Matt Smith and Age

[Sci]

I can rack up "life experience" up the wazoo (which I guess you do by not dying?),

No, you get life experiences by living through important emotional events.

Prime example: I'm assistant directing a show for a local theatre, and I'm working with two young actors (both 18) who have only just graduated from high school. As we go through the script, I find myself frequently asking them to draw comparisons between what their characters are going through and major events in their own lives. The problem I'm running into? Neither of them have had enough important emotional events yet to have a basis to draw upon for their performances.

For instance, in a scene where their characters, two young lovers, believe they are going to be separated forever, I asked both of them to think about what it's like to be dumped by a significant other. The problem, though, is that neither one of them have been dumped -- they've both only had one or two SOs, and they've both only been dumped once or twice in their lives, and not recently. Meaning, amongst other things, that what experiences they did have, they had at an age when they were far less emotionally developed than the characters they are now playing, giving them yet another hinderance. Nor has our male lead had the experience of feeling trapped in an unhealthy relationship, which is an emotional beat that plays an important role in his character but that he has no emotive or mnemonic connection to.

but I am pretty sure I am never going to become the next Derek Jacobi.

And as I said before, outliers are outliers. I'm talking about the vast majority of actors, not the ones that are so legendary they earn dual knighthoods.

 

[Starkers]

It strikes me that acting, like writing, can be less about life experience than about the ability to empathise. Which you can have at any age. If life experience is the only thing that an actor brings to the table then I have to say I worry about Anthony Hopkins!

Acting, when all's said and done, is pretending, and if you can only pretend something you've actually done then I'd be tempted to ask if you're in the right career...

 

[Sci]

It strikes me that acting, like writing, can be less about life experience than about the ability to empathise.

That's certainly a part of it, and the methods of acting can certainly vary greatly from actor to actor. I'm not saying that one's life experiences are all there is to it.

But I do think that having a large emotional vocabulary, so to speak, is vital.

Which you can have at any age. If life experience is the only thing that an actor brings to the table then I have to say I worry about Anthony Hopkins!

Acting, when all's said and done, is pretending, and if you can only pretend something you've actually done then I'd be tempted to ask if you're in the right career...

It's not about needing to have done a given thing in real life in order to play a character who does that thing. It's about having a range of emotional experiences in your past upon which you can draw to help inform your interpretation of the character.

 

[Cyke101]

To me, Smith seems to be playing decades older than Tennant ever did, and it's primarily during Smith's anger scenes. Whereas Tennant would go for self-righteous and arrogant during similar scenes, Smith's anger seems to come whenever someone questions his authority, or when someone doubts him (basically, disrespect).

Oh, additionally, because I think Smith is quite good at playing someone much older, that's another reason why I can't find him attractive, either. I don't get the whole fangirl fantasy about Eleven, but to me he's too patriarchal to even kiss, much less sleep with.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Oh I'm so reminded of the (supposed) comment Laurence Olivier made to Dustin Hoffman when they were making Marathon Man...

What's that then? Does it involve: Bollocks and load of?

Hoffman was asking Olivier about getting into character for a scene or some such method guff and Olivier replied 'Just act darling...' or something similar.

Or was it that Hoffman was running up and down stairs to get out of breath, for a scene where his character had just finished a run. Darling Larry said 'my dear boy, have you ever considered just acting?'. That's the version I've heard.

 

[Gov Kodos]

What's that then? Does it involve: Bollocks and load of?

Hoffman was asking Olivier about getting into character for a scene or some such method guff and Olivier replied 'Just act darling...' or something similar.

Or was it that Hoffman was running up and down stairs to get out of breath, for a scene where his character had just finished a run. Darling Larry said 'my dear boy, have you ever considered just acting?'. That's the version I've heard.

The telling has outgrown whatever may have actually happened, but the point is sound.

 

[DimesDan]

Dimesdan, you are aware that if I irritate you that much, you can put me on ignore, right?

I could, but you know what, in all the chaff you come out with, there is some wheat, not much, but it's still there.

 

[DAK]

Oh, additionally, because I think Smith is quite good at playing someone much older, that's another reason why I can't find him attractive, either. I don't get the whole fangirl fantasy about Eleven, but to me he's too patriarchal to even kiss, much less sleep with.

Wow, where to start. He's gorgeous, funny, smart, caring, heroic, has the coolest spaceship in the universe, and did I mention gorgeous? What's not to fangirl fantasize about?

 

[Captaindemotion]

Dimesdan, your avatar is hilarious - I initially scowled at it until I saw the writing in the background!

Better even than when he appeared on the Politics Show, framed so that PO, above SH appeared behind his head.

 

[Mr Awe]

You know a 27 year old trying to play a 900 year old isn't that much different than a 34 year old trying to play a 900 year old.

I think that depends on the 27-year-old. Some 27-year-olds have had the life experience to convey great age; most, in my experience, do not. More 34-year-old actors have that experience and ability than 27-year-olds, though even then, I'd tend to prefer someone in his late 30s or early 40s. It all depends on the actor's life experience.

I think the point was that in neither case do their life experiences even come close to that of a 900 year old. The 34 year old is 0.7% closer to being 900 years old than the 27 year old! Whoopee!

Mr Awe

 

[Mr Awe]

With the Doctor being this young I really want him to run into an aged Ian Chesterton.

That would be awesome!

Mr Awe

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ The actor is still alive, isn't he? He was in Coronation Street, albeit that must be 20 years or so ago.

 

[davejames]

To me, Smith seems to be playing decades older than Tennant ever did, and it's primarily during Smith's anger scenes. Whereas Tennant would go for self-righteous and arrogant during similar scenes, Smith's anger seems to come whenever someone questions his authority, or when someone doubts him (basically, disrespect).

Oh, additionally, because I think Smith is quite good at playing someone much older, that's another reason why I can't find him attractive, either. I don't get the whole fangirl fantasy about Eleven, but to me he's too patriarchal to even kiss, much less sleep with.

To be honest I'm not sure that Smith really feels all that "old" to me. He definitely doesn't feel young, or like any 27 year old I've ever known, but I wouldn't describe him as old exactly either.

It's more like he's in his own, special category. He's just this strange, nutty, in-between thing that I can't really pin down or figure out. Which is still pretty cool in my book.

 

[Stevil2001]

^ The actor is still alive, isn't he? He was in Coronation Street, albeit that must be 20 years or so ago.

There's a cute story in a recent Doctor Who Magzine where the reviewer sees William Russell eating as a restaurant, and at the end of the meal, goes over and offers to pay for it. William Russell asks why, and the reviewer says, "Because you were there at the beginning!"

William Russell then says something like, "My boy, it wasn't that important."

 

[Sci]

You know a 27 year old trying to play a 900 year old isn't that much different than a 34 year old trying to play a 900 year old.

I think that depends on the 27-year-old. Some 27-year-olds have had the life experience to convey great age; most, in my experience, do not. More 34-year-old actors have that experience and ability than 27-year-olds, though even then, I'd tend to prefer someone in his late 30s or early 40s. It all depends on the actor's life experience.

I think the point was that in neither case do their life experiences even come close to that of a 900 year old. The 34 year old is 0.7% closer to being 900 years old than the 27 year old! Whoopee!

Mr Awe

True -- but I do think that most actors at 34 have had both enough more acting experience and enough life experiences to come closer to convincingly portraying a 900-year-old.

 

[Psion]

Oh, additionally, because I think Smith is quite good at playing someone much older, that's another reason why I can't find him attractive, either. I don't get the whole fangirl fantasy about Eleven, but to me he's too patriarchal to even kiss, much less sleep with.

Wow, where to start. He's gorgeous, funny, smart, caring, heroic, has the coolest spaceship in the universe, and did I mention gorgeous? What's not to fangirl fantasize about?

Don't forget that cool bow tie.

 

[David cgc]

act[/i] darling...' or something similar.

"How do I act so well? What I do is, I pretend... to be the person I am portraying in the film or play."

 

[Cyke101]

Oh, additionally, because I think Smith is quite good at playing someone much older, that's another reason why I can't find him attractive, either. I don't get the whole fangirl fantasy about Eleven, but to me he's too patriarchal to even kiss, much less sleep with.

Wow, where to start. He's gorgeous, funny, smart, caring, heroic, has the coolest spaceship in the universe, and did I mention gorgeous? What's not to fangirl fantasize about?

To each his/her own. I myself am Smith's age and my dating range is up to 10 years older, but to me he seems older than that, so I can't quite fathom it.

To be honest I'm not sure that Smith really feels all that "old" to me. He definitely doesn't feel young, or like any 27 year old I've ever known, but I wouldn't describe him as old exactly either.

It's more like he's in his own, special category. He's just this strange, nutty, in-between thing that I can't really pin down or figure out. Which is still pretty cool in my book.

I think, at least in my head, I can pin it down to Eleven looking wiser beyond his years (at least physically) and how he handles himself in crisis, like he's seen it all before; at the same time, there's a bit of a recklessness that I would associate with a mid life crisis, a yearning to recapture youth and live a life that wasn't available when he was younger. At least to me, I think that's where the age thing comes from.

 

[DAK]

Oh, additionally, because I think Smith is quite good at playing someone much older, that's another reason why I can't find him attractive, either. I don't get the whole fangirl fantasy about Eleven, but to me he's too patriarchal to even kiss, much less sleep with.

Wow, where to start. He's gorgeous, funny, smart, caring, heroic, has the coolest spaceship in the universe, and did I mention gorgeous? What's not to fangirl fantasize about?

Don't forget that cool bow tie.

Mmmm, yeah, bow tie. Not many guys can look absolutely geeky/ravishing in a bow tie.

 

[Brent]

I haven't read this thread, but I had a theory, what if Timelords gradually get younger as they regenerate. The reason why we always see old Timelords on Galifrey is because they haven't regenerated much, but the Doctor having gone through so much, and many regenerations, and a lot of trouble regenerating, maybe each incarnation actually gets a bit younger.