Sometimes it’s hard to imagine seeing another actor in an iconic role. This includes Patrick Stewart in the role of Jean-Luc Picard as Captain of the USS Enterprise. Included Stewart almost didn’t get the role. Gene Roddenberry initially disagreed with the suggestion of casting Patrick Stewart. And even later, Stewart didn’t get the feeling that Roddenberry was really happy with it.
Gene Roddenberry didn’t want a “bald Englishman”
At a virtual round table, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with well-known actors who are known from TV dramas. Among those in front of the camera was Patrick Stewart, who revealed some background information about his relationship with Gene Roddenberry. He said that the first meeting with the Star Trek creator lasted just 6 minutes lasted:
It was Gene who said, ‘What the hell? I don’t want a bald, middle-aged Englishman.’
A few years ago, producer Rick Berman told StarTrek.com that the first choice for Picard was originally Stephen Macht. According to him, Macht declined the offer in an interview with SoapOperaDigest. In the end, there were only two candidates left in the running: Patrick Stewart and Patrick Bauchau.
Paramount
Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard
Roddenberry preferred Bauchau because he felt the Belgian would have been better able to portray the French-born Picard. But in the end, Stewart was chosen, and he thus landed one of the most important roles of his career.
Stewart never felt truly accepted by Roddenberry
In conversation with the virtual round table, Stewart also talked about what it was like on set and working with Gene Roddenberry – with the Contact with Roddenberry probably very sporadic was:
Gene would come to the set once a week, maybe twice… it depended on who the cast was. And I would catch him looking at me with a look on his face that said, ‘What the hell is this guy doing on my show?’ It was clear he didn’t understand why I was there.
He also mentioned that he had only had lunch with Roddenberry once. On that occasion, Stewart tried to find out more about Picard and Roddenberry’s vision of the character. In response, Stewart received a well-worn book about the novel’s hero, Horatio Hornblower, a fictional naval hero of the British Navy. The discrepancy between the sailor of the original and the starship captain of the series made Stewart feel that Gene Roddenberry never satisfied with the actor.