Jeremy Strong, Christina Ricci, Helen Mirren, more reveal the inner workings of their series
LOS ANGELES — So there they sat, Helen Mirren and Patrick Stewart, speaking across a table one late April day with four other actors talking about the old days. They reminisced about being in the same late-1960s British theater scene, laboring to become top-flight classical thespians.
"We both were saying earlier how strange it is to find ourselves here in Los Angeles and being screen actors," Mirren says. "Because both of our ambitions when we started was to be theater actors and, very specifically, to be classical theater actors. There was a snotty attitude — wasn't there?"
"Somewhat," Stewart agrees.
"Of British actors towards American film acting, which I personally never subscribed to, that it wasn't real acting. Real acting was doing 'Lear' in front of 2,000 people without a microphone," Mirren continues with a laugh. "I always loved American actors. British acting at the time was like looking at a beautifully constructed piece of furniture. Beautifully carved. You know, perfect reproduction of something. And American acting was like the same piece of furniture, a bit more funky, but real. My ambition was to meld the two together. This sense of control and technique, for want of a better word, with the beauty of the improvisational, instinctive, wonderful thing that is American acting."
So was it difficult then for Stewart to transition to American television, in a sci-fi series no less, with "Star Trek: The Next Generation"?
"I found being in
