In an excerpt from his new book titled Making It So: A Memoir, published on Tuesday (October 3rd) by The Hollywood Reporter, Patrick Stewart detailed the time he “stormed off” the set of Star Trek: the Next Generation. The X-Men actor got “angry” with his costars because he felt they weren’t being serious enough.
"My castmates doubled over in laughter when they flubbed multiple takes and, in rehearsals, they sometimes ad-libbed things that weren't in the script to make their lines funnier," Stewart wrote. "My experiences at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre had been intense and serious. Naturally, we enjoyed a bit of levity, but in general we knew our time was limited and we didn't fool around."
Stewart then recounted calling a “meeting in which I lectured the cast for goofing off.” He wrote that he “responded to Denise Crosby's, 'We've got to have some fun sometimes, Patrick,' comment by saying, 'We are not here, Denise, to have fun.'"
In retrospect, even he finds this story funny, but this was not the case at the time. "In the moment, when the cast erupted in hysterics at my pompous declaration, I didn't handle it well," he recalled. "I didn't enjoy being laughed at. I stormed off the set and into my trailer, slamming the door."