, Shatner said he’s concerned that the world is coming to a crucial crossroads, where the planet hangs in the balance and it’s going to take more than energizing a few humpback whales from the 20th Century in the San Francisco Bay to fix.

“There’s a footrace going between the end of the world due to global warming and the bountiful world because of the curiosity and the inventiveness of mankind…Our very existence is being threatened,” Shatner said. “I read (Rachel Carson’s environmental science book) “Silent Spring” 60 years ago and I was preaching this, not with this emphasis because they figured oh, it would be a couple of hundred years down the road. It’s happened now. As time went on, as the 60 years transpired, the tipping point was being shortened and, frequently, I’ve heard, it’s beyond the tipping point ... All we can look forward to is have a good time Friday night and Saturday at FAN EXPO Boston.”

For more information on FAN EXPO Boston, visit fanexpohq.com.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Screen Time: Captain Kirk, Fonzie among guests at FAN EXPO Boston