Patrick Stewart admits to sometimes behaving badly on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation

“I was a big bastard at times,” he wrote in his memoir, detailing his difficult integration into the methods of Hollywood television.

He has played Picard for four decades. And he wasn’t always kind to his playmates. Patrick Stewart recounts in his memoirs that he may have behaved like a “bastard” on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Coming from classical theater and the Royal Shakespeare Company, the British actor had difficulty getting used to Hollywood sets during season 1.I used to be a big bastard” he wrote in an excerpt published by THR.

The actor admits to having been largely annoyed by the nonchalant attitude of the other actors during the filming of the series. For example, he was angry with Denise Crosby (who played Tasha Yar) for coming to have fun: “We’re not here to have fun, Denise.”, he replied furiously. And faced with bursts of laughter from the rest of the cast, hilarious at this excess of authoritarianism, he admits to having been offended and having “Mishandled the situation. I stormed off the set and went back to my trailer, slamming the door.”

It took Jonathan Frakes (who played Will Riker) and Brent Spiner (who played Data) go visit him to talk with Patrick Stewart and recognize that perhaps they had gone too far. “They also made me realize how off-putting it was – and how bad leadership it was – for me to try to solve problems on set by lecturing and scolding the other actors“, concludes the interpreter of Picard in his mea culpa. “I had failed to understand the place I was in. I had tried to impose my methods of the Royal Shakespeare Company on people accustomed to the methods of classical television. And after all, it was good what we were shooting at that moment!”