More than a decade later, Green Room writer/director Jeremy Saulnier is expressing his gratitude for Patrick Stewart helping get the film made.
During a screening of the 2015 movie on Friday, one day after Stewart died at age 86, Saulnier paid his respects to the late 3x Golden Globe nominee and explained how he “saved the day” when the A24 film nearly had to shut down.
“Who’s sad as fuck we lost Patrick Stewart yesterday? Me,” prefaced Saulnier while introducing the movie. “I came here to shamelessly promote Slayground, but instead, I’m just gonna celebrate Patrick Stewart. He had no business doing this movie. He had plenty of opportunities otherwise.”
Saulnier recalled how the production was “at the point of no return” with nobody cast as skinhead leader Darcy Banker. “We’re fucked, and we were close to shutting down,” he said.
“And Patrick Stewart, out of the blue, sort of expressed interest in the project,” said Saulnier. “And in a whirlwind about a week later, I was on the phone with him. I left the stage, ‘Maybe we’re gonna have to break down the sets and shut the whole movie down.’
“Instead, this dude came out of nowhere, from way above our sort of zone, and just swooped down, nosedived into our cruddy ass movie and saved us, and said yes. And the movie was instantly greenlit, we moved forward. And I thank him for just taking that leap and making Green Room a thing,” he added.
Saulnier credited Stewart as “the reason I still can make movies,” calling him a “fucking sweetheart, true gentleman, a kind leader to our whole cast.”
The auteur also recalled Stewart telling him one day on set that he “wanted to add a little something to the scene,” which sounded “nightmarish for me.”
“I was like, ‘What is it, Patrick?’ He’s like, ‘Well, during this one part of the scene, when the camera’s coming through there, I’d like to say, “Fuck!” And I was like, ‘And?’ ‘Just fuck.’ Permission granted, sir,” Saulnier recounted. “And I just knew that he was completely aligned with the film, its aesthetic, its intentions and with me as a filmmaker, and it was just this lovely, lovely thing.”
Saulnier encouraged the audience to “please celebrate very loudly” when they hear the F-bomb in question. “But as Patrick would make sure I clarify here, ‘Whatever you do, don’t root for the Nazis,’” he said, inciting applause from the crowd.
