This week Patrick Stewart hit the new York Stage in the title role of “Macbeth” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In a couple of new interviews the actor talked about the show and of course a bit about Star Trek. Stewart said that he would consider playing Picard again, talked about his friendship with William Shatner, how he is glad to be back on the stage and even about his Trek collection. See below
On returning to his role as Picard, Stewart told Bloomgerg:
I think it’s very unlikely they will invite me to. There is a new “Star Trek” movie, but it’s a prequel to the original series. I would certainly consider it, because I love that character.
Stewart on Shatner and not taking things seriously
Stewart told Bloomberg that there was no rivalry between Trek’s biggest captains. Of Shatner, he said “Bill is one of my dear friends…He’s an absolutely stupendous individual and I adore him." When asked if they joked around, Stewart said:
Of course we do. The important thing is not to take it too seriously. I’d been an actor for 27 years before I put on that spacesuit. I’m so grateful for it. It meant when the series ended I had a career that wasn’t connected to it that I could return to.
Back where he wanted to be
In another interview with the Daily News Stewart said that he was "incredibly insecure" when he first returned to the Shakespearean stage, but went on to say it was where he always wanted to be:
All I wanted to do when I left drama school was act on the stage as often as possible in Shakespeare. I had no ambition to be a television actor. And then unexpectedly a lot of things just happened to me which included going to Hollywood and doing seven years of a television series and then these blockbuster movies.
But Stewart still looks fondly back at his time with Trek and to his fellow cast mates (some of whom are on the benefit committee for the opening night gala at BAM):
I was making some money for the first time in my life. … I was enjoying myself. I was lucky to have a magnificent core group of actors to work with on ‘Star Trek.’
The Picard Auction
Stewart also told Bloomberg he has a "a small warehouse full" of Star Trek memorabilia and that he plans to "do something with it in the near future" like put it up for auction. In previous interviews the actor has said that he was always given copies of every one of his costumes and he surely has additional items, so the memorabilia community would certainly be excited about Stewart opening the doors to his warehouse.
There is more from Stewart at Bloomberg and the New York Daily News
VIDEO From BAM
The New York Times also showed up to see the gala premiere and has video of it and some interviews including a quick snippet with the man himself. Click image below to see it.
`Macbeth” runs through March 22 at 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn. Information: +1-718-636-4100; http://www.bam.org .
The Shat versus Special Guest Star, Patrick Stewart, in Boston Legal would be very cool!!…………..
FIR– never mind…
First!!
They should cast good old Picard in something…come on?
FIRST! yeah i know who gives a crap. but yeah go stewart! wish i could see macbeth, not to mention get a piece of your collection
damn. guess when i said first i meant fourth
I’ve always said they should reunite the Next Gen crew to undo the ‘Generations’ death thing in a TV movie that would fix canon.
Sorry to bring up that tired old story but it’s one suggestion that frees things up a bit and helps alot of trekkies.
It would be great to see Picard in action again,even though Nemisis didnt do well at the box office,I think The next generation still has a large fan base,and there are still more adventures that could be done with Picard and the Enterprise E.
2nd (maybe)! Look, to be honest, I’d sure like a better send off movie for The Next Generation cast and crew and to have the Data/B4 issue settled.
So here’s to giving Stewart one last go-round as Picard!
Unfortunately, I think the last adventures for Picard were in the electronic games world — Star Trek: Elite Force II and that semi-new game that didn’t do too well.
A TV movie/Mini series which ties up the “current” universe (If the movie does split off into its own timeline) would be a nice end – But with CBS holding TV rights (doesnt it?) and the current rush to re-establish the tentpole shows of each network I dont think it’ll come any time soon.
Well… At least he doesn’t hate Star Trek… thats a good thing. I’ve all ways been a Kirk fan, but I didn’t grow up watching TOS. I grew up with The Next Gen, and I think Picard’s character is great to.
It would be cool to see him do something with Trek, but chances are slim.
Oh well…
Picards cool but hes gotta hate being called picard and having the nerds follow him like lost puppy dogs.
*breaks in and steals his Trek stuff*
# no question the man can act.
I remember this interview where Stewart admitted to being a Beavis and Butthead fan.
I kid you not.
Put a toupee on him (just something to make him look different) and make him one of the toughest instructors at the academy…
Love it.
kg
#15 I actually saw that interview myself and was stunned by that one.
I don’t have much use for watching actors stuffed into girdles and hairpieces to play characters that haven’t aged while they’ve aged two or three decades. Just looks silly. And, unconvincing.
If Stewart plays Picard again, I’d like to see him play the character 20 years after Nemesis.
This makes me feel a bit better. In other interviews it seemed as if he was harboring a lot of resentment toward Trek. Glad to see that’s not the case.
Somehow I don’t see Picard stuffed into a hairpiece (maybe small ones growing out of his ears). And from what I’ve seen he doesn’t need a girdle yet.
I also would scream for a TNG ending movie that does the cast justice but I suspect Spiner is probably past the point where he can perform Data with any degree of credibility. Perhaps CGI but I can’t see Brent going for that.
His mustache makes me nervous
We have 176 episodes and 5 movies of TNG. Haven’t we seen enough of Patrick Stewart??
Don’t get me wrong, even as a TOS Purist I still like the guy, but seriously. “He should do Star Trek again?” Are you kidding me? Aren’t there OTHER people from Star Trek who could use a bit more of the spotlight?
#18 “If Stewart plays Picard again, I’d like to see him play the character 20 years after Nemesis.”
At this rate, that should be JUST ABOUT right. . . . . . . ;)
5 Next Generation Movies?
Generations
First Contact
Insurrection
Nemesis
Am I missing one?
stewart was easily the best guest star on extras
“and then all her clothes fall off…”
thanks to j.j we now can have a proper tos tng crossover movie too!
well fingers crossed!
24 Infinite Diversity
No, you’re not missing any.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture December 7, 1979
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan June 4, 1982
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock June 1, 1984
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home November 26, 1986
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier June 9, 1989
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country December 6, 1991
Star Trek Generations November 18, 1994
Star Trek: First Contact November 22, 1996
Star Trek: Insurrection December 11, 1998
Star Trek Nemesis December 13, 2002
Star Trek May 8, 2009
lets not get into a ‘my trek is better than your trek’ war again. Lots of us would love to see Picard in action one more time, but we all know it isn’t going to happen.
Interesting. It has been “I’m never going to play this character again” for quite a while. But now it’s “I’d certainly consider it”. Change of mind eh?
DON’T WRITE OFF “T.N.G.” JUST YET…
I think one of the main failings of the TNG movies was that they were released WAY too quickly after the 7th season bow of “All Good Things.” The producers never gave fans and the general public a chance to actually MISS the TNG characters and actors, and/or build-up any sort of momentum and legacy. There was no grace period where fans thought, “Man, won’t it be great if they ever made a TNG movie???” We already knew they were working on one halfway through Season 7!
Anyway, if STAR TREK XI is a smash success and they manage to squeeze a trilogy of films out of the whole, um, enterprise, who’s to say that the next batch of STAR TREK films couldn’t focus on the return of the TNG crew? We’ve had the middle-/old-age years from the TOS crew… I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that we could see at least one more TNG film, as a PROPER send-off to the TNG era.
(Of course, by that time, it’ll be around 2018 and TNG would have already been 30 years old! Stewart & Co. may be a little TOO long in the tooth.
On second thought, maybe it’s not such a good idea after all…)
Glad to see he’s not downplaying his Trek history as he had been for awhile…. he was almost badmouthing it for a time, to put distance between it and his serious acting. At least now he’s letting up some and acknowledging it and even leaving the door open for something.
hey have patrick stewart play boothbys grandfather in the nes startrek movie
The TNG cast is far too old for another movie, anyone see Gates McFadden lately? She now looks more like Wesley’s Nana than his mother. Denise Crosby hasn’t aged very well either, not that she can play Yar. Jonathan Frakes got fat & Troi’s days as being the ‘chick’ (as she puts it) are long behind her. Plus, Brent Spiner is the first to say he’s too old to continue playing Data..uh..B4..uh, whatever.
Gotta say, Patrick Stewart is my greatest hero cos of Picard. Now I guess we face what has become of Kirk…the ‘big return’ that perhaps will never be. That said, I feel that Picard left on-screen Trek in Nemesis with the dignity that the Undiscovered Country did with Kirk (and that ST Generation’s crapped upon!).
I for one would LOVE to see Stewart return as Picard…but I have to wonder, deep down and in all seriousness, will ‘they’ make the same mistake with him that they did with Kirk (i.e. a baaaaad exit)?!?! I certainly hope not.
I’d love to see him put on the uniform one more time and give us one of his earth jarring speeches , with his British baritone voice.
“MAKE IT SO!!!”
I want to voice my strong support of seeing Patrick Stewart again as Captain Jean Luc Picard in another Star Trek film. First Contact will always remain one of my personal favorites right up there with Wrath of Khan and Undiscovered Country. And while the chances of Stewart playing Picard again are very slim right now, I honestly thought Leonard Nimoy would never appear in a Star Trek production again and well….what did I know!!! You never can tell what the future holds for Star Trek, even with this curren film!
This whole, ‘FIRST” thing is beyond annoying, and rather adolescent. Can we please knock it off, I mean really who cares?!!
According to the interviews ive seen and read I dont think Patrick Stewart is keen on the Idea of Playing Picard again. Indications are that he wants to move onto other things the fact that he is doing Mcbeth suggests that he would like to resume theater and stage work. The man wants to put Picard behind him, he is entitled
#36 – Entire threads have been all but devoted to that subject; it’s been discussed more than the actual “first-ing” itself. At this point the only thing to do is let it drop and just ignore it; the attention whores who do it will eventually get bored with the lack of response and discontinue their foolish crusade.
Either that or Anthony will delete any post that just declares “first!”
I’d love to see Patrick as Ambassador Picard or some such. But, really those stories (Relics, anyone?) tend to be eccentric to the point of being distracting. It would be nice to have a scene that really made sense in the context of a really good movie. We’ve got two more and Patrick is the youngest 60something I’ve ever seen. Here’s one more rule from Cmdrr’s handbook: Don’t kill off anyone major! It’s old. And don’t blow up the ship anymore. GAD, I’d take ANY starship they’ve blown to hell just for a cheap thrill.
Anyway — nice to see Patrick is mellowing as he gets more and more of the stage work he so loves.
I think i read once that JJ and the team would like to
make a post TNG movie!?
I hope i did not mixed up some of the 1000 comments i read and a real statement.
Tomaz a Trekker from Slowenia By!
Beyond however many Trek films that Abrams ends up doing, Trek is going to have to reinvent itself again.
If Leonard Nimoy’s Spock is in TNG time, then they could find some way to include Captain Picard in the movie.
Macbeth is playing at the BAM? Interesting, I may go and check it out if the tickets are reasonable.
#42 Patrick Stewart doesn’t really want to do any more Trek and i don’t think studio wants him to reprise the role anyway. I think that the next generations time has past, i dont think anyone wants to do a reboot of next gen either.
1
If we’re going to continue to bring Star Trek crossovers onto Boston Legal let’s get Gary Lockwood to guest. I hear he’s still around and I heard at Comic Con this summer what a card and an untapped character he is to be around. He started Trek with Shatner on the first episode….let’s have him end Boston Legal with him.
What combination of timing and circumstances would have to come together to make another TNG ?
Re: #32. I Love My Moogie
“The TNG cast is far too old for another movie…”
I really hate to admit it, but it’s true. I thought Frakes and Sirtis looked awful at the end of “the series “Enterprise” (where they are in a holodeck and it appears that they were viewing Archer’s time as Captain as studying up on a mission). Frakes was huge and Sirtis’ hairpiece wasn’t on right. OMG. It was really embarrassing.
Brent Spiner is getting pretty big as well (as are some of us — me, anyway) and it breaks my heart but as the saying goes “all good things must come to an end”. I enjoyed them very much but just like in ST:VI, the crew was looking too old. Very sad but I’ll just get my DVDs out…
It is more to everyone’s credit that they KNOW when it’s time to say goodbye, as much as it rends the heart. I hate change, but it’s part of living. What’s exciting is, included in change is another “crew” to take us on new adventures. I believe we’ll be just as sad to see them go when they do.
Hurry up May 2009!!
kg
The moustache makes me think he is appearing as Mirror Universe Picard. The facial automatically makes you evil, like Spock or Universe B Bender.
#45
That would be a nice little piece of serindipity-doo, wouldn’t it?
I also wish Nimoy would relent and guest on BL.
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
49
Won’t happen. Because it’s a good idea and because I want it.
As far as Nimoy being on, I think I’ve mentioned elsewhere, he was pretty emphatic, even after Shatner got the audience involved at a convention I attended, that he was not interested in doing that.
Both would be good ideas.