Patrick Stewart’s X-Men worry

Sir Patrick Stewart resisted playing Professor X in the ‘X-Men’ movie series. The 69-year-old actor admits playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ TV series and four feature films left him feeling concerned he wouldn’t ever play a character who wasn’t sci-fi.

However, he eventually decided to accept the role on the advice of a fellow actor who told him to embrace franchises.

Speaking at the Edinburgh Filmhouse, Patrick said: “After a while on ‘Star Trek’, it became a question of where Jean-Luc ended and I began.

“There was a point where it became an albatross: a producer who I was lobbying for a part once said to me, ‘Why would I want Jean-Luc Picard in my film?’

“So I resisted playing another role like that, Professor X in the ‘X-Men’ series, for a long time. But another actor said to me, ‘You can never have enough franchises in your career.’ ”

Patrick is currently working on a number of projects, including animated family film ‘Gnomeo and Juliet’ with Emily Blunt and Jason Statham and fantasy movie ‘Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage’.