Given William Shatner’s war of words with director J.J. Abrams, no one would blame Chris Pine if he wanted to stay clear of Captain Kirk #1. But in a recent interview, the young actor reveals that he actually made contact with Shatner…twice.

Pine’s first attempt to reach out to the 78-year-old happened before he donned the uniform. “I sent him a letter very early on in the process and explained to him who I was and who this punk kid was taking over for him, for the time being, the role and he was very kind and wished me all the luck in the world,” the 28-year-old said. “I know Leonard [Nimoy] was the same way [with Zachary Quinto], there was a wonderful feeling of handing over the mantle to us and wishes for luck and all that.  But it was more about allowing us the freedom to make these characters our own without having the feelings of weight and expectation and responsibility.”

That written exchange eventually led a brief face-to-face meeting months later. Last weekend, Pine had the opportunity to talk to William at an event in Los Angeles. “I saw Bill last night actually for the first time at his charity show in Burbank. He was very kind and it was a very short meeting.  He had a lot of people to see. It was big event that had been taking place all day, but my interaction with him has only been really wonderful,” Chris told HitFix.

So should we expect Shatner to speak favorably of the prequel as a result of these pleasant exchanges? Somehow I doubt it.

Star Trek opens in theaters on May 8.