In the wake of Sir Patrick Stewart’s passing, filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier is taking a break from his SLAYGROUND editing bay to share some kind words about the legendary icon and his chilling role in 2015’s Green Room. During a surprise introduction at a 10th-anniversary screening of the film at the Alamo Drafthouse in LA, Saulnier planned to give an update on his upcoming project, SLAYGROUND, but instead focused on Stewart and his incredible contribution to the punk rock horror movie.
In Saulnier’s 2015 thriller, Stewart delivers a terrifying performance as Darcy Banker, the cold, soft-spoken, and calculating leader of a neo-Nazi group who ruthlessly orchestrates a lockdown against a punk band trapped in a remote venue.
“Patrick Stewart Saved The Day”
At the top of his introduction, Saulnier expressed his sadness over Stewart’s passing and asked the crowd to join him in remembering the late actor and his brilliant gifts to cinema. While teeing up Green Room, Saulnier revealed the film was on the verge of shutting down before Stewart “swooped in,” giving it the momentum it desperately needed to get the green light.
“Patrick Stewart is why I can still make movies,” Saulnier said, with a wistfulness in his voice. “He saved the day. Too good to be true, in fact. I was waiting for the hammer to drop. But this dude, his stature. Some people abuse that power. Sometimes it’s personality; sometimes it’s creative. But the personality part was no problem. He [Patrick Stewart] was a f***ing sweetheart—a true gentleman—a very kind leader to our whole cast.”
Permission Granted, Sir: A Hilarious On-Set Moment
Saulnier then shared a hilarious memory from set regarding Stewart’s approach to character input:
“Then, one day he comes up to me while we’re shooting, and he says, ‘Jeremy, I love the script. I want to add a little to the scene.’ I said, s**t, here we go! He wanted to inject into the text what he thought his character should say. That’s nightmarish for me. I said, what is it, Patrick? He says, ‘Well, during this scene, when the camera’s coming in from over there, I’d like to say f**k!’ And I was like, and? And Patrick says, f**k! I said, permission granted, sir!”
Saulnier closed out his introduction by asking the crowd to celebrate Stewart‘s contribution to the script as loudly as possible when that moment played on screen, while fondly reminding everyone that Stewart would definitely not want anyone rooting for the Nazis in the film.
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