A version of this story first appeared in the print edition of TheWrap Magazine’s Emmy Issue The Race Begins.
In a 50-year career as a stage, film and television actor, Patrick Stewart has covered an enormous range, from Shakespearean comedies to dark dramas to his long-running performances as two iconic, noble heroes, Captain Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and Charles Xavier in the “X-Men” franchise. And yet, his role as disgraced newsman Walter Blunt on the TV series “Blunt Talk” is, for the 75-year-old actor, something new.
“I have found myself continually doing things on camera that I have never done before,” said Stewart, whose exploits on the first season of “Blunt Talk” include assaulting the police officers who stopped him with a transvestite hooker and turning a trip to the bathroom into a virtuoso piece of physical comedy.
“But I’ve become more and more comfortable with the idea that in anything that comes up, there is always the potential for comedy.”
Still, he said, he hasn’t abandoned his approach to acting, which may make things difficult for producers Jonathan Ames and Seth MacFarlane. “I’m a bit of a pain, I think, on the show,” he said.
“I keep asking, ‘Where is the truth in this scene? It doesn’t feel real to me.’ I can go on endlessly like that, and I’m sure it annoys my directors and producers. But even the most outrageous and outlandish comedy can have a basis in truthfulness, and I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed it. I actually think I’ll live longer as a result of shooting ‘Blunt Talk,’ because we laugh so much.”
Watch the interview below:
See more of TheWrap Magazine’s The Race Begins Emmy Issue:
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