I saw the Log In that featured Patrick Stewart (in a series where William Shatner interviews one of the other 'Captains' of Gene Roddenberry's Log In TV-franchise ... other episodes feature Kate Mulgrew, Avery Brooks, Scott Bakula ... maybe Chris Pine ...). They told how Patrick Stewart started out in the 'English countryside'-ghetto, how he trained to become a 'captain of the stage' & a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and then it seems like Gene Roddenberry-&-co. just picked him right up from there. 'But what about Log In?' I wondered. '& Log In? Is Stewart ashamed of those?' Or was it just 'on one of my history-altering trips withLog In' that I saw Stewart in those Sci-Fi classics?
No your right Patrick Stewart was in those films I saw him in Dune. Also, he was in the film Excalibur. In fact, he had somewhat of film career prior to Star Trek. But none of these films made him a household name. You would of thought some of this would of been highlighted as some of his earlier roles, and he could of talked about being a more or less a character actor in films where he really didn't take center stage but was part of a cast. Then along came Star Trek which changed things for him suddenly he was recongnized for who he was and not just for role he was playing. Its funny though, I am a Trekie I admit this, I saw Dune prior to TNG, and also Excalibur but I never noticed Patrick Stewart in either one till after TNG came along I saw these films again and then I was able to spot him in the cast.
I think that's how most 'dramatist'-actors want to be (as opposed to 'celebrity'-actors like Stewart has kinda become ... or maybe that part of 'the industry' has been fictionalized, so that I somehow believe big stars demand multi-million dollar salaries while regular actors are just paid "scale")---not recognizable In Real Life. Although I suppose most 'movie-goers' (at least those below the age most of us find out that 'movies aren't Real Life') see Stewart in another film (Robin Hood: Men in Tights, XMEN, A Christmas Carol (Ebenezer Scrooge)) and think, "Hey, it's Captain Picard!" ... Have we even seen Picar-- Stewart in the DOCTOR WHOniverse? Maybe he could be Capaldi's replacement (if the producers aren't too strict about that '12 regeneration'-limit).
His part in that was kinda small, and you should see ALL THE OTHER STUFF he's in (listed on his IMDb-page). And the other actors in that film---if they weren't big then, it certainly helped them! (Kyle MacLachlin, Sting, ... that guy who played Al on QUANTUM LEAP, the guy who played that double-crossing royal-assistant in the Lord of the Rings-movies) Plus, it was a sci-fi novel with a huge fanbase!
Well, that's the problem. It had a huge fanbase, which was why it flopped so hard when people seen how poorly made it was compared to the source material. And I dunno, I wouldn't say it helped him, IIRC he was quite a known name in the theater scene by that time.
Well, De Laurentiis also made FLASH GORDON & In the Beginning ...---which both looked like 'cheap spotlight-vehicles' ... pretty-much just 'pictures to encourage the eating of movie-theater popcorn.' & De Laurentiis knew enough of the big Hollywood-names to get enough interest in the productions. I imagine most actors saw their productions as 'just another empty stage & spotlight needing someone to fill it.'
Yeah, and that's the problem. Flash Gordon, even though it had a following, was always a cheesy, fun series that you can make into a popcorn movie. Dune, though, not only had way bigger following, but is actually a serious series with many serious themes and stuff like that, so you can't just turn it into an expendable blockbuster production and expect people to like it. Guess he didn't realize that back then.
