Patrick Stewart says Doctor Strange cameo was “frustrating and disappointing” to film
Stewart was talking about the odd, isolated way his last appearance as Professor Charles Xavier was shot
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With the benefit of hindsight, it feels like 2022's Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness was at least a mild turning point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film did great at the box office (especially by the standards of the franchise’s output over the last few years) and checked plenty of boxes—big name director in Sam Raimi, follow-up to the massively successful WandaVision, building on a well-liked original movie. And yet there was a sense of exhaustion that hung over the whole thing. Nowhere more than in the movie’s big, flashy cameo sequence that makes up a big chunk of its middle act, with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Strange confronted by a number of tantalizing Marvel What If…?s—including the first appearance of Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier in the MCU. In the role (his first time as Xavier since the character died in the future-set Logan), Stewart shows up in his wheelchair, does a bit of pontificating—and then abruptly dies.
Folks who appeared in the film have spoken before about what a weird experience it was, not least of which because Strange 2 was shot in 2020, in the heart of the COVID-19 lockdowns. (Production was actually shut down at least once due to U.K. restrictions on filming.) Now Stewart has added his own account to the tale, telling Happy Sad Confused’s Josh Horowitz that the process of filming the movie was both “frustrating and disappointing.”
Stewart was addressing Horowitz’s questions about the way Strange 2's big cameos were filmed, with each actor—Stewart, John Krasinski, Hayley Atwell, Anson Mount, and Lashana Lynch—being filmed entirely in isolation from each other, acting and giving their speeches to empty air. It’s not clear how much of this was due to security concerns over the high-profile cameos, vs. COVID restrictions, but it’s clear Stewart didn’t love the process—to the point that he acknowledges it’s not impossible he might bring Xavier back for at least one more time for the X-Men-adjacent Deadpool movies. At 83, the actor continues to work regularly, most recently appearing in the finale season of Star Trek: Picard on Paramount+. (He wants a new Star Trek movie, too, by the way.)
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It’s nice to get the view from the other side, when we see these oddly dissatisfying actor cameos. Sometimes both sides of the camera have a ‘what the fricassee just happened?’ reaction.
It reminds me of Sir Ian McKellen crying on the set of The Hobbit, saying “this is not why I became an actor.”
Did that really happen?
https://gizmodo.com/wetas-fx-reel-shows-why-working-on-the-hobbit-made-ian-5984559
Except that Stewart pretty clearly said it was due to his commitments in LA and health restrictions as opposed to a creative choice.
My favorite such statement was when Elizabeth Olsen flat out admitted she had no idea who she was killing during her massacre of the Illuminati since it was all green screen. I wonder if she even knew at the time that Stewart and Krasinsky were even part of the cast.
It wouldn’t have changed her performance a lick tho…. Olsen has been a defender of the film don’t make it seem like she didn’t enjoy herself. She’s said she liked being villainous let her have it. I mean no we shouldn’t still be telling POWERFUL WOMAN MUST BE STOPPED stories but if she had a gas leave her alone.
i doubt they were even in the cast when she shot the scene.
She was actually told that one of her victims would be Balder the Brave, played by Daniel Craig.
I wonder if she even knew at the time that Stewart and Krasinsky were even part of the cast. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that I was doing mean things to Captain Picard and to Emily Blunt’s hubby???”
um he clearly mentioned that it was due to health restrictions. Also he was filming Picard in LA during the time when most of MoM filmed in the UK.
The headline should really be “Global Pandemic Made Cameo Frustrating and Disappointing to Film.”
No more TNG movies! Picard season 3 ended it as well as they could, which was basically the same as how All Good Things ended. More movies means there’s a chance of undoing a perfect ending again and without the chance to rectify it.
Animated TNG set right after the show ends. Jam it in there between one of the movies. Worf is there for his son’s Paach Moop if he needs to be.
Someone would need to remind Worf that he has a son.
And Martok.
What would a new Picard-centric Star Trek movie look like though? And who would write it?
The best Star Trek writers currently are arguably those working on Lower Decks and, to a lesser extent, Strange New Worlds. But TV writers don’t always transition to movie writing well (see basically all the Next Gen movies).
I’m all for more Patrick Stewart, but (as I said similarly elsewhere) I don’t trust the writers to make something worthy of him.
When Tarantino was thinking about making his Star Trek movie, Patrick Stewart very publicly said it was one of his dreams to work with Tarantino, and he would be up for it. Personally, I would love to see a Tarantino Star Trek.
Yeah, though that seems unfortunately to have gone to the same film collection in the sky alongside copies of Dune by Jodorowsky.
That said, Stewart directed by Tarantino in anything would guarantee my ticket purchase.
it would be cool and hilarious to see that Klingon dish served cold.
That statement doesn’t inspire much confidence: remember, that god awful out of character scene in Nemesis where Picard gets into a gun fight on dune buggies with pre warp natives was Stewart’s idea. I shudder to think what he and Tarantino would cook up.
Something like this
It is moments like this where I learn that I just cannot stay mad at the internet.
Ah, good ol’ ytmnd .com. Now that takes me back.
“And you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese on Altar IV?“They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?”
“No, they don’t use any Earth measurements there, they wouldn’t know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is. ”“Then what do they call it?”
“They call it Blip bloog gargh tosh”
I’d love nothing more than a Tarantino trek movie but that shit was never getting made. Studio were just humouring him, like with Aronofsky’s Batman movie. Even with directors of that calibre, it’s too much of a departure for tentpole cash cow franchises like that.
Riker: Mmmm! Goddamn, Picard! This is some serious gourmet shit! Usually, me and Warf would be happy with some weak ass Lipton right, but he springs this serious GOURMET shit on us! What flavor is this?Picard: Knock it off, Riker.Riker: [pause] What?Picard : I don’t need you to tell me how fucking good my Tea is, okay? I’m the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Vash goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to taste it. But you know what’s on my mind right now? It AIN’T the Earl Grey in my kitchen, it’s the dead klingon in my garage.
The primary reason the Picard series wasn’t worth of Patrick Stewart was… Patrick Stewart. He dictated the terms of his return and what they could not do with the character. He’s the reason why the Picard of the new series is only vaguely recognizable as the Picard from TNG. He will forever be a hero of my youth, but I am very happy to never see him take the captains chair again.
What would a new Picard-centric Star Trek movie look like though? And who would write it?If anything, it would be a direct-to-streaming movie, probably written by Terry Matalas given how successful the last season of Picard was with fans and critics. I don’t see Picard the character in a theatrical Star Trek release again, outside of some sort of cameo role like…well like Xavier in MoM.
I loved the last season of Picard but I feel like it’s the kind of thing you can only get away with once. Those guys deserved a victory lap, and it was fan service done right, but I think they’re better to leave it there.
given how successful the last season of Picard was with fans and critics.Yeah wow who wouldn’t want to see more increasingly ridiculous Borg plots.
I’d love a new Star Trek film set in the original universe and featuring Picard. But so long as completely ignores Picard.
What would a new Picard-centric Star Trek movie look like though? And who would write it?If it’s written by the same people who wrote Picard, it would definitely give Nemesis, The Search for Spock, or The Final Frontier a challenge in the “worst piece of trash movie in the entire franchise” race.
Um, excuse me – Search for Spock is a wonderful movie that is wildly underrated and only dismissed because it’s an odd-numbered film.It is outrageous to say a film that includes sequences like the stealing of the Enterprise, the death of the Enterprise, and all manner of hijinks on the way to saving Spock from Genesis deserves to be put in the same category as “Dune Buggy Picard, and mind-rapey Tom Hardy.”
I don’t know what version of TSFS you saw, but I rewatched it recently and it is god awful. Yes, it has the two moments you just described, but otherwise it is hot garbage.
Kind of like Final Frontier has two of the best Kirk moments (“I need my pain!” and “what does god need with a starship?”) but is just an all-around trashfire otherwise.
I am sad for you that you cannot appreciate what a joyful movie it is.“That green-blooded son of a bitch. It’s his revenge for all those arguments he lost.”
I don’t know what version of TSFS you saw, but I rewatched it recently and it is god awful.This is extremely incorrect, but I am glad you feel confident in your misguided opinion.
I think a new TNG movie would work if they actually dared not focus on Picard, because the TNG films all fell into repetitive boring action-fests that focused on Picard’s character to the detriment of all others, and the story. Patrick Stewart might be a great actor, but I think he’s been surrounded by yes-people at Paramount to the detriment of the storytelling.
Instead of another weak-ass copy of Wrath of Khan, how about a different TOS film? The Romulan homeworld blew up like the Klingon moon did, why not make it about a peace process with a potentially intransigent enemy that conspired to dishonor, kill, and/or manipulate a major character, his family, and even his entire people: Worf. See how pacifist he is when confronted with peace with the people who killed and helped smear his father, and facilitated the rise of those who killed the mother of his son, smeared his name, and necessitated maintaining a lie that led to the lobotomy of his brother.
Have it be the nu-Star Trek folks trying to navigate peace between the Romulans and the Klingons, as well as the forces on all three sides that would rather not see that occur. It’d be a repeat of Undiscovered Country (and to a large extent, the Klingon Civil War episodes on TNG), but hey, at least no dune buggies.
Lower Decks is seriously so good. I wish it got more attention.
The whole scene is brilliant. Just a giant open “Fuck you” to the people who want these movies to be nothing but a franchise blowjob full of cameos. And it really says something about how respected both Stewart and Xavier are that even in a sequence all about how the heroes of this universe are a bunch of sanctimonious, idiotic pricks, Raimi still couldn’t bring himself to portray the character as anything less than the most genuinely heroic and dignified of them all, who easily comes the closest to defeating Wanda.
Just a giant open “Fuck you” to the people who want these movies to be nothing but a franchise blowjob full of cameos.Uh, what? who is asking for that?
I mean, I wouldn’t say “no” to that…
I mean, me neither but at that point you’re just filling a different niche. Like there is room for the MCU and some kinda “check all the boxes” filibuster dick suck porn. Personally I like the idea that in a statistically significant number of possible universes Ant-Man tried the ass-thanos thing but it woke something in Thanos and now they have heir own universe.
People were definitely getting caught up with this. I have a friend who was straight up upset after cuz she didn’t get “her cameos” it was so dumb.
I always say yes to all blowjob questions. Not always the wisest of policies, but beggars can’t be choosers.
The people who were convinced Reed Richards and Mephisto were showing up in WandaVision, only to pitch an absolute fit when the Fox Quicksilver wasn’t confirmed to bring the X-Men in.
That’s just a small fraction of morons getting duped by fake “leaks” though. They did that to themselves. Why on earth would Reed Richards have shown up in wandavision? How would it have made any sense for Peters to be playing the fox universe’s version of Quicksliver from the 70s?
“a franchise blowjob full of cameos?” You just described that entire movie.It only makes sense that some of the cameos in the middle of what amounts to a two hour cameo parade would die. Law of averages.
It only makes sense that some of the cameos in the middle of what amounts to a two hour cameo parade would die. Law of averages.Am I forgetting something? I can’t remember any cameos in that movie outside of the Illuminati sequence and Wanda’s sons.
Seconded.
Just a giant open “Fuck you” to the people who want these movies to be nothing but a franchise blowjob full of cameos.Herein lies the problem, all these movies now are either pandering or giving a “fuck you” to the chronically online that they no longer tell stories. The movie was dumb and that part of the movie was the dumbest part of all.
Lol a girl I know was like “Doctor Strange was bad because it didn’t have the correct cameos” the week of release. So stupid.
yeah i’m often surprised at how disliked the movie is. i thought it was so fun. maybe the last one i really enjoyed, and i liked it a great deal more than the first.
Has any superhero died more times on screen than Professor X? At least four times that I can remember. He must be getting better at it with all the practice.
Now I’m trying to remember the fourth time… first was Last Stand, second was Logan, then MoM… I’m blanking on the fourth one.
I’m not sure, but I’m guessing future Xavier dies in Days of Future Past just before time is reset. I know magneto and a bunch of others do.
Yeach DOFP is a bit of a straw grasp but it totally counts
Days of Future Past. A Sentinel gets him.
Does it count if it’s in the same movie? Because Dormammu… I’ve come to bargain.
Even if you put all those together and just count Doctor Strange 1 as 1 death, he gets dusted in Infinity War, then one version dies in that one episode of What If?, then 3 other versions of him die in MoM bringing him to 6.
That is, if we’re counting variants. If we are (and especially if all the deaths in Strange 1 count), Doctor Strange has the crown by a mile.
Oh yah that’s a cool little statistic. I’m guessing Loki is the next rung down but yah I’m pretty sure Stewart owns that title. I remember seeing X-Men The Last Stand in theatres as a kid and that scene where Prof X dies and gets his face obliterated in an explosion wrecked me as a child. If I had any idea I’d see that character die again in films multiple times lol. That actually is fascinating it’s been played for heartbreak more than once too. With how many times I’ve seen him die I’m shocked it managed to have impact on me again during Logan. That’s fascinating af
So he’s never made it back to his home planet?
I fee like he died at least as many times in the comics
If it’s any consolation, Patrick, the entire movie was frustrating and disappointing to watch so at least you didn’t suffer alone.
Seconded. I watched this and Eternals in the same week, and was like “OKAY! Time for an MCU break.”
Disagree. DS2 is one of the best MCU movies. They let Raimi off the chain a little and we got some fantastic visuals and story twists. Great stuff.
name checks out
Eh I’d only say Raimi got off the chain just a little near the end when Strange possesses his dead body. Otherwise for a movie that was so hyped by fans as being by Raimi, it seemed remarkably tame. Like when you look at it versus the Spider-Man trilogy, it’s night and day.
The zombie Strange stuff was the highlight to be sure, but there was also a touch of Evil Dead to Wanda’s possession scene.
“Frustrating and disappointing” is what your mom said to me last night. Boom! Kings of Slams strikes again!
It’s wild that two Captains of the Enterprise were in that scene but didn’t actually interact.
Picard, the series, was a mess overall but season 3 turning into a “getting the band back together” show even ending with them all on the bridge of the Enterprise D was kinda the perfect way to end the show and our time with that crew. As far as his cameo being disappointing. Better it be a disappointing lonely shoot then an 80+ year old industry treasure getting Covid and dying.
Yeah Picard was my first taste of a “new” ST series, and S1/S2 were so bad it was offensive. I don’t mean offensive to me as a ST fan, I mean it objectively. I was pissed to have wasted my time. I skipped right from S1E4 to the 3rd season. And I fast-forwarded through all the Worf shit. And anything with that lady who had the drug addiction. And since when did phasers click and whine as you raised them? Honestly there was a lot of terrible TV baked into that show.
The wife and I tries to give season one a fair shake but we dropped off of season 2 really quick. I’m with you on Raffie, could not stand her character. Outside of the weird choices and look of the show, I really don’t understand the thought process to make the show Picard + his all new friends. Especially when during season 1 every one of the old crew they asked were all game to come back to Star Trek.
I was discussing this with a friend yesterday…. what do people expect from Deadpool 3…? I think people are going to be upset with that film. It feels like people don’t realize it’s rated R therefore all meaningful MCU cameos are off the table. To anyone who thinks otherwise please explain to me how Disney would generate FOMO in kid fans by doing that? Literally they need to avoid any instance of making a kid want to check it out. It would piss off parents immensely it’s not gonna happen people…
It was the perfect cameo as it completely subverted expectations.Underrated movie.
It was frustrating and disappointing to watch too.
Look, the script is kind of a mess, I hate how they erased Wanda’s development and the troubled production certainty didn’t do Raimi any favors but I think MoM is a lot of fun and probably my favorite in Phase 4. There are sequences where the camera moves different and you can really see Raimi’s trademark style. The third act features the zombified corpse of the movie’s protagonist. Some of the magic and spells were more creatively imagined (like the music fight!) than a sparking color beam, which idk if that was Raimi but some of the imagery was so distinct I have to believe he was pulling direct references. And I realize this is an unpopular opinion, but I loved the Illuminati tease only to have them wiped out minutes later (but I’m also an Iron Man 3 defender, so I recognize I’m in the minority here). Xochitl Gomez is very charming! Anyway there’s a lot to recommend and I think it gets a bad rap.
it also made a lot of fucking money.my fave was that the new york scenes looked like his spider-man new york. made me very happy.
The Illuminati massacre was great, but it was also identical to the X-Force gag in Deadpool 2.
Never realized that. I like the Deadpool movies but they leave my brain almost the moment the credits start rolling.
So actors are finally allowed to admit out loud that SAG’s Covid Compliance guidelines actually made filming a giant slog. In a few years, they all might actually be able to admit that was also a giant waste of time and money and has possibly killed the film industry.
Better than killing an actor. Nobody said it wouldn’t make filming a giant slog, but better to slog your way through a film than a funeral.
“It’s not clear how much of this was due to security concerns over the high-profile cameos, vs. COVID restrictions,”Unless you’re a wingnut. And then it’s 100% fake covid’s fault!Further… good movies will continue to be made. You’re lamenting the death of sitting in a theater listening to people munch on over-price popcorn and watching CGI-fests. Which isn’t the same things as “the film industry”.
What Covid didn’t kill the strikes got to finish off.
Like what?
Like the whole (or at least most of) the Picard series for the viewers…