Because they wouldn't have to change Sisko's style to be an action hero captain. He's already punched more people than all other Starfleet captains combined.
Because DS9 was still in production when FC was made. To change Sisko's basic characterization for the movie would be impossible without also changing it on the TV series. TNG was off the air, though, so the writers felt free to do major changes with the TNG characters. Unfortunately.
He didn't say anything about "Action Picard".. He showed his action chops several times in the series when it was necessary, so that's not even the issue. The issue is that Picard in the series is a thoughtful, reserved, intelligent person who respects all life and respects the chain of command, yet Movie Picard is a dumb, overly emotional, aggressive, bloodthirsty, dune buggying idiot who wont hesitate to ignore his orders if it suits him.
^ Pretty much. I never got why everyone cited Starship Mine as Picard's ultimate action hero sequence. Pft, even in that episode he wasn't beating the bad guys with brute force and badassery, he was out smarting them with clever diversions and traps. Die Hard? Pft.. more like Home Alone.
Amen. Stewart and the writers came to the conclusion that Picard needed to be more action driven and proactive. They felt for the big screen he needed to be more like Kirk. IMO it didn't work.
I was thinking more about the time he started an insurrection so he could get laid.... oh i mean because it was the "right" thing to do... Even though he made the exact opposite decision in Journeys End... (yeah yeah the planet was stimulating his hormones... weak ass excuse.) Very true and a good analogy. It is way more Home Alone than Die Hard.
Insurrection was such a stupid movie. Also Beverly was right there! Why romance that other annoying chick of the week?
The same reason why they had Lily/Alfrie Woodard deliver all the big speeches to Picard in First Contact instead of Beverly: In the minds of TPTB Gates wasn't good enough to be in too many scenes with the Great Patrick Stewart. At least that's how it came across to me. And that's unfortunate.
Wanna bet? It's my understanding that his price for a movie contract had gone up beyond the salary levels of some of his TNG colleagues, which would make order of billing a problem. Remember that Whoopi Golding accepted "no billing" on "Generations" only so that she didn't displace her friend Patrick Stewart in the opening credits of his first starring role in a US motion picture. If an actor accepts lower-than-status pay on a project it can affect future and current negotiations on other projects. Being "a good guy" means nothing to agents and producers. Whoopi did a "good guy" act, but she wields a lot of star power in Hollywood. Again, the problem with Whoopi is her availability. They would have had to work very hard to secure her for "First Contact", since she would have to be crucial to its script. For many TNG eps, Whoopi would tell the production team when she had a window of opportunity, and they'd often rewrite a Troi scene to accommodate her. Only a few Guinan episodes were conceived as Guinan episodes. What happens if they wrote the whole script and then she was unavailable? Delays cost money. Soran could have been recast, the Klingon sisters could have become new characters, the Borg Queen could have been recast, but not Guinan. So they went with a similar character/foil and an actress who was also a rising star, Alfre Woodard. She already had two Primetime Emmys and was runnerup for a Film Critics Association award at the time. And, as I indicated before, as an Academy Award-winning lead actress, Whoopi's agent would have fought for top billing in "First Contact" for anything beyond a cameo.