Stewart Felt Underpaid Negotiating 'Nemesis'

Patrick Stewart (Picard) is the latest of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast to talk about director Stuart Baird's role in the difficulties with Star Trek: Nemesis, though unlike LeVar Burton (Laforge), Marina Sirtis (Troi), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) and others, Stewart did not lay blame on Baird.

"The fact that he was from totally outside the franchise did mean that, unlike any of the others directors we've had on the films, Stuart was not familiar with some of the substance, some of the details of Star Trek," Stewart told Film Review (via TrekWeb). "From time to time he would ask for something or want something that couldn't be given because of the personality a character had or for technological reasons. But those instances were few and far between."

The actor also said that the movie was almost shelved because the cast members were offended by the financial offers being made by the studio, believing they were being unfairly paid. "I've never made a secret about it," he noted. "I think [the movie coming together] was partly a result of the cast's dedication to the script as it was developing and to Rick [Berman] and John Logan and Stuart Baird and [Paramount's] willingness to be flexible in negotiating...at times, it was extremely unpleasant. And that was disappointing after 15 or 16 years."

Stewart talks further in issue 626 of Film Review. Meanwhile, US fans can see hear the actor's voice tonight on the Cartoon Network rerun of American Dad, where the actor plays Stan's boss Bullock. The PSN explained that in the episode "All About Steve", Bullock is flown to the top of a dam where cyber terrorists have hacked into computers and shut it down.

American Dad airs Sunday at 10 p.m. Eastern time on the Cartoon Network.

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