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Star Trek: The Next Generation producer Robert Justman says that Patrick Stewart almost didn’t get the role of Jean Luc Picard.
  “Gene and I were searching for the proper captain and we hadn’t found him.” Justman recalled to BBC Online “We knew it was a man and we knew he was French and he was very hairy. Hopefully he was a handsome leading man, French, in fact.”
“We saw some rather good actors. But time was passing and we were getting close to when we had to start filming. We couldn’t find that magical person. My wife and I were taking a course at UCLA on humour. In the arts. Tonight’s lecture was to be a reading by two people - one was Patrick Stewart. He came out with the lady and they were - proceeded to do some Shakespeare. And he read his first line and I went crazy. I turned to my wife I said I think I’ve found our new captain.”
“We met at Gene Roddenberry’s house, Patrick pulled up in his rental car and we spent about 45 minutes together, talking. We watched Patrick drive away in his rental car to go to the airport and Gene closed the door, turned around, faced me and said, and I quote, ‘I won’t have him.’”
“He wouldn’t have him and he wouldn’t tell me why. But I know why. I knew why. I knew that he had conceived of a Frenchman. And, you know, who was masculine, virile, and had a lot of hair. And Patrick didn’t fit that at all. Patrick was not so handsome, he was distinctive, and he was quite bald. Quite bald.”
“I was hot to trot. I was very, very enthused about Patrick playing the role. And I kept after Gene and Gene kept fighting me off until one day we had a new producer come on the scene, and that was Rick [Berman]. Rick saw Patrick’s film and fell in love with him. As did our casting director. So the three of us were allied in the fight to get Patrick as the captain. And Gene was allied in his own fight not to have him at all. So finally I realised that the more I pushed, the more he dug his heels in.”
“I made an announcement, one day, in a meeting when the subject was brought up and I said I don’t want to hear the name Patrick Stewart ever again. It’s over with Patrick Stewart, forget him. I did that on purpose to make Gene think that I’d given up. “And every time anyone mentioned Patrick Stewart’s name to me, I would explode and say ‘I don’t want to hear that. Don’t tell me Patrick Stewart any more’. Finally our last possible candidate came to audition for us. And the guy, whoever he was, read for us and talked with us and he left the room, the door closed and we were all silent. There was not a sound to be heard. And finally Gene Roddenberry heaved a big sigh. He said ‘All right, I’ll go with Patrick’”
Sam at Farpoint Media remarks, “Fans of the series and franchise are forever greatful to Gene’s staff for believing in Patrick and for Gene to be man enough to put the project first over his own tunneled view of the character, because Star Trek without Patrick Stewart would be like dry cereal without milk — bland, tasteless and boring.” But, superb as Stewart was, it’s quite likely another actor could have made the role work. The character would certainly have evolved differently, however, with a different personality in the red uniform
The reviews are rolling in for “X-Men 3: The Last Stand.” It sounds very much as if fans of the first two movies will want to go see it and others will want to stay home.
Egotastic’s Phil reports,
The action was great, but there was still a lot of the character development, and pacing that made the first two movies what they were. Story-wise, this movie takes a lot of chances, and they pay off, big time. Sure, there were a few cheesey lines, but they were few and far between, and the best characters are still the best characters.
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine was as good as ever, Ian McKellen once again kicks ass as Magneto, and no one can replace Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier. Even Halle Berry as Storm finally got her moment to shine, though the lameness of the character was hard to overcome, so it’s not really her fault, though, she could have tried to bring a little more life to it. New characters like Kitty Pryde played by Ellen Page, Juggernaut played by Vinnie Jones, and, of course, Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Hank McCoy (aka Beast) were great additions that added new life to the series. There were also a ton of secondary mutant characters that were pretty cool too.
I’m not going to spoil any plot points for you, but I will say this: Stay till the end. Stay past the end. After the credits there’s an extra scene that you don’t want to miss. Trust me.
Gary Farber has an impressive collection of the early reviews from the trades.
CPG has a collection of premier party photos featuring the cleavage of Halle Berry and Rebecca Romijn. Here’s a more tame shot with Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellar . . . and Halle Berry’s cleavage.
And here’s a version of the movie poster.
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan look 20 years younger in the opening sequence of X-Men 3, thanks to some new movie magic.
What a pair those dashing young mutants Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart make in “X-Men: The Last Stand.” The two 60-something actors had 20 years shaved off their features for the opening sequence in the comic-book franchise’s latest flick, the filmmakers using digital technology to match current features to those in old photos. In the scene, McKellen, 67, and Stewart, 65, look like fair approximations of themselves in their mid-40s, a time when McKellen was busy doing Shakespeare on the British stage and Stewart had just taken over the starship Enterprise on TV’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
“It’s as brilliantly done as airbrushing in a magazine. You cannot tell the difference,” McKellen said. “You can grow hair, you can shrink eyebrows, you can change cheekbones, you can magnify bosoms, shrink waists. You can do anything you want. It looks like a younger person. Patrick looks sensational.”
[...]
The opening sequence of “X-Men: The Last Stand” features Xavier and Lehnsherr 20 years earlier, still allies as they make first contact with super-mutant Jean Grey as a teenager, who grows into a powerful telepath played by Famke Janssen.
Wrinkles and sagging jowls have been magically wiped clean from Stewart and McKellen’s faces. “I’m scared for Hollywood, because A-list movie stars are going to be putting that in their contract. `I want 10 years taken off me.’ This technology is unbelievable,” said “X-Men: The Last Stand” director Brett Ratner. “It’s like painting the lines out of your face. Why do people have to have plastic surgery, anymore? Just be in a movie and look flawless and perfect.”
Stewart said he and McKellen had fun with the process even before the digital effects were applied, toying around with their carriage and body language to re-create the bearing of men 20 years younger. The technology could come in handy if plans for “X-Men” prequels ever materialize, Stewart said. “Ian was saying the other day there has been talk of a prequel with a younger Magneto and Xavier,” Stewart said. “Well, here we are, Ian and I. Wheel us out and spend the money on the technology.”
That’s be rather expensive. Still, it’s amazing what they can do these days.
This summer at the movies should be quite a change from 2005’s lackluster showing, according to an extensive AP preview.
This year’s summer lead-ins: “Mission: Impossible III,” pitting Tom Cruise against supervillain Philip Seymour Hoffman; “Poseidon,” a remake of “The Poseidon Adventure” directed by Hollywood’s king of the sea, Wolfgang Petersen (”The Perfect Storm,” “Das Boot”); the animated “Over the Hedge,” an animals-against-humans comedy from the makers of “Shrek”; and “The Da Vinci Code,” reuniting Tom Hanks with director Ron Howard.
In addition to the usual sequels and remakes, there are all sorts of genre films to suit every taste. Most of them are sequels and remakes, too.
Tom Cruise’s first two “Mission: Impossible” capers were heavy on action and style. “Mission: Impossible III” director J.J. Abrams, creator of TV’s “Lost” and “Alias,” said he aimed to balance action with character interplay in the spirit of the television show on which the movies are based. “The thing I loved about the show is watching these incredibly accomplished operatives seamlessly working together to pull off a very specific goal,” Abrams said. “I honestly felt that as entertained as I was by the first two ‘Mission’ films, they didn’t embrace that aspect, which to me was the fundamental thing of the series.”
Wolfgang Petersen is back on the water with “Poseidon,” starring Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss and Josh Lucas in a remake of the 1970s disaster flick about a luxury liner overturned by a tidal wave. “It was a chance to do a film reflecting our phobias today, our fear of terrorism or disaster, like 9/11 or whatever nature can do to us,” Petersen said. “A natural disaster like this is sort of a metaphor for the impossible and most disastrous thing you can imagine, and what would we do when it hits?”
Also returning to the water: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and director Gore Verbinski with “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” the follow-up to their 2003 blockbuster. “Dead Man’s Chest” has Depp’s woozy pirate Jack Sparrow trying to weasel out of an old debt — his soul, which he owes to the sea devil Davy Jones.
Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell star in “Miami Vice,” written and directed by Michael Mann, creator of the 1980s cop show and Foxx’s director on “Collateral” and “Ali.” Farrell and Foxx take on the roles originated by Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, playing undercover cops who infiltrate a South Florida drug ring. The TV show was known for glitzy fashion and hip music, but Mann’s new take is a grittier glimpse of cops on the street, Foxx said.
I didn’t care for “Pirates” so will likely skip the sequel. And I’m certainly not nostalgic for “Miami Vice,” which I thought was lame in the 1980s. And that’s lame.
Brandon Routh is the new Man of Steel in “Superman Returns.” Fighters for truth, justice and the rights of Mutant-Americans are back, led by “X-Men: The Last Stand,” the third installment in the franchise about the gang of super freaks, and “Superman Returns,” with the Man of Steel suiting up for his first big-screen adventure in almost 20 years.
Bryan Singer, who made the first two “X-Men” movies, directed “Superman Returns,” which introduces Brandon Routh as Krypton’s favorite flyboy. Co-starring Kevin Spacey as villain Lex Luthor and Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane, the movie has Superman back on Earth after a prolonged absence. Though not a sequel to the Christopher Reeve “Superman” flicks, the film borrows from the look and mythology created in that series. Routh said he fashioned his performance to match, injecting his own personality into the character while trying to stay true to Reeve’s Superman. “Chris did such an amazing job. You can change things, but if you do it could be horrible,” Routh said. “When somebody does something so great, there’s certain things you can tweak, but to change it just to change it sometimes is dangerous.”
The “X-Men” sequel, directed by Brett Ratner (the “Rush Hour” movies), reunites all key cast members, including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn and Famke Janssen. Driving the action this time is the discovery of a “cure” for mutancy. Jackman said the movie will wrap up the “X-Men” trilogy, though another film is in the works centered on his Wolverine character — the bushy-haired mystery man with metal claws and rapid healing powers. “He’s that reluctant hero, and he’s a fairly classic version of it,” Jackman said. “He reminds me of characters I always liked, Mad Max, Dirty Harry, Han Solo, where there’s more going on than what they’re letting on.”
Summer also offers superhero comedies. Ivan Reitman’s “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” stars Uma Thurman as the ultimate woman scorned, a superhero who uses her powers to exact revenge on the boyfriend (Luke Wilson) who dumped her.
“Zoom” stars Tim Allen and Courteney Cox in an “Incredibles”-like tale of a former hero gone soft. “Tim plays a retired superhero, and I play a kind of comic-book-obsessed, nerdy scientist. We’re trying to find people to train kids to become the next round of superheroes,” Cox said of her first big-screen leading role since she and her “Friends” gang called it quits.
The “X-Men” movies have been excellent, so I’ll certainly see the next installment. Frankly, the television versions of the Superman mythos, both “Lois and Clark” and the current “Smallville,” have been better than the Christopher Reeves movie version. As to the others, I’ll likely wait for the DVD.
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early five years after September 11 comes the first major wave of big-screen films dealing with the terrorist attacks.
“United 93″ mostly features a cast of unknowns in a gut-wrenching docudrama about the passengers who fought back and lost their lives during one of the September 11 hijackings.
Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center” stars Nicolas Cage in the story of two policemen trapped in the rubble of the collapsed towers.
On a smaller scale, “The Great New Wonderful” features Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tony Shalhoub and Olympia Dukakis in a sketch of five New Yorkers a year after the September 11 attacks.
I just have no interest in exploiting 9/11 for entertainment purposes quite yet. Granted, we had WWII and Vietnam movies while those wars were still ongoing but this just seems different somehow. Wars are massive societal undertakings whereas terrorists attacks are personalized.
There are also plenty of comedies, cartoons, and family flicks. I’ll likely see some of those but never find it necessary to see them on the big screen, which I reserve for big budget, special effects movies.
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