Siddig Recalls His Directing Experience

Although many Trek actors who try their hand at directing love the experience, Deep Space Nine's Alexander Siddig says he'll never direct an episode of the franchise again.

"I didn't have an overly enjoyable experience directing," Siddig told the audience at Page's Bar earlier this month, according to a report by Ian Baillie. "I never asked to direct again."

Several scenes were cut from Siddig's original version of 'Profit and Lace.' "I must admit that I was very angry at some of the cuts, but it was all so silly - and I'm not bothered about it at all now. [Executive producer] Rick Berman's favourite director came in to shoot some scenes but this happened all the time on the series, and I wasn't offended by it."

One of the actor's keynote shots almost didn't get filmed due to on-set tensions. "My favourite scene was the Marilyn Monroe (from 'Some Like It Hot') - which started off at Quark's feet - with a slow pan to show the breasts, and then up to the earrings. I loved that shot. However - getting the cinematographer to shoot that scene was horrendous - he quit, and stormed out. I went to get him, and brought him back, and asked him to apologise to everyone on the set - he refused and walked back out again. At this point I had had enough - and walked out myself - someone got me from the car park, which is as far away from the sets as possible, and we went back to shooting."

Although dealing with all the Ferengi make-up was troublesome, Siddig had nothing but praise for actor Armin Shimerman (Quark). "Armin Shimerman is fantastic. He's a director's dream and always comes up with great ways to express himself through the makeup, and gives advice on the scene should actually be shot. However, I'd never want to do another Ferengi episode again, although by sheer coincidence both my directing skits on Deep Space Nine were Ferengi episodes."

During his appearance at Page's Bar, Siddig was also asked about the possibility of a Deep Space Nine movie. "Never. Perhaps in 6 years or so - but I doubt it very much. Patrick Stewart's the man who basically makes a Star Trek movie. If he agrees to do Star Trek XI, there'll be another Next Generation movie. There was talk a while back about an IMAX film - but that's on the backburners - so the only hope is for an ensemble film, with a load of all the cheaper actors in it - like me!

"The 'No Deep Space Nine Movies' comes from above Rick Berman's head - well into the upper hierarchy of Paramount, as Deep Space Nine was never a ratings success. It was confusing to have two Star Trek series running at the same time, and often aired in the USA at the same time of day, but on different channels - splitting the audience. Paramount always tried to compare Deep Space Nine with The Next Generation, but they're completely different."

The full report on the evening's events can be found here.

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