Recalling the scene’s aftermath, Alfre Woodard told Collider, “I ran to Jonathan … my arms were bleeding, and all the skin was gone.” She showed Frakes that she’d damaged her costume along with injuring her arms, and laughed while saying that the director assured her that they got the shot they needed. Despite her battle scars, Woodard harbors no bad feelings toward Frakes, whom she considers one of her dearest friends, for directing a movie scene that permanently damaged her body.
Woodard told The Hollywood Reporter that the pair met as young actors in their early 20s. As struggling artists often do, their group of friends was prone to surfing each other’s couches and pooling their meager funds to purchase food and beer. Although they’re the same age, Frakes has called Woodard his “godmommy” for decades, a designation she proudly accepts. Woodard also happens to be good friends with Brent Spiner (Data) and LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge), so when Frakes asked his old pal to join the “Star Trek” franchise, she couldn’t turn him down. In her Collider interview, Woodard said she immediately appreciated the action-packed script, even if she didn’t understand some franchise details. “It says I was, you know, coming out of Jefferies tubes, and I say, ‘Well now, who’s Jeffrey?'”
While Woodard’s “Star Trek” injury did not deter her from performing stunt work from time to time, these days she’s grateful for her rather protective stunt double, Cheryl Lewis. Praising Lewis in an A.frame interview discussing Netflix’s “The Gray Man,” Woodard bragged, “She immediately speaks up to directors, producers, whatever’s going on, and just says, ‘No. I don’t want my lady doing this. Nope. I’m not going to let my lady do that. So, she’s just great.”
