'X-Men' director Bryan Singer has one of the shortest celebrity cameos in the upcoming 'Star Trek Nemesis,' but star Patrick Stewart said the longtime Trek fan was overjoyed just to be a part of the movie.

When Stewart was cast as Professor Xavier in the first 'X-Men' film, he had no idea Singer, director of 'The Usual Suspects' and 'Apt Pupil,' was such a big Trek fan. "It was wonderful to discover [...] that Bryan Singer was also an absolutely besotted fan of Next Generation and the original series," Stewart told the Sci Fi Wire.

"[Singer] just asked if he could come on the set," the actor recalled. Franchise head Rick Berman waved his magic wand, and Singer earned himself a small place in the Trek pantheon. "I mentioned it to Rick, and I said what a big fan he is, and Rick is a fan of Bryan's movies, and he said, 'Do you think he'd like to do a background shot?' And so I asked Bryan, and his eyes lit up."

Stewart reported that Singer spent all day working as a background extra during a sequence set on the Enterprise-E bridge. "[He] was given a line of dialogue, but that didn't make it into the final cut. But these last few months, while we've been filming 'X-Men 2' which wrapped last week, continually he would say to me, 'What have you heard? Have you seen any of the movie? Do you think I'm going to be in it?' And when I came back, having seen the final cut, I said, 'Bryan, you're actually in 28 frames of the movie.' He couldn't be happier."

The full interview, in which Stewart also talked about the possibility of 'Nemesis' being the final TNG film, can be found here at the Sci Fi Wire. Thanks to Daniel Clarke for this!

Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
 Add TrekToday RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fan? Then visit CSIFiles.com!