Wednesday, November 20, 1996
FILM:
Business of character and revenge very personal for Patrick
Stewart, who revives his role as Capt. Picard in movieBy Michael
Nazarinia
Daily Bruin Contributor
When a baby is first born, the parents do everything in their
power to raise the child to adulthood, and once there, hope for its
best.
In the case of "Star Trek," the child was Paramount Picture’s
"Star Trek: The Next Generation," entrusted into the commanding
hands of Shakespearean stage actor Patrick Stewart. That series was
born to widespread media acclaim and subsequently became the most
watched syndicated show for seven years. The series finale had an
estimated 40 percent of the nation’s households tuned in.
Now with Stewart’s character, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, at the helm
of the newly commissioned Enterprise-E, it has reached maturity
with the motion picture "Star Trek: First Contact," which makes
resistance to watching it futile.
"Many comparisons have been made over the years between
Shakespeare and Star Trek and they’re quite authentic ones. This is
larger- than-life stuff, it’s epic, and we’re dealing with heroic
figures of mythic proportions here. And even the language of Star
Trek is not a totally naturalistic language," says Stewart,
referring to the incorporation of Trek lore into all facets of
today’s society.
For Trekkies everywhere, "First Contact" represents a fresh
start for a cast that in the last movie, "Star Trek: Generations,"
had the proverbial baton passed from the original Star Trek crew
that Captain Kirk and company had taken through six movies. In
"Generations," Stewart’s role was convoluted with all the other
elements that made that movie seem as if it were trying to please
too many people at once.
"We made a deliberate decision to activate Picard more for this
story. We wanted to put him in the trenches. I wanted him on the
front line, I wanted him to lead from the front. And when the Borg
became the principle evil power in the story, it was critical that
Picard was as close to them as possible because there was this
history that we couldn’t have overlooked, so we went for that
historical connection with the Borg.
"And it paid off. I’m very happy to be seeing this man
expressing his feelings strongly, intense, active, and mixing it up
with the villains," Stewart says about his role in "First
Contact."
Stewart was first approached about the script of "First Contact"
by producer Rick Berman and writers Brannon Braga and Ron Moore
while doing a production of "The Tempest" last year for the New
York Shakespeare Festival. They quickly realized that the role of
Prospero mirrored that of Picard’s.
"(Prospero’s) role was directly paralleled by the storyline we
were discussing for Picard (in "First Contact"), to whom a wrong
had been done. He had been hurt in the past and was finding the
perpetrators of that hurt within reach."
In the series, Picard was assimilated into the Borg collective
consciousness and had to deal with losing his individuality. As a
result, "Picard sets out with a terrifying single-mindedness to
destroy them for the hurt they’ve done him," Stewart says.
Stewart was never one to take acting lightly. From day one of
the series, he had input into the creative process of developing
the script.
"I come from a background of ensemble theater, where nothing is
sacred, you can speak up at any time about the creative process
that’s being done, and I remember saying to (creator) Gene
Roddenberry, ‘I’m going to be involved in this. I’m not an actor
who learns his lines, hits his mark and draws his paycheck.’ I like
to get my hands on it."
"Rick (Berman) and I spent many nights on the telephone. I’d get
home, look at the next day’s draft, pick up the phone and talk to
Rick. I think as a result of that communication, we worked really
well over the years, and they pay me the compliment by including me
in a very early stage of the creative process. I think it’s good
sense with all of us, when a situation comes up to ask us, ‘what
would your character do or how would you run with this idea?’"
In "First Contact," even Stewart found the notion of portraying
a man with such deep rooted and conflicting emotions as that of
Picard challenging.
"The hardest thing for me was holding on to the mind set of this
man who had this deep suppressed rage about a harm that had been
done to him. Finding the ways in which it bubbled up to the surface
from time to time, and finally having the pot boil over and become
all-consuming."
"I’ve never been in a situation like that. I’ve had some
experiences like that where I’ve been wronged, but it was nothing
like having first-hand contact with people who have been physically
and mentally abused and incarcerated, their freedom and liberty
taken away from them. Because of my involvement with Amnesty
International, I’ve talked with people who have been put in a place
in which they never thought they’d escape from, which was very
similar to what Picard went through in the series when he was
captured by the Borg."
After playing the same character for 10 years and being voted
sexiest man alive, the line where Stewart stops and Picard starts
has dimmed.
"It embarrasses me a little to say, but I truly no longer know
where I begin and he leaves off. A lot of me has gone into this
man, and even some aspects of him I’ve internalized. Picard is a
great listener, and we established that throughout the series. He’d
always ask for your feedback. I’ve actively tried to spend more
time saying to people ‘tell me about you.’"
Paramount Pictures
Patrick Stewart returns as Jean-Luc Picard to battle the Borg in
"Star Trek: First Contact".