Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) nearly walked away from 'Star Trek: Nemesis' because of the long drawn-out process of studio negotiations.

"I was a breath away from saying this is not worth the time. An absolute breath away," Stewart told Empire Magazine (via TrekWeb). "They were negotiating so uncompromisingly that it had reached the point where humiliation was the only way of settling this and I wasn't prepared to do that."

Stewart was grateful he wasn't on the front line when it came to working out his contract. "Luckily the nice thing for actors is that you don't actually have to walk into those rooms yourself, and you don't have to answer the phone when they call. It's a very curious place, Hollywood, in that in the space of the day, someone's attitude can shift from downright brutality to treating you as a member of the family."

The 'Nemesis' script has been circulating on the Internet for some time, something which the actor isn't too pleased about. "That annoys the hell out of me," he said. "I don't know why people want to know what's going to happen. What satisfaction could you get out of that? I understand people wanting to know who's in it, who are the villains, but blow-by-blow accounts mystify me. On 'X-Men 2' I have a script with my name and code number printed across every page. It's a case of 'read your script and eat it'. Bryan [Singer] actually said, 'I don't think they'll let you see your script until the last day of filming.'"

To read the complete interview, pick up issue 158 of Empire Magazine, out now. Alternatively, extracts are available online at TrekWeb.

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