Farewell Prof Xavier
> Thespian Patrick Stewart talks candidly about his prolific career and saying goodbye to his iconic X-Men character in Logan
“I’ve never been interested in finding a Patrick Stewart persona and simply regurgitating it – and anyway, who’d be interested in Patrick Stewart? Very few people.
“It’s always for me been about performance and trying to produce the unexpected.”
On his experience “It’s always been a good experience being involved in X-Men. They’ve all been good ones largely because of the company I’ve kept: working with Bryan Singer three times, with Brett Ratner and now with James.
“And making friendships for life too.
“Of course, my pal Sir Ian McKellen, that was already in existence.
“Logan gave me diversity, the chance to do something very different but so closely with Hugh, a person I know very well, in a contentious, angry, quarrelsome situation.
“It was the best experience in that respect.”
On shooting in extreme heat “The only challenges were the weather conditions. It was brutal. “We had 100°F (37.8°C) temperatures and 95% humidity.
“There were crew members on drips, we had two fully-qualified medics on set who were having to tend to people who were dehydrated.
“It’s not all a cushy comfortable life being a movie actor.”
On meeting Jackman for the
first time “I was siting on set the day he arrived to do an audition. All the X-Men were sitting around drinking coffee, reading newspaper, not at all like X-Men.
“This charming slender Australian guy came in and he said he was there to audition and he sat down and had a coffee with us and talked.
“They took him away and we thought: ‘What a great guy’.
“He came back half an hour later and he said: ‘Well, you guys are never gonna see me again’.
“Then somebody came and said: ‘Bryan [Singer] would like to see you again’. Done.”
On playing the Poop emoticon “We’re already in the middle of it. I’ve already done my recording on this.
“They wanted a very cultivated English voice – that’s the direction they’re going with.
“I think it’s going to be fun; I like their ideas very much.”
On his career as a whole “I feel incredibly fortunate because of aspects of my career – not only did I never anticipate any of it, they weren’t looked for.
“I was a stage actor and the fact that somebody would employ me to work on the stage was enough for me.
“I did a bit of TV, but movies, Hollywood ... a lot of it was accident – being at UCLA illustrating a friend’s academic lecture on Shakespeare; a producer of Star Trek signed up to the course of lectures.
“I say to my son who is also an actor, it’s a lottery, it really is. Always do the best work you can do, but don’t expect that it will lead to the next thing.” – The Independent