We absolutely love how much Patrick Stewart has been in the news lately.  With his recent addition to the Vegas Khhaaan! roster it seems the Captain is on a whirlwind tour of the Globe.  In fact, he's in Edinburgh, Scotland this week as the jury chairman for the Edinburgh International Film Festival.  Not only as a part of the jury, but Patrick was also the focus of an on-stage interview helmed by Alan Morrison, arts editor of the Sunday Herald.  

During the event Patrick recalled his favorite fan letter that he received during his tenure aboard the Enterprise.  The letter was from an American police officer who said that the only thing that helped him deal with the feeling that evil had triumphed in the world was to reach for a Star Trek video and admire the moral, upstanding character the actor played.  The retelling of the story was so moving for Patrick that he began to tear-up on stage.  He continued by talking about the blurry line between character and actor.

“After a while on Star Trek, it became a question of where Jean-Luc ended and I began.  Eventually I began to realise, and it never occurred to me before, that if there is not a significant part of you in the character you are going to play, then it won’t be too interesting.”

He added: “There was a point where it became an albatross: a producer who I was lobbying for a part once said to me – why would I want Jean-Luc Picard in my film?

“So I resisted playing another role like that, Professor X in the X-Men series, for a long time. But another actor said to me: you can never have enough franchises in your career.”

Asked by an audience member if there were any roles he regretted taking, Stewart said one film did not appear on his own CV: Wild Geese 2, in which he played a Russian army officer.

“Hold your nose, for the smell of bad acting by me in that film,” he said. He said he took the role because it paid £2000, exactly the sum it cost to fix his leaky roof at the time. (info source heraldscotland.com)

Read the full article here.

Image Credits Trekcore.com