SAG nominations: Patrick Stewart on 'Macbeth'
Patrick Stewart isn't a well man. But he's a happy man. On the down side, he woke up Thursday morning with a "screaming cold"; on the upside, he awoke to the news that he'd received a SAG nomination for his lead role in "Macbeth" for "Great Performances." Through the sniffles and the planned travel later in the day to London, Stewart took some time out to talk about the awards and his performance.
How was it this morning?
"I wasn’t aware they were announced this morning. That’s always the best way of hearing, rather than sitting by the phone or the television and not hearing anything."
Have you done that before?
Oh, my, yes. Haven’t we all?
What will you do to celebrate?
I have my girlfriend with me, and we’ve both got a busy day, but we are going to meet up for lunch and I think we shall probably find an excuse to raise a glass of something sparkling.
Before this production of "Macbeth" made it to TV, you'd performed it in London and on Broadway?
"Yes. We filmed it for 18 days. That is camera time. Given that this film is two hours, 25 minutes long, it’s very fast work. But we had played this on the stage for exactly a year. It’s a very challenging play, and we had all felt from quite early on that this was a production that could be transposed onto a film quite excitingly. It’s not a film of a stage production, which we have seen, and some of them have been fine. This is a movie filmed on location, and with all of those challenges. None of it was in the studio, but we could work quickly because all the actors after 18 months were all familiar with their characters."
Did your approach to the character change from stage to film?
It changed, yes. I had 18 months to think about it and I found that I better knew this character and all the different directions he was going in. I think that all of us -- with the benefit of some different and very dramatic locations -- I think we were all able to push the boundaries of the production and the characterizations somewhat further. There are many things in the film version that never happened on stage.
Do you look forward to the SAG Awards?
"I do, yeah. I do look forward to it. Luckily, I think I think I’m going to be able to attend because I think I shall be free at the end of January. The SAG awards are very special, and you will have heard this countless times by other nominees and that’s because it’s given by our peers and that means everything to all actors. So going to the awards is like a big reunion party."
Are you looking forward to seeing anyone in particular?
"Particularly Mr. [Al] Pacino because I saw his performance on Broadway a few days ago in “The Merchant of Venice,” and he is an actor who has put Shakespeare on film before, so maybe we can exchange notes."
So it's a chance for you to network.
"Actors don’t do that as much as other creative professions do -- writers, composers, musicians. I think we tend to be a little bit modest about discussing and analyzing the work we do, but there are people who I know who do enjoy that. And I have been an admirer of Al Pacino for decades and hope to have the opportunity to talk to him about putting Shakespeare on film."
-- Amy Kaufman
Photo: Patrick Stewart. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times
