Who Is Peter Capaldi?
crossposted from Lee Edward McIlmoyle's blog
Okay, that’s a VERY misleading title. See, I haven’t followed him all throughout his acting career, but I’ve known about Peter Capaldi at least as far back as 1983 and a little film called Local Hero, a film about an American executive called MacIntyre (played wonderfully by Peter Riegert) working for a multinational oil corporation based in Texas that wants to put an oil refinery in the sleepy Scottish town of Ferness. It proves to be a sort of spiritual (in the non-religious sense) awakening for Mac, who discovers that he loves the place, the people and the bucolic pace. But that’s getting off the point. The point is, Mac’s closest confidant in this venture is Danny, played by Capaldi, a slightly gawky, rather innocent man to be working for an oil company, to be sure. Danny’s character has a more romantic awakening, as he meets and then proceeds to fall in love with Marina, the deep sea diving marine biologist who turns out to be a… but that would spoil the ending. Go watch the film. You won’t regret it.
My point is, I saw Peter act when I was at an impressionable age (12-13), and Local Hero is a sort of feel good classic film that helped form the bedrock for my narrative sensibilities. I loved that film (still do), and I loved Capaldi in it. Understated geeky brilliance.
Now, do I expect him to reprise Danny for his new role as The Doctor? Heck ho. I expect him to be as darkly sinister and crafty as he can be, while still being charming and occasionally goofy. One of the things I have dearly loved about the last three regenerations of The Doctor is, they managed each in their own way to synthesize the alien-ness, the absurdity, the grim reality of being the last member of their doomed race, and to have seen all of the many things, good and bad, that they have, each one, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith alike, have all managed to capture a slant of light through the darkness of being the Last Timelord, of being consumed by angst and, in 9′s case, even hatred and fear.
So many dark, huge, unbelievable stories have been told in the last eight or nine years, and whether you’re a lover or hater of Russell T Davies, or a lover or hater of Steven Moffat (who is not a sexist, even if he cast another man in the role), you can’t deny that the scope and breadth of the series has been nothing short of magnificent, which is considerable when you take into account that many people, great sci-fi and spec fic writers amongst them, still dismiss Doctor Who as being a kid’s show. Family entertainment, yes, I grant you, but it’s nothing like Teletubbies or Sesame Street or the truly insipid Barney the Dinosaur.
So, what does this mean, now that Peter Capaldi has been cast? Well, for one thing, we’ve got an older looking Doctor again, which probably means that the action sequences that we’ve seen from the last couple of Doctors will have to be toned down or eliminated altogether. Peter Capaldi is 55, which is not an age traditionally associated with jumping out of windows and hanging from TARDIS doors. In fact, looking at the list of Doctor Who actor’s respective ages, he’s actually as old as William Hartnell was when he first took on the role back in 1963. Think about that.
Now, admittedly, Peter Capaldi looks like he’s in better physical condition than Billy was when he played the role, but it has to be said, the obvious correlation is Roger Moore (who retired from playing James Bond at 57, at least one movie too late), but truly, the closest correlation here is probably both Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan playing highly physical Bonds in their 40s, and both of them left the admittedly very physically demanding role at least in part because they were getting a bit too old for the action sequences. Now, I’m not really comparing Bond to the Doctor, as they really are very different roles. However, when you take into account the amount of stunt acting that has been taken on in the last seven or eight years, I think you’ll agree that Tennant and Smith both made their Doctors action heroes in the classic adventurer (think Alan Quartermain or Indiana Jones) vein.
I would love to see Peter Capaldi pull off some action when called for, but I think what we’re going to see a lot more of in this case is, we’re going to see the scheming, wily Doctor coming through again, because really, it’s the only practical thing to do when you have a 55-year-old man in the role. You can’t afford to have the guy leave the role one year in because he’s been injured too many times. I’m in my early forties, and I’ll tell you, this age racket is for the dogs (and I don’t mean that in a ‘dog’s bollocks’ kind of way, either).
Anyway, I think I’ve ruminated enough. I owe Peter Capaldi an apology for two things: 1) for insinuating that he’s too old for the role. That’s utter nonsense. I just don’t think he’ll be doing any long falls down the rock quarry any time soon; and 2) I apologize for not really following his career more closely. I know he’s been in a tonne of stuff since Local Hero, some of which I have seen, but much of which I haven’t for no particular reason, and that he has a truly impressive breadth as an actor. I truly look forward to seeing what he and Steven cook up for us in the years to come.
But I AM going to miss Matt Smith, the dark horse in all of this, because the naysayers and the Tennantites have remained staunchly anti-Matt for all this time, and really, I’ve had nothing but good experiences with the guy in the role. In fact, looking back on his time, it looks even better than it did when I watched it in sequence. It’s been an amazing ride, and I can only hope that Peter can bring his heft as an older, more experienced actor to compensate for what we are losing in a truly protean actor of Matt Smith’s ilk.
As always, thanks for reading.
OH, and if you haven’t seen it already, please go take a look at this:
Lee.
Okay, that’s a VERY misleading title. See, I haven’t followed him all throughout his acting career, but I’ve known about Peter Capaldi at least as far back as 1983 and a little film called Local Hero, a film about an American executive called MacIntyre (played wonderfully by Peter Riegert) working for a multinational oil corporation based in Texas that wants to put an oil refinery in the sleepy Scottish town of Ferness. It proves to be a sort of spiritual (in the non-religious sense) awakening for Mac, who discovers that he loves the place, the people and the bucolic pace. But that’s getting off the point. The point is, Mac’s closest confidant in this venture is Danny, played by Capaldi, a slightly gawky, rather innocent man to be working for an oil company, to be sure. Danny’s character has a more romantic awakening, as he meets and then proceeds to fall in love with Marina, the deep sea diving marine biologist who turns out to be a… but that would spoil the ending. Go watch the film. You won’t regret it.
My point is, I saw Peter act when I was at an impressionable age (12-13), and Local Hero is a sort of feel good classic film that helped form the bedrock for my narrative sensibilities. I loved that film (still do), and I loved Capaldi in it. Understated geeky brilliance.
Now, do I expect him to reprise Danny for his new role as The Doctor? Heck ho. I expect him to be as darkly sinister and crafty as he can be, while still being charming and occasionally goofy. One of the things I have dearly loved about the last three regenerations of The Doctor is, they managed each in their own way to synthesize the alien-ness, the absurdity, the grim reality of being the last member of their doomed race, and to have seen all of the many things, good and bad, that they have, each one, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith alike, have all managed to capture a slant of light through the darkness of being the Last Timelord, of being consumed by angst and, in 9′s case, even hatred and fear.
So many dark, huge, unbelievable stories have been told in the last eight or nine years, and whether you’re a lover or hater of Russell T Davies, or a lover or hater of Steven Moffat (who is not a sexist, even if he cast another man in the role), you can’t deny that the scope and breadth of the series has been nothing short of magnificent, which is considerable when you take into account that many people, great sci-fi and spec fic writers amongst them, still dismiss Doctor Who as being a kid’s show. Family entertainment, yes, I grant you, but it’s nothing like Teletubbies or Sesame Street or the truly insipid Barney the Dinosaur.
So, what does this mean, now that Peter Capaldi has been cast? Well, for one thing, we’ve got an older looking Doctor again, which probably means that the action sequences that we’ve seen from the last couple of Doctors will have to be toned down or eliminated altogether. Peter Capaldi is 55, which is not an age traditionally associated with jumping out of windows and hanging from TARDIS doors. In fact, looking at the list of Doctor Who actor’s respective ages, he’s actually as old as William Hartnell was when he first took on the role back in 1963. Think about that.
Now, admittedly, Peter Capaldi looks like he’s in better physical condition than Billy was when he played the role, but it has to be said, the obvious correlation is Roger Moore (who retired from playing James Bond at 57, at least one movie too late), but truly, the closest correlation here is probably both Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan playing highly physical Bonds in their 40s, and both of them left the admittedly very physically demanding role at least in part because they were getting a bit too old for the action sequences. Now, I’m not really comparing Bond to the Doctor, as they really are very different roles. However, when you take into account the amount of stunt acting that has been taken on in the last seven or eight years, I think you’ll agree that Tennant and Smith both made their Doctors action heroes in the classic adventurer (think Alan Quartermain or Indiana Jones) vein.
I would love to see Peter Capaldi pull off some action when called for, but I think what we’re going to see a lot more of in this case is, we’re going to see the scheming, wily Doctor coming through again, because really, it’s the only practical thing to do when you have a 55-year-old man in the role. You can’t afford to have the guy leave the role one year in because he’s been injured too many times. I’m in my early forties, and I’ll tell you, this age racket is for the dogs (and I don’t mean that in a ‘dog’s bollocks’ kind of way, either).
Anyway, I think I’ve ruminated enough. I owe Peter Capaldi an apology for two things: 1) for insinuating that he’s too old for the role. That’s utter nonsense. I just don’t think he’ll be doing any long falls down the rock quarry any time soon; and 2) I apologize for not really following his career more closely. I know he’s been in a tonne of stuff since Local Hero, some of which I have seen, but much of which I haven’t for no particular reason, and that he has a truly impressive breadth as an actor. I truly look forward to seeing what he and Steven cook up for us in the years to come.
But I AM going to miss Matt Smith, the dark horse in all of this, because the naysayers and the Tennantites have remained staunchly anti-Matt for all this time, and really, I’ve had nothing but good experiences with the guy in the role. In fact, looking back on his time, it looks even better than it did when I watched it in sequence. It’s been an amazing ride, and I can only hope that Peter can bring his heft as an older, more experienced actor to compensate for what we are losing in a truly protean actor of Matt Smith’s ilk.
As always, thanks for reading.
OH, and if you haven’t seen it already, please go take a look at this:
Lee.