Patrick Stewart

Q1: The internet arrived in earnest between Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard. How have technology and social media changed your life and work?

STEWART: I remember when iPhones first came out someone said, “Do you realize these are just like Star Trek?” [laughs] We used to have these things that we would talk on—or the other guys did. I just scratch the surface of what my phone can do; voice activation makes me uneasy. But we have access to CGI and special effects that are far more powerful than what we used to have. I hear about social media’s hostile side, which I’ve encountered only once or twice. You can’t comment about anything without attracting angry attention. That makes me uncomfortable.

Q2: Isa Briones, an actress of Asian descent, and other nonwhite performers are central to Picard’s narrative. Does a series like this, one not rooted in reality, still have a responsibility to reflect the real world?

STEWART: I’m moved when I recollect [Next Generation co-star] Whoopi Goldberg telling me what it meant to her seeing the character Uhura on TV; what she said to me was, “One of us made it,” which is partly ironic and a little cynical but nevertheless profound. Thankfully we are energetically acknowledging that there has always been a problem, and we’re doing something about it. Five of our 10 episodes were directed by women, and I continually find myself in scenes in which female cast members outnumber the male.

Q3: What is it about the mythology of Star Trek, the original series of which started in 1966 and lasted only three seasons, that has allowed it to endure?

STEWART: In part it returns me to Whoopi’s comment. We live in a complicated world in which the need for care and concern for other members of society is much more potent than it ever was before. My wife and I went to Italy earlier this year: Florence, Bologna and Ravenna. I’d never reflected much on these cities, so when I saw they were ancient towns—not just a church here, an old building there—and still vibrant parts of Italian society, I was astonished. The connection between past and present was so strong. Star Trek offers this too. And the connection to Whoopi’s comment is that it will get better. Though right now it doesn’t feel like that.

Q4: Novelist Michael Chabon is a writer on Picard. How is it different working with someone more used to the solitary act of book writing?

STEWART: He is so smart, open and interested. His enthusiasm for the actor’s technique and processes is genuine. Because I’m an executive producer, I had access to the writers’ room. It was a privilege to hear them bouncing ideas around in a way that actors and directors don’t. One writer will take up an idea but change it into something else, and then another writer will change it again. I find it frustrating when they say, “No, that’s not going to work,” and move on to something else. [laughs]

Q5: Picard is action-packed. What is it like doing stunts now that you’re older?

STEWART: Hell. I have a type of vertigo that hit me three years ago. I’m dizzy pretty much all the time, except when I’m sleeping or driving. Doctors say there’s a disconnect between the signals my eyes and inner ear are sending to my brain. If I stand up quickly I might fall over, so I have to be careful on set. There’s a scene in which Isa Briones and I run up a flight of stairs. They said, “We have a stunt double for you.” I said, “Actually, let me give it a shot.” I ran up the stairs and felt fine! I think when I’m acting, the dizziness goes away. Thank God.

Q6: A slew of your Next Generation pals, including Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes, appear on Picard. Are you all still close?

STEWART: Yes. We see each other all the time, though not Whoopi as often as I’d like. They’re beautiful people. Casts are thrown together, and the nature of acting means you’re exposing yourself, which is a great bonding agent. I recently reached out to someone I’d worked with in 1967 at the Royal Shakespeare Company. I’d heard he was living in Beverly Hills, and with my team’s help, I made contact. His name is Sir Ben Kingsley. [laughs] Over the years we would wave and say hi—but as I reminded Ben, he actually slept on a mattress on my bedroom floor for several nights.

Q7: Was there ever a point when you considered quitting acting?

STEWART: Never, because I would be quitting my life. When I was acting as a child, I wasn’t “Patrick Stewart.” I was living somebody else’s life, one that was better than mine. I have always felt safe onstage. As the years go by, what I love about this job is that I get braver about showing myself, letting it be personal and not just a “performance.”

Q8: Sir Ian McKellen is one of your closest friends and even officiated at your 2013 wedding. What have you learned from him?

STEWART: Gay men have played a part in my life as colleagues and friends, but none so significantly as Ian. I love him and I’m in love with him. So is my wife, and it’s mutual. I listen to him, I watch what he does—and I don’t mean just acting. How he lives his life is so admirable, selfless and compassionate. We also have a hell of a lot of fun.

Q9: Around whom have you felt the most starstruck in your life?

STEWART: We were at a Golden Globes party, and a woman with a strong accent came over and asked if I would take a photograph with her. You often have to say no; otherwise you’ll be taking selfies all night. Then someone said, “Have you met Nadia before?” I said no. And he said, “This is [Olympic gymnast] Nadia Comaneci.” I swear to you my knees almost gave way. I love athletics and sports, and there was Nadia, standing in front of me. It was thrilling.

Q10: You’ve become an advocate for cannabis reform. What was your first experience with it, and when did this cause become so important to you?

STEWART: Drugs played almost no part in my early years. I was around 40 years old before I had any experience with cannabis. What really did it was this [rubs his hands]. I have arthritis, so twice a day I use a cannabinoid-based cream, and wow, what a transformation! Another aspect: There was a limo driver my wife and I knew well in New York. We adored him. Then he got cancer and was dying. He stopped eating, watching TV, reading newspapers and talking on the phone. My wife got him some marijuana, and his family told us later that he lived longer than anticipated because he was leading a fuller life. He was eating and telling jokes. This profoundly affected me. Cannabis has medical properties that we’ve never fully explored. So yes, I’m a modest campaigner for the legalization of medical marijuana.

Q11: You’re also an outspoken supporter of women. Why have so few high-profile men shown similar support in the wake of the #MeToo movement?

STEWART: Because I don’t think they believe it. It’s very hard for a lot of men, certainly those of a particular age or degree of success. The way male superiority has become part of our lives is very subtle and complicated. But it exists, and it’s now changing—some think not quickly enough. I’m excited by what’s happening around me and the impact it has on women’s careers and self-respect.

Q12: When you were coming up in the theater and early on working in film and television, did you witness people being mistreated and think you should help, or was it something you accepted as part of the creative process?

STEWART: I don’t think I could claim to have thought like that. I do know that when I went to drama school, I already knew what a casting couch was—at 17! There is predatory behavior everywhere. I had firsthand experience with that because of my mother’s domestic abuse. That’s why I became involved with Refuge in the U.K. It’s a wonderful organization that helps combat domestic violence.

Q13: You’ve talked about wanting to become a United States citizen. How do you feel seeing both your native U.K. and the U.S. now in such tumult, culturally and politically?

STEWART: It’s been creeping up on me of late that I feel guilty I’m not in England more. My whole life I’ve been involved in left-wing politics. I’m still a member of the Labour Party but have profound reservations about it now. I’m scared.

There’s a movement toward nationalism in both countries, and one reason is economic and educational division. Boris Johnson and Donald Trump both appeal to people who have experienced deprivation. The gap between the rich and the poor, which is growing at a terrifying rate, and global warming are the things that alarm me most.

Q14: Changing gears, you and your wife, Sunny, live in Park Slope, Brooklyn. What were some of your first impressions of your new home?

STEWART: The people who live there are extraordinary. When I first stayed with Sunny at her place, we came out of her building on a summer Sunday morning and saw two guys sitting on a stoop, smoking. I saw one look up, and I didn’t want an encounter. As I got abreast of them one of them said, [in a New York accent] “Hey, Mr. Stewart! Welcome to the neighborhood. Enjoy.” That was it. No “Could I have a selfie?” I get emotional when I think about it, because I’ve never felt so welcomed, anywhere, in that way.

Q15: There’s a 38-year age difference between you and Sunny. How does this figure, if at all, into your day-to-day lives?

STEWART: I’m learning so much from her. She remembers everything she reads, which has become formidable ever since she first visited me in London and encountered, in her words, “old shit.” She’s becoming an expert in late medieval–early Renaissance art and architecture. I walk into a church with her and know what’s there because she’s done the research. But do I think about our age difference? I’m afraid not very much. I don’t feel self-conscious about it. But it has happened in public when people say, “You and your daughter.…” And I say, “Thank you very much.” [laughs]

Q16: How did her family feel about your relationship?

STEWART: I don’t think they were too sure at first. But in my wedding speech I said, “I want to clear up a rumor circulating that I married Sunny in order to be near her parents. It’s totally true.” [laughs] We get on so well and laugh so much. They have a cabin in Alpine Meadows, California. I learned to ski at the age of 64. I told her father, “I can’t do this. Leave me with a fire, a book and a pot of coffee.” He said, “We’ve booked a trainer to do four hours a day with you.” At the end of day four, I nervously took the lift to the top of the mountain and skied down alone. It was thrilling. I’ve watched hours and hours of winter sports and suddenly I hear that noise [makes whooshing sound], and it was me making it!

Q17: What first drew you to the cause of animal rescue, and how has it changed you?

STEWART: It was the trust and the openness of the first dog we fostered, a pit bull named Ginger. I was upset about something I was reading in the newspaper—a daily occurrence—and she came and stood in front of me. With her eyes, she asked, “Are you okay?” A week later, I was sick and throwing up in our bathroom in Los Angeles. And she brought Sunny to me. How do you explain that? Pit bulls are our obsession, but we can’t keep pit bulls because they’re banned in England. I’m part of a campaign working to get that changed, because it’s ludicrous. It’s nothing to do with dogs; it’s about the owners.

Q18: You turn 80 in July. How do you plan to mark this milestone?

STEWART: Sunny has been planning for months now. It will be celebrated in Los Angeles and maybe London too. I don’t know what happened, because, I swear to you, I was 40 about six months ago. I remember it vividly. I was filming Excalibur with John Boorman, the director. I didn’t get in front of the camera after sitting in full armor all day. I begged him, “It’s my 40th birthday. Let me at least be a background person!” He wouldn’t. So I feel blessed to be reasonably healthy, to be working, to be so busy, to have an incredible wife with a family that has kind of become my family. I do occasionally get a little bit scared. It just doesn’t make any sense to me how I got here.

Q19: When you did a PLAYBOY 20Q back in 1992, you said your five desert-island discs were three classical albums, a cast recording of Sweeney Todd and your friend Brent Spiner’s Ol’ Yellow Eyes Is Back. Have your tastes since changed?

STEWART: For the past 25 or 30 years, popular music wasn’t in my life. Then I met Sunny, who plays it all the time. I’ve learned to love country music. I struggle with hip-hop. I’ll never forget the first time I heard Sunny sing: I didn’t know she was a singer, and then she said, “I have a gig.” I didn’t know what a gig was! She told me it was in the East Village and happening between 11 o’clock and midnight. What? I remember worrying, as the evening wore on, What if this is an open-mike night? Then she went onstage—after midnight. And that was it. Amazing. Wonderful.

Q20: Also in your last 20Q you vowed never to appear as Jean-Luc Picard in public or utter Next Generation catchphrases. Are you still as strict about such things?

STEWART: No, I’ve relaxed significantly about that. It would be weird—I mean really fucked-up—if I was still, “No, no, no, no, I won’t say ‘Engage!’ ”