Patrick Stewart On His Favorite 'Star Trek' Film, Close Friendship with Sir Ian McKellen and More | In Studio - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

"I love him deeply," Stewart said of his friendship with fellow actor Sir Ian McKellen.

Transcript

00:00Hello, I'm Patrick Stewart, and you're in the studio with The Hollywood Reporter.

00:10Let's start at the very beginning.

00:12Could you tell me a memory that sticks out to you of the late, great Gene Roddenberry?

00:17Gene had been very reluctant to cast me from the beginning,

00:22from the first day that I was rushed over to his house to meet with him.

00:26The meeting lasted about seven minutes, and all I can remember is that

00:30there was a lot of orange shagpile carpet in the bungalow he was living in.

00:36But he made it clear that I was not what he was looking for.

00:42And months and months went by, and I was called back for more meetings and an audition,

00:48and I became aware that there were people who were campaigning for me as part of the production.

00:56And at last the moment came when I auditioned for the studio, and they made me an offer.

01:04Gene would come down to the set two or three times during the week,

01:09and he would sit in a director's chair and watch what we were doing.

01:13And occasionally I would catch him looking at me, and I know, I know that he was thinking,

01:20what the hell is this guy doing in my show?

01:24Because I don't think he'd ever got a...

01:28I am told that somewhere in the archives, in the cellars of Paramount,

01:34there is a memo which came from Gene to everybody on the production,

01:39saying that he did not want to hear my name mentioned again.

01:43Amazing.

01:45But...

01:46What was it?

01:47What was he looking for?

01:48What to...

01:49Well, you know, when this new series was announced, and the casting,

01:54the Los Angeles Times described me as unknown British Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart.

02:02Well, as a foretaste of the kind of company I was going to be keeping in this new series,

02:10Brent Spineau, who played Data the Android, he had a sign made, and it was...

02:16I came back to my trailer one day, and it was stuck on my trailer door,

02:19and it said in big red letters,

02:21BEWARE UNKNOWN British Shakespearean actor.

02:25So, you know, if you didn't go to the Royal Shakespeare Company or watch BBC Two,

02:32you really had no idea who this person was.

02:36There is a line that is very important in the Star Trek universe, which is,

02:40the line must be drawn here.

02:43Oh, yes, you're right.

02:45Right, from first contact.

02:46Yeah, yeah.

02:47Did you know that that line was going to end up being such...

02:50I mean, it's a meme, it's an internet sensation.

02:53Yeah, no, I didn't.

02:56All I knew was that it was an opportunity for me to illustrate what we rarely saw of Jean-Luc Picard,

03:03but him in a rage, in a fury, not able to contain his feelings.

03:10But I was also teased about that because I added a vowel sound that wasn't there.

03:16I actually do say, and I heard this the other day, the recording of it,

03:22the line must be drawn here.

03:25And it's not, it's here.

03:27Here is what we say, not here.

03:30And so I was teased a lot about that.

03:33But, yeah, well.

03:35Well, let's pivot.

03:37There are so many directions I would love to go.

03:40One of the things is your love of American cinema.

03:43You directed A Fistful of Datas, which is a spaghetti western.

03:48Yeah, yeah.

03:49There was a lot of profound irritation about that.

03:52Because we had a number of directors who were, we were, you know, cycling through.

03:56They were doing, you know, every fifth or sixth episode.

03:59And very, very good directors.

04:01And I had followed in Jonathan Frake's footsteps.

04:04Who had, he called it, he went to Paramount University to learn to be a director.

04:09And he was so serious about this that Rick Berman finally gave him a show to direct.

04:14And it was one of the best episodes we ever did.

04:16And so I felt I would like to follow in his footsteps at some point.

04:22So I got to do six shows.

04:24But you never quite knew what you were going to direct until maybe a few days before you started to prep on it.

04:34And when the word got around that I was the one who had landed the western.

04:39I mean, people were so irritated about that.

04:44I mean, he's an Englishman, he's a Shakespearean actor.

04:47What does he know about westerns?

04:49Well, actually I know a hell of a lot because I saw so many westerns.

04:53I loved westerns when I was a kid.

04:55To be honest, directing those, I think, five or six episodes over the last three seasons

05:04gave me an added energy, an added enthusiasm for what I was doing.

05:10A different kind of interest because being behind the camera is a very different experience.

05:15And I think it kept me active during the final couple of seasons of Next Generation.

05:25You have some of the most memorable lines in film, television, and theater.

05:29Can you tell me a line that sticks out to you?

05:32A line that you love?

05:34You know, there was a period of my life when I was doing a lot of Shakespeare when I worked.

05:38I worked for 12 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and London and touring worldwide.

05:45And people would have said to me, what is your favorite Shakespearean line?

05:49Well, you know, where do you begin?

05:52But I always loved the ordinary things he said, often very, very unexpectedly.

06:02So plain, so simple.

06:04For example, there's a moment at the end of one of my favorite plays, Winter's Tale,

06:09when Leontes the King, who believed his wife had died many, many, many years ago,

06:16and he was responsible for her death,

06:18is taken to see a statue of her that has been made.

06:22And the statue suddenly moves.

06:25And it's her.

06:27And she takes her ex-husband's hand, and he says, oh, she's warm.

06:39He used these simple, everyday phrases at times, and they have an almost shattering impact

06:48on the verse and the poetry that surrounds them.

06:52Actually, one of the lines that has become commonplace in our family was not said by me.

06:58It was said by Ian McKellen when we did Waiting for Godot.

07:01And he used to say to me with this emphasis, not now, Dee Dee, not now.

07:08Well, my wife has taken that up.

07:10So I go, not now, Patrick, not now.

07:13And there are lines that stick and that will never, ever really fade away.

07:19Do you have a favorite Star Trek movie, one that you love?

07:24I think the second movie, which was the one that Jonathan Frakes directed for First Contact,

07:31I think was outstanding and was the best of our four movies.

07:37And some of the episodes that Jonathan directed are also outstanding.

07:43And he is directing Star Trek Picard.

07:46Yes.

07:47Two episodes in the first season.

07:49And I think I can say with confidence he will be directing in other seasons if and when they happen.

07:56My last question to you is about your social media presence.

08:01Because you have won the hearts of the internet with your friendship with Sir Ian McKellen and also your love of your rescue dog.

08:09Oh, yeah.

08:10Can you please tell your fans what some advice that they might have if they would like long lasting friendships like the ones you have?

08:19I'm not sure how Ian would feel about our relationship being compared to my relationship with Pitbulls.

08:24Actually, it started very late because Ian had a very successful career.

08:34Ian was already becoming a star when he was at university, when he was at Cambridge.

08:39People knew that there was this actor.

08:41And I saw him when he was a young actor and I was blown away by what he did.

08:46Not only the talent, but he was so drop-dead gorgeous as well.

08:51And, you know, look at me.

08:53Not an open hell.

08:55And then it wasn't, and we did work in the Royal Shakespeare Company together.

08:59But I was very shy and shy of him.

09:03He always seemed to be surrounded by people, good friends.

09:06But then we were cast in X-Men.

09:09And it was, we had adjoining trailers and that was when the relationship really began.

09:18And it was a simple matter that we found we had a huge amount in common.

09:23I love him deeply.

09:25And, of course, I think he's generally known now.

09:28He actually married my wife and I.

09:31He performed the ceremony.

09:33How lovely.

09:34He gave himself the documents that gave him permission to marry people.

09:40And he's only done it once.

09:42I know he's had offers to do others.

09:44I think he's been offered a lot of money to marry people.

09:47But at the moment it just remains in us.

09:50As for dogs, we are now beginning to discover more and more and more about the capacity for intelligent response that dogs have.

10:03For instance, our very first rescue dog was Ginger.

10:07And Ginger has now become an international superstar on social media.

10:11And she's now in a forever home and very, very happy.

10:14I was once rather unwell.

10:17And I was throwing up in the bathroom.

10:20It was a rather unpleasant side to this story.

10:23But my wife was at the other end of the house in the kitchen.

10:28And I didn't know this, but Ginger had been watching me.

10:33And I had my head in the toilet.

10:35And then she ran off to the kitchen and just began whimpering in front of Sunny, my wife.

10:40And Sunny said, what is it?

10:42What's wrong?

10:43What's wrong?

10:44And then she ran to the door.

10:45And Sunny realized she wanted her to follow her.

10:47So thinking something must have happened, she came and found me unwell in the bathroom.

10:53And the dog did that.

10:54Nobody asked her.

10:55But she saw what was happening and knew that I needed some help.

11:00And went to get it.

11:02And this level of empathic understanding that creatures have.

11:09And there are so many of your viewers right now at this moment could tell many, many more stories like that.

11:14And an intuitive sense that some dogs have for what we are feeling.

11:19Ginger would occasionally look at me and I know she would be saying, are you okay?

11:25That's, was the look in her, everything okay?

11:28Oh, and I would say, everything's great.

11:30Everything's fine.

11:31And she would go, oh, good, good.

11:33And she would go.

11:34Well, Patrick Stewart, congratulations on the new series, Picard.

11:37It's on CBS All Access.

11:39Thank you very much.

11:40And we'll see you out there in space.

11:43Eventually you will, yes.

11:46Yes, that's right.

11:55Yeah, let me show you more.

12:16All right.

Patrick Stewart On His Favorite 'Star Trek' Film, Close Friendship with Sir Ian McKellen and More | In Studio

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