Movies | April 30, 2010 | 7 comments

Shakespeare and Science Fiction

source: http://www.bullz-eye.com/television/interviews/2010/patrick_stewart.htm

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remanns
A chat with Patrick Stewart, Patrick Stewart interview, Macbeth, Hamlet, Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Allow me to begin the introduction to this interview with an unabashed boast: it is a testament to my burgeoning ability to separate my work as a journalist from my sideline as an unabashed fanboy that I was able to sit down with Patrick Stewart for an interview about his work for PBS’s “Great Performances” – first as Claudius in “Hamlet,” then as the title character in “Macbeth – and not fully acknowledge my love of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” until just as I was standing up to leave.

To some, this may seem like a waste of a perfectly good conversation. To me, it felt just right…which, frankly, came as a bit of a surprise. I mean, I’ve got the complete-series set sitting on a shelf in my living room, and I watched every single episode of the show when it originally aired. Surely I’d earned the right to geek out for a bit…and, yet, it just seemed too easy to approach it head on, so I found an easy opportunity to discuss it tangentially in connection with his Shakespearean efforts, and I felt good about it. Beyond that…well, really, when else was I going to get the chance to ask the man about the time he hosted “Saturday Night Live”? That’s not geeking out. That’s just making the most of an opportunity.

I walked into the room just as he was in the midst of regaling his assistant with a tale that had come up during the previous interview. Upon its conclusion, I was introduced as having chatted with Sir Ian McKellen last year. At this, Sir Patrick…he’s been knighted now, you know…grinned widely, greeted me warmly, and we took the very short stroll over to our seats.

Continued--
http://www.bullz-eye.com/television/interviews/2010/patrick_stewart.htm
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7 comments // Shakespeare and Science Fiction

  • ampersand
    • 0
      ampersand  

    • Now if he, and Ian McKellen, would do yet another Shakespeare tale previously done as a Sci-Fi movie, ("The Tempest" remade as "Forbidden Planet") my life would be complete.
      (Can I suggest Scarlett Johansson as the daughter, gentlemen?)

    • 2 years ago
  • remanns
  • remanns
  • Argon18
    • 0
      Argon18  

    • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Texas

      Great interview, I didn't know that having a version of King Lear set in Texas was Patrick Stewart's idea either but he was superb in it.

      "Yes, I pitched it. I was having dinner with Robert Halmi, a great man, and we were going across the road to a restaurant from his townhouse in Manhattan, and he said, “Come and have a glass of wine first!” And between him pouring the glass of wine and me half finishing it, he had bought the idea. That’s what makes Halmi, for me as a then-producer, such a great man. He’s one of a handful of people in our business who can say… (Claps hands together) “Yes! We’ll do it!” And it’s done! He doesn’t have to consult, he doesn’t have to talk to people, he doesn’t have to run it past focus groups. I said, “Robert, I’ve had this idea about ‘King Lear’ set in the American west, with Texas for Britain, just after the Mexican / Texas wars,” and I told him a bit more and then asked him, “What do you think?” And he said… (Adopts an uncannily accurate Robert Halmi impression) “Goddammit, we’ll do it! It’s fucking brilliant!” (Claps hands together again) Done! And the next morning, I was getting contracts to sign."

    • 2 years ago
  • booksellergirl
    • 0
      booksellergirl  

    • I caught the tail end of this on PBS the other day. I hope the show it again so I can see the whole thing. Patrick Stewart is THE MAN!!! He WAS his role. And look who played Hamlet? That Dr. Who can do anything. Heeheehee :o)

    • 2 years ago
  • remanns
  • remanns
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