The Lowdown
Jeremy Saulnier came to a 10th-anniversary screening of Green Room in Los Angeles to promote his next film. A day after Patrick Stewart died, he threw out the plan and told the crowd how the Star Trek legend rescued a movie that was about to shut down (Variety).
Key Takeaways
- Saulnier introduced the screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Los Angeles on Friday, a day after Stewart died at 86 (Variety).
- He said Green Room had no one cast as skinhead leader Darcy Banker and was “close to shutting down” until Stewart expressed interest out of the blue (Variety).
- Saulnier said Stewart “swooped down, nosedived into our cruddy ass movie and saved us,” and the film was greenlit right away (Variety).
- He recalled Stewart asking to add a single profanity to one scene. Saulnier’s answer: “Permission granted, sir” (Variety).
- Film Updates’ post of the moment passed 175,000 views on X (@FilmUpdates on X).
Jeremy Saulnier took a break from editing ‘SLAYGROUND’ to introduce a 10th anniversary screening of ‘GREEN ROOM’ at Alamo Drafthouse in LA and pay tribute to Patrick Stewart.
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) October 31, 2026
Saulnier revealed that Stewart saved ‘GREEN ROOM’ from being shut down and personally requested to add pic.twitter.com/GCBgsHo9OU
The Story
Saulnier opened with honesty. “Who’s sad as f— we lost Patrick Stewart yesterday? Me,” he told the audience, according to Variety. “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” (Variety).
Then he explained how close the film came to not existing. With no actor for Darcy Banker, the owner of the club where the film’s punk band gets trapped, the production was “at the point of no return,” Saulnier said. “We’re f—ed, and we were close to shutting down” (Variety).
Stewart, he said, “out of the blue, sort of expressed interest.” About a week later, Saulnier was on the phone with him. “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” (Variety).
‘Permission granted, sir’
Saulnier remembered Stewart as a “f—ing sweetheart, true gentleman, a kind leader to our whole cast,” and shared the story of the actor asking to add “a little something” to one scene. That something turned out to be a single, well-placed expletive. “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 said (Variety).
Film Updates posted the clip on Oct. 31, and it drew more than 4,000 likes, 400 reposts and 500 bookmarks (@FilmUpdates on X).
The Background
Stewart died Thursday at 86 after a brief battle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, according to a statement on his Instagram account cited by Variety. He was best known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films (Variety). Green Room, released in 2016 after premiering at Cannes in 2015, starred Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots and Stewart as a punk band fights its way out of a neo-Nazi club in the Pacific Northwest (Wikipedia). PCP also looked at how fan casting helped Stewart land his X-Men payday.
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Actor · Stage & Screen
English stage and screen actor who led Star Trek: The Next Generation as Captain Jean-Luc Picard and played Professor Charles Xavier across the X-Men films.
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More Context
- Variety — ‘Green Room’ director remembers Patrick Stewart and credits him for rescuing the film ↗
- X — @FilmUpdates: Jeremy Saulnier’s Patrick Stewart tribute, Oct. 31, 2026 ↗
- Wikipedia — Green Room (film) ↗