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| Marina Sirtis at the 2012 Saturn Awards Credit: Hollywood.com / David Edwards |
Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Marina Sirtis returns to Star Trek but is glad she stole some stuff.
The upcoming series Star Trek: Picard features the return of Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. He’s on a new adventure but is returning with old friends. Several cast members have been confirmed to have appearances including Data (Brent Spiner), James T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and more. At the CBS panel for Star Trek: Picard at the Television Critics Association Cheat Sheet heard from several members of the cast including Sirtis. She’s known for her outspoken style and didn’t disappoint.
She’s been very outspoken over the years about her costume, bra and everything in between. Now that she’s 65 she had reservations about putting back on the uniform, hair and contact lenses.
In the pilot episode, Marina Sirtis wore a “Skant” (skirt/uniform combination) but for six seasons she alternated between wearing a bodysuit and a tight floor-length dress. Then she started wearing a more conservative bodysuit that still left little to the imagination. Now that it’s 25 years later the costumes have evolved and she’s happy. “The thing that I was most thrilled about was that I didn’t have to wear a spacesuit,” Sirtis told them. “I don’t fit in it anymore. That’s the problem. 15 pounds ago I fit in it. Not anymore.”
Marina Sirtis has been open about the stress her old costume put in her. In a 1994 interview she told the Sun-Sentinel that she put on some pounds after the holiday break and “It shows in that spacesuit.” When asked if she dieted she admitted to having a complex relationship with her weight. “No,” she says, and added slowly, “It’s not something I usually talk about, but I used to have an eating disorder. I can’t diet, because it sets the madness off again. As soon as I start counting calories, I start becoming obsessive about it. So I don’t count calories, nor do I weigh myself. I haven’t weighed in years.”
Sirtis said she ate whatever she wanted and burned off the weight with “grinding” workouts. “Food isn’t the enemy anymore,” she said. “If one has an eating disorder, one has to treat it the way a recovering alcoholic treats alcoholism. You take it one day at a time.”
The former Next Generation actress also told a wonderful story about working with the makeup and hair department. When she flew to Hollywood to film her scenes for Star Trek: Picard Sirtis realized they weren’t prepared for her. “I called and I said, ‘You do know that I wore a wig and black contact lenses,'” Sirtis said. “They went, ‘What?’ I was like, ‘Do you know what? I think I stole them so I think I have them. So let’s just get the contact lenses cleaned because they’ve been sitting in a lens case for 15 years, and I have the wig.'”
Turns out Marina Sirtis still had her stuff from Star Trek: Nemesis. She describes herself as a “tea leaf” which is British cockney rhyming slang for a thief.
“I’m a bit of a tea leaf as they say in England,” Sirtis said. “I’ll have that, thank you very much, which was really good that I did. Trust me, they wouldn’t have had time to make a $10,000 wig. I was in England doing a play anyway. I wrapped on Saturday and was at Universal on Monday having traveled from England on Sunday. I wasn’t even here. It would’ve been like wig, contact lenses, what? It was lucky that I did pilfer them.”
Another wonderful quote comes from her recognizing her place in the industry. Older actors struggle to find well-rounded roles and women even have a harder time. She quoted from another outspoken actress when asked if she was looking forward to reprising her role as Deanna Troi.
“As Carrie [Fisher] said when she went back to Star Wars, I remember seeing her on the Today show,” Sirtis said. “The interviewer said to her, ‘Was it a difficult choice to resuscitate Princess Leia?’ Carrie said, ‘I’m a 60-year-old actress in Hollywood. People aren’t exactly throwing scripts at me’ which is kind of the place I’m in.”
Marina Sirtis added, “I think it’s different for boys but for women, it’s very different. So yeah, it’s not like I’m ducking the scripts that are coming my way, so it is a job as well as being fantastic to work with my pals again.”
She is furious about filming Picard because of one thing: High definition. “Really, the man who invented high definition cameras, and it was a man because a woman would never have f*cking invented it, right?” Sirtis complained. “May he rot in hell for all eternity.”
Marina Sirtis recently lost her husband Michael Lamper but it hasn’t taken away from her charm and wit. She joked with Brent Spiner, now 70, about having his wrinkles covered by a layer of gold makeup. “It’s all right for you, Mr. Android,” Sirtis said. “The rest of us look like something the cat dragged in.”
Picard will be the eighth TV series in the Star Trek franchise and focuses on the character Admiral Picard. It’s set at the end of the 24th century, 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). The first episode is scheduled to premiere on January 23, 2020.
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About the Author Maurice Mitchell has been a passionate science-fiction fan of movies, television, books, and comics since age five. He and his twin brother Nigel created the site “The Geek Twins” to share that passion. Maurice has written and created infographics for sites like The Geek Twins and About.com. His work has been featured on sites like Business Insider, io9 Slashfilm and more. Read more of his posts | Follow him on Twitter @Mauricem1972 |
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