4 ms·
Many people seem to mistake Stewart for a great actor due to his diction, accent, projection, etc. I find this early video of him fascinating because it compar
by billyjobob 5y ago
Many people seem to mistake Stewart for a great actor due to his diction, accent, projection, etc. I find this early video of him fascinating because it compares him directly to another talented actor, both performing the same role, and you can clearly see how he’s all sizzle and no meat. https://youtu.be/MwRj8B1dXfk https://youtu.be/MwRj8B1dXfk
Of course, despite his reputation today, and his continual mentioning of it in every interview, he never got famous for playing Shakespeare: he got famous entirely for playing Picard, and that’s the one role he did superbly because he based it on his father whom he passionately hated. You can see how when he was given authorial control to remake it into someone he himself liked (and based on himself?) in the recent reboot he completely butchered the essence of the character.
If you want advice on playing authoritarian star ship captains and on being in the right place at the right time then he’s not a bad person to ask, but he should be really be avoided on other topics. In fact for writing it might be best to ask his advice and then do the direct opposite.
- mlyle 5y agoI think you're being a bit unfair. He did win an Olivier, after all... twice.
- itisit 5y agoWow. Thank you for sharing that RSC video—illuminating. Really no comparison between Stewart’s histrionics and Suchet’s, well, acting.
- staticman2 5y agoDo you have a source on your claim Stewart based Picard on his father?
- Consultant32452 5y agoImagine what it must do to a person to be famous for "being" someone you passionately hate.
- SideburnsOfDoom 5y agoIDK, for Graham Chapman (Monty Python) most of his best bits were mercilessly lampooning authoritarian men like his policeman father, and others of their generation who fought in the war. He amplified these traits to make them look absurd. e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colonel_(Monty_Python) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colonel_(Monty_Python) Graham Chapman was also an alcoholic. Sir Patrick Stewart played Captain Picard as a better man, compassionate, fair and sincere, only stern when necessary, and not a reflexively violent authoritarian. And he seems to be doing fine. Maybe moving to California and getting therapy was the right move for him.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Bud 5y agoFirst off, basically nobody gets famous playing Shakespeare. So that has zero value as a metric. Second, Stewart was with the Royal Shakespeare Company for 16 years well before any Star Trek stuff, so I'm sorry, but at least for those paying attention to Shakespeare, he was doing quite well. Third, calling Picard an "authoritarian" is, well, silly. Are you trolling with all of this?
- mPReDiToR 5y agoAren't "diction, accent, projection, etc." some of the most important qualities for the job? I'll agree about the Picard series though. You can tell Roddenberry wasn't there. The thing which stands out for me was the swearing. I'm not _fucking_ averse to expletives, at all. Star Trek may have moved on from JTK's values, but since it "woke" it has been a bastion of "family entertainment" WRT themes and language. Also... Why has nobody pointed out that he's now Sir Patrick Stewart?
- SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago> Many people seem to mistake Stewart for a great actor due to his diction, accent, Stewart: "my home town of Mirfield in West Yorkshire" So, the Picard voice is _not_ his "born with it" diction and accent. They did not talk like that in West Yorkshire in the 1940s
- tonyedgecombe 5y agoI'm now trying to imagine an episode of Star Trek where the whole crew have Yorkshire accents.
- SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago"We had it tough. When I were a lad, there weren't no replicators. Our dad had to fight t'Klingons barehanded without spacesuit. Tell the crew of today, they won't believe you."