Jenna-Louise Coleman Interview

[Allyn Gibson]

The Observer is running a profile of Jenna-Louise Coleman today.

There's very little in it that's Doctor Who-related. The one bit that is sounds very... weird. (I personally don't take what's said literally; I think the writer was attempting a literary flourish with a parallel structure that connects to his opening paragraph, but in so doing he mangled what he meant.)

The article is mainly about her other work, especially how she tried to go Hollywood -- and bombed spectacularly at it. (Maybe this will be a cautionary tale for Matt Smith?) I now wonder what American sitcom she missed out on, though.

[DalekJim]

Allyn Gibson wrote:

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especially how she tried to go Hollywood -- and bombed spectacularly at it.

To be fair, Tennant has done the same. Eccleston is doing very well though.

[YellowSubmarine]

I'm a little disappointed with the direction they took with the Oswin character.

Don't get me wrong, I loved both her appearances so far, and perhaps the stories wouldn't have been as good if they gone the other way, so I'm not sure if I should complain about this at all, however I see one great opportunity that was missed here.

In The Snowmen, she played an inspiring character of Victorian time. Instead of turning her into multi-dimensional technobabble mystery herself, they could have taken her on the journey where she was the one who was mystified by the future. I don't care that much to be mystified as a viewer. They could have taken her exploring the wonders of a universe that's foreign to her both socially and technologically, and mainly from the more human point of view. At a very slow pace, starting from Madame Vastra, taking it slowly to the 21st century and then jumping straight into the rest of the universe. And in the end, her transformation into the other Oswin we saw could have been more human in nature too, like Donna but more down to Earth.

Clara's time of origin and Coleman's charisma would have worked wonderfully to depict this kind of journey, and sadly they blew it. A shame. I'm also not sure I'm happy with how they fractured her memories. Hope they manage to pull out some nice trick to glue them together. That would be rather nice.

But eh, I think I'm going to love this regardless. It's going to be good either way.

[Samurai8472]

Allyn Gibson wrote:

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The article is mainly about her other work, especially how she tried to go Hollywood -- and bombed spectacularly at it. (Maybe this will be a cautionary tale for Matt Smith?) I now wonder what American sitcom she missed out on, though.

I thought she was talking about doing that little role in "captain America"

Her scene is near the beginning when Bucky says he has two girls for Steve at the world fair

[DalekJim]

YellowSubmarine wrote:

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In The Snowmen, she played an inspiring character of Victorian time. Instead of turning her into multi-dimensional technobabble mystery herself, they could have taken her on the journey where she was the one who was mystified by the future.

Oh, I agree. Moffat seems to subscribe to RTD's (Wrong!) belief that only modern companions are interesting. I was mega excited for a Victorian companion and let out a big sigh when I realised where things were headed.

I'm sure Clara will be a good companion and less chavy than Rose and Donna but the idea of a new cultural perspective on adventures really seemed really interesting. Certainly more engaging than another timey-wimey mystery ala Amy and River.

[Allyn Gibson]

Samurai8472 wrote:

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I thought she was talking about doing that little role in "captain America"

Her scene is near the beginning when Bucky says he has two girls for Steve at the world fair

How are you getting Captain America from this: "Sitting in a London cafe, she reasons: if parallel worlds exist, there's one in which I live in Hollywood and play an Australian in a sitcom, cracking terrible jokes about dingoes." Or this: "'Even though my Aussie accent is appalling,' says Coleman, 26, who got to the final auditions for the sitcom job, in Los Angeles in 2011, before being called back to England to appear in the ITV drama Titanic."