David Livingston/Getty Images Sir Patrick Stewart of "Star Trek: Picard" speaks during the CBS All Access segment of the 2020 Winter TCA Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 12, 2020
“Star Trek: The Next Generation” star Patrick Stewart recently joined James Corden on the “Late Late Night Show.” They chatted about the upcoming Star Trek Day event, filming for “Star Trek: Picard,” and his long career on the stage and screen.
During their chat, Stewart revealed that he has a mantra he says every time he goes in front of an audience. Though the actor, who has been knighted by the Queen, is typically very proper, his mantra is definitely not.
Stewart’s Explicit Mantra
.@SirPatStew literally doesn’t give an eff.
Corden started the interview by saying how much he’d missed Stewart since they’d seen each other last. Stewart revealed that he hadn’t seen Corden for over 18 months because of the pandemic and said he’d missed him as well.
Corden then jumped into his first question, saying he’d heard a rumor that Stewart had a mantra he recites before going in front of an audience. Stewart confirmed, which prompted Corden to ask if he’d said the mantra before he walked out for the interview. Stewart nodded and smiled.
Corden wondered whether Stewart could share his mantra with the audience. Stewart sighed heavily and replied, “You’re all grown-ups, right?”
The audience guffawed, and Stewart continued, telling the full story behind his mantra.
“I’ll make this as brief as I can. For many many years, decades, as an actor, I tried to do what the director wanted. And I had success when I did what he wanted and I repeated it night after night after night. And then something happened to me, I had a kind of epiphany, and I realized that I was not giving of myself. And that the important thing about being on stage is that you are living in the moment. And that moment has never happened before. The audience has never seen you do this before, you’ve never been in front of these people before. So, when I’m standing waiting to make an entrace, or I do this sometimes when I’m on camera too and they’re about to roll on a very important scene, and I say to myself out loud, but very very softly, ‘I don’t give a f**k.'”
The audience and Corden simultaneously lost it, bursting into a mixture of laughter, cheers, and guffaws.
‘It Works!’
What?! @reggiewatts was in a band with @SirPatStew‘s wife!
Once the audience and Corden quieted down, Stewart explained why his explicit mantra works so well.
“It frees you up. Because for so many years, and even though I was having a quite good career, I was limited in what I was doing because I was trying to continually repeat what I thought what the director wanted. Instead of maybe doing what Patrick wanted!”
Corden joked that Stewart was currently embodying his giving no f**ks mantra because he was recording an interview on his eighth wedding anniversary instead of spending it with his wife.
Stewart cheekily responded that he would “not be spending the night” with Corden or the audience.
Stewart clarified that he and his wife, singer and songwriter Sunny Ozell, had plans to celebrate their anniversary later in the week. Since Stewart is currently filming for “Picard,” he’d already put in a full day’s work before he recorded with Corden.
Stewart will be part of the Star Trek Day celebrations on September 8 as well. So, he’s got a very busy schedule this week. Hopefully, his mantra is getting him through!
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