Matt on the TV Guide Fan Favourites panel, and Karen's theatre debut
Matt Smith was on the TV Guide Fan Favourites panel yesterday alongside stars from other popular shows.
BBC America has this snippet from the panel, copy pasta'd for convenience:
TV Guide Fan Favorites Panel: ‘Doctor Who’ Star Matt Smith Brings Down the House
By: Kevin Wicks Posted: Thursday, July 21st, 2011
Matt Smith. Photo by Dave Gustav Anderson.
“The few, the proud, the nerds,” Zachary Levi quipped when celebrating the fanbase of his series, Chuck, which will begin its final season this fall. It was a rallying cry that resonated in Ballroom 20, which housed TV Guide’s Fan Favorites panel at San Diego Comic-Con.
Moderated by TV Guide editor-in-chief Debra Birnbaum, this panel amassed a ragtag group of stars - including former Lost star Jorge Garcia, True Blood‘s Kristin Bauer and Nelsan Ellis, The Big Bang Theory‘s Johnny Galecki, and yes, Doctor Who‘s Matt Smith - who have one thing in common: they have followings that presidential candidates would sell their first-borns for.
Photo by Dave Gustav Anderson
These viewers are anything but casual: they are fully engaged, vigilant, and catalog the smallest details. The tiniest lapse in logic or continuity, and you’ve won wrath that is nearly impossible to overcome. But earn their respect, and you’ve reaped devotion that can help power a career for years. And San Diego Comic-Con offers a chance for super-fans to press the flesh with their idols.
“One of the best places in the world to be this time of year is right here in San Diego with you,” Levi said.
“When I came to Comic-Con 15 years ago, it was 10 guys with tinfoil hats,” says Leslie Hope, star of ABC’s upcoming drama The River. “But, this year, I came with my sons and it is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.”
Matt Smith, who is in his second highly-regarded season on BBC America’s Doctor Who, is experiencing his first Comic-Con. As the eleventh man to star on the long-running series, he had a challenge of stepping into some well-worn shoes. “For me, it’s quite remarkable to jump into something that already has a legacy. It started with William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton… Tom Baker.” But after doing fan events both stateside and in his native Britain, “I now realize it’s quite popular,” he laughed.
In spite of getting the most rousing applause of anyone on staff, Smith admitted to being starstruck by his own co-panelists. “I get to sit next to Pam and Lafayette,” referring to the True Blood character names of stars Kristin Bauer and Nelsan Ellis. He says he’s a “huge fan” of the vampire drama.
Photo by Dave Gustav Anderson
Smith remarked on the irreverence of the crowds here: “I saw a man dressed as the Predator who looked like he could take my head off. So there’s a good spirit here.”
In the Q&A portion of the panel, Smith received the lion’s share of questions, including one about a possible return of one of the Doctor’s best companions, Captain Jack Harkness. “John [Barrowman] is welcome to come back and strut his stuff.”
Speaking of Barrowman, he will be on the Torchwood panel tomorrow morning (July 22), so stay tuned for my recap on that…
And ninja'd hi-res versions of the above pics, clicky click for bigness:
==============================
Zap2it has this brief report:
'Doctor Who': Matt Smith tells Comic-Con about 'Let's Kill Hitler' and River Song payoff
The real "Doctor Who" fun doesn't start at Comic-Con until Sunday (July 24), when stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan join writer (and "Being Human" creator) Toby Whithouse and executive producers Piers Wenger and Beth Willis for a panel in Hall H.
But that didn't stop Smith from making an early appearance at the TV Guide Fan Favorite panel, where he slipped a few teases about the upcoming second half of Season 6 and indulged in a little time travel fantasizing.
When asked about his favorite episode in his two-year tenure as the Doctor, he confessed that it's still to come. "The next episode... 'Let's Kill Hitler,'" says Smith. "[Creator] Steven [Moffat] is in fine form, and there's a great monster, which is important."
As for the mid-season finale, which finally revealed the identity of River Song (Alex Kingston), Smith thought the Doctor would have caught on sooner. "I find out quite sort of late, he says, "but I thought it was good payoff... Going into the next part of the season, there's some real good River stuff and some real good River/Doctor stuff."
Looking back on his experience on the show so far, which will now take him into at least 2013, Smith says seeing all the fans at Comic-Con is just another reminder of how surreal tackling the role has been for him has been. "It was bizarre really, because, obviously no one had a clue who i was," he says. "It was daunting, but good pressure."
Smith, who announced that Doctor #2 Patrick Troughton is his all-time favorite, finished by telling guests where he'd go if he had a real Tardis.
"I'd go to Atlantis and see if that's just... going down," he says, "And I would go and visit the dinosaurs but I would pick up Frank Sinatra along the way."
==============================
And The Daily Fail Mail reports that Karen Gillan is set to make her stage debut this October:
Mad about the Doctor's girl
Karen Gillan is to make her professional theatre debut in a classic Sixties play that will be styled like a ‘tawdry’ British Mad Men.
The actress, who stars as Amy Pond, the good Doctor’s companion in Dr Who, will appear with Olivier and Tony award winning actor Douglas Hodge in John Osborne’s Inadmissible Evidence, with performances beginning at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre on October 13.
Osborne’s corrosive 1964 drama centres on William Maitland, a solicitor, whose basic diet consists of booze, pills and squalid sex.
In the play, he charges himself with being ‘irredeemably mediocre’, and the women and colleagues he has betrayed prosecute him with their
contempt.
Karen will play Liz, the secretary Maitland has used and abused.
‘She’s sick of his attitude towards her, and to women in general and there’s an amazing confrontation between the two of them,’
Jamie Lloyd, who will direct the play, told me.
Karen read twice for him at auditions and he was impressed with her charisma and her natural instincts.
‘More importantly, she can do the text convincingly and she feels as if she comes from that Sixties British Mad Men world,’ Lloyd added.
Hodge was cast months ago, but Lloyd told me hundreds of actors applied for the other main roles.
Hodge went through the play for Lloyd recently and the director told me he was struck by the actor’s ability to ‘bring humanity and warmth to such a repulsive character’ as Maitland.
Lloyd explained that designer Soutra Gilmour will give the production the flavour of television’s Mad Men.
And composers Ben and Max Ringham will create original music that will evoke the Sixties era.
The playwright’s estate has allowed Lloyd to make ‘subtle cuts’ to Osborne' text, but the director stressed it’s not a complete reworking of the play that originally starred Nicol Williamson and Eileen Atkins in the roles now taken by Hodge and Karen.
===================
An additional brief report of the production can also be found on BroadwayWorld.com
BBC America has this snippet from the panel, copy pasta'd for convenience:
TV Guide Fan Favorites Panel: ‘Doctor Who’ Star Matt Smith Brings Down the House
By: Kevin Wicks Posted: Thursday, July 21st, 2011
Matt Smith. Photo by Dave Gustav Anderson.
“The few, the proud, the nerds,” Zachary Levi quipped when celebrating the fanbase of his series, Chuck, which will begin its final season this fall. It was a rallying cry that resonated in Ballroom 20, which housed TV Guide’s Fan Favorites panel at San Diego Comic-Con.
Moderated by TV Guide editor-in-chief Debra Birnbaum, this panel amassed a ragtag group of stars - including former Lost star Jorge Garcia, True Blood‘s Kristin Bauer and Nelsan Ellis, The Big Bang Theory‘s Johnny Galecki, and yes, Doctor Who‘s Matt Smith - who have one thing in common: they have followings that presidential candidates would sell their first-borns for.
Photo by Dave Gustav Anderson
These viewers are anything but casual: they are fully engaged, vigilant, and catalog the smallest details. The tiniest lapse in logic or continuity, and you’ve won wrath that is nearly impossible to overcome. But earn their respect, and you’ve reaped devotion that can help power a career for years. And San Diego Comic-Con offers a chance for super-fans to press the flesh with their idols.
“One of the best places in the world to be this time of year is right here in San Diego with you,” Levi said.
“When I came to Comic-Con 15 years ago, it was 10 guys with tinfoil hats,” says Leslie Hope, star of ABC’s upcoming drama The River. “But, this year, I came with my sons and it is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.”
Matt Smith, who is in his second highly-regarded season on BBC America’s Doctor Who, is experiencing his first Comic-Con. As the eleventh man to star on the long-running series, he had a challenge of stepping into some well-worn shoes. “For me, it’s quite remarkable to jump into something that already has a legacy. It started with William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton… Tom Baker.” But after doing fan events both stateside and in his native Britain, “I now realize it’s quite popular,” he laughed.
In spite of getting the most rousing applause of anyone on staff, Smith admitted to being starstruck by his own co-panelists. “I get to sit next to Pam and Lafayette,” referring to the True Blood character names of stars Kristin Bauer and Nelsan Ellis. He says he’s a “huge fan” of the vampire drama.
Photo by Dave Gustav Anderson
Smith remarked on the irreverence of the crowds here: “I saw a man dressed as the Predator who looked like he could take my head off. So there’s a good spirit here.”
In the Q&A portion of the panel, Smith received the lion’s share of questions, including one about a possible return of one of the Doctor’s best companions, Captain Jack Harkness. “John [Barrowman] is welcome to come back and strut his stuff.”
Speaking of Barrowman, he will be on the Torchwood panel tomorrow morning (July 22), so stay tuned for my recap on that…
And ninja'd hi-res versions of the above pics, clicky click for bigness:
==============================
Zap2it has this brief report:
'Doctor Who': Matt Smith tells Comic-Con about 'Let's Kill Hitler' and River Song payoff
The real "Doctor Who" fun doesn't start at Comic-Con until Sunday (July 24), when stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan join writer (and "Being Human" creator) Toby Whithouse and executive producers Piers Wenger and Beth Willis for a panel in Hall H.
But that didn't stop Smith from making an early appearance at the TV Guide Fan Favorite panel, where he slipped a few teases about the upcoming second half of Season 6 and indulged in a little time travel fantasizing.
When asked about his favorite episode in his two-year tenure as the Doctor, he confessed that it's still to come. "The next episode... 'Let's Kill Hitler,'" says Smith. "[Creator] Steven [Moffat] is in fine form, and there's a great monster, which is important."
As for the mid-season finale, which finally revealed the identity of River Song (Alex Kingston), Smith thought the Doctor would have caught on sooner. "I find out quite sort of late, he says, "but I thought it was good payoff... Going into the next part of the season, there's some real good River stuff and some real good River/Doctor stuff."
Looking back on his experience on the show so far, which will now take him into at least 2013, Smith says seeing all the fans at Comic-Con is just another reminder of how surreal tackling the role has been for him has been. "It was bizarre really, because, obviously no one had a clue who i was," he says. "It was daunting, but good pressure."
Smith, who announced that Doctor #2 Patrick Troughton is his all-time favorite, finished by telling guests where he'd go if he had a real Tardis.
"I'd go to Atlantis and see if that's just... going down," he says, "And I would go and visit the dinosaurs but I would pick up Frank Sinatra along the way."
==============================
And The Daily Fail Mail reports that Karen Gillan is set to make her stage debut this October:
Mad about the Doctor's girl
Karen Gillan is to make her professional theatre debut in a classic Sixties play that will be styled like a ‘tawdry’ British Mad Men.
The actress, who stars as Amy Pond, the good Doctor’s companion in Dr Who, will appear with Olivier and Tony award winning actor Douglas Hodge in John Osborne’s Inadmissible Evidence, with performances beginning at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre on October 13.
Osborne’s corrosive 1964 drama centres on William Maitland, a solicitor, whose basic diet consists of booze, pills and squalid sex.
In the play, he charges himself with being ‘irredeemably mediocre’, and the women and colleagues he has betrayed prosecute him with their
contempt.
Karen will play Liz, the secretary Maitland has used and abused.
‘She’s sick of his attitude towards her, and to women in general and there’s an amazing confrontation between the two of them,’
Jamie Lloyd, who will direct the play, told me.
Karen read twice for him at auditions and he was impressed with her charisma and her natural instincts.
‘More importantly, she can do the text convincingly and she feels as if she comes from that Sixties British Mad Men world,’ Lloyd added.
Hodge was cast months ago, but Lloyd told me hundreds of actors applied for the other main roles.
Hodge went through the play for Lloyd recently and the director told me he was struck by the actor’s ability to ‘bring humanity and warmth to such a repulsive character’ as Maitland.
Lloyd explained that designer Soutra Gilmour will give the production the flavour of television’s Mad Men.
And composers Ben and Max Ringham will create original music that will evoke the Sixties era.
The playwright’s estate has allowed Lloyd to make ‘subtle cuts’ to Osborne' text, but the director stressed it’s not a complete reworking of the play that originally starred Nicol Williamson and Eileen Atkins in the roles now taken by Hodge and Karen.
===================
An additional brief report of the production can also be found on BroadwayWorld.com