Doctor Who: Wizard World NYC 2016 – David Tennant and Matt Smith Discuss Playing the Doctor
By Leah Tedesco
At Wizard World NYC 2016, David Tennant and Matt Smith of Doctor Who discussed how things like psychology and the history of the show affect the method to playing the iconic and unique role of the Doctor.
On April 16th, 2016 during The Doctors event at Wizard World NYC, Aaron Sagers of Paranormal Pop Culture sat down on stage with David Tennant and Matt Smith to moderate the two Doctors’ question and answer session with the audience. As of yet, we were only able to find bits and pieces of footage, which appear to have been taken by fans.
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During one portion of the appearance, Sagers asked the two actors the difference between “getting inside the head of” the Doctor, who is a fictional character, versus doing so with historical characters whom they have played. He added, “What did you find once you got inside the head of the Doctor?” Tennant’s initial joking reply was “candy floss and biscuits.” He continued by saying:
"I think the process is the same, really, whatever it is. Any character has a different set of certain circumstances and some of them may be based in historical fact, or some of them may just come from a script, or some of them might come from your imagination, or other peoples’ imagination. But, with anything, you start with a script and then you kind of — you sort of see what else is out there and hopefully it all sort of coalesces into something that makes a recognizable human being slash alien time traveler."
Smith then continued on this train of thought by saying:
"Weirdly with the Doctor, it’s like you have got a real person to go on because, you know, fifty years of people doing it, and fifty years of stories, and fifty years of events. So, there’s lots of source material there, which is good."
The video then jumps to a different point, at which the Doctors discuss what it means to have similarities and differences in a single person portrayed by different actors.
"Smith: Well, I think David — the thing with number ten is — Ten’s a swashbuckler. He’s a real hero, you know? And he brought hair…Tennant: I brought hair?!Smith: Um… and, you know, a sharp, quick, sort of brilliant mind. But then I suppose all Doctors have that, don’t they? Um… Converse. I don’t know. I find those questions really hard because if I were to answer for myself I’d go “a fez and a bowtie” you know because essentially, we are the same man. It’s always the same person. When one person dies and another person comes along, you’re not changing. It’s just the same bloke getting a new face. So… I don’t know. But I always compare it to, sort of, Hamlet, weirdly enough. I think it’s about — I think the actor, basically, brings all his own makeup, you know, all his own foibles, and all his own humors, and all his own, sort of, silliness, really.Tennant: Yeah, I’m sure that’s true. It’s a sort of a blank canvas, isn’t it? You’ve got to chuck yourself at it…Smith: Yeah.Tennant: …and see what sticks.Smith: Yeah.Tennant: Because you’re doing it over a number of years, it’s got to kind of connect with you in quite a sort of easily accessible way.Smith: Yeah, and you’ve gotta process this sort of material so quickly, so it’s gotta come out of you in quite a sort of organic way, I suppose.Tennant: Yeah, that’s it. There’s something that I think you brought to it which is encapsulated in my favorite bit. I don’t remember if I ever told you this. My favorite moment that you did is in the one with James Corden . . . You get given a glass of wine, and you sip it, and then immediately [disgusted noise] it comes straight back out again. It’s pin sharp comic timing, but it just has a sort of — you had a kind of bewildered innocence, which I just thought was absolutely fantastic."
Smith humbly muttered his thanks.
You can watch the segment below:
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Next: David Tennant’s American Doctor
What do you think of this in-depth discussion on playing the Doctor? Let us know in the comments.