David (Harry Potter) Yates to direct Doctor Who The Movie!

[ColeMercury]

As long as the film isn't funded out of the licence fee, I see no problem. However, I doubt that the film would be commercially viable with anything less than a large budget for SFX, and, even then, they're going to need expensive, big-name casting to attract punters in the markets other than the UK. So, be prepared to see someone like Johnny Depp in the lead role - actually, I don't mind that notion as much as some do.

I just read this thing on Den of Geek, where they suggest ten possible actors who could play the Doctor -- one of the suggestions is Sam Rockwell... I think that if the Doctor had to be American, it should be him.

Doubt it's going to happen, though. Yates has said they want the movie to have a "British sensibility".

 

[Lonemagpie]

As long as the film isn't funded out of the licence fee, I see no problem. However, I doubt that the film would be commercially viable with anything less than a large budget for SFX, and, even then, they're going to need expensive, big-name casting to attract punters in the markets other than the UK. So, be prepared to see someone like Johnny Depp in the lead role - actually, I don't mind that notion as much as some do.

I just read this thing on Den of Geek, where they suggest ten possible actors who could play the Doctor -- one of the suggestions is Sam Rockwell... I think that if the Doctor had to be American, it should be him.

Doubt it's going to happen, though. Yates has said they want the movie to have a "British sensibility".

I just hope they avoid any *obvious* casting. Surprise us, not lumber us with Grant/Nighy/etc

 

[StCoop]

I just hope they avoid any *obvious* casting. Surprise us, not lumber us with Grant/Nighy/etc

I'm sure they'll go British for the Doctor and American for the Companion. Give it to someone Method like Daniel Day Lewis and he'd probably have a second heart implanted to help him understand the character.

Then again given that Batman, Spider-Man and Superman are all being played by Brits perhaps turnabout would be fair play...

 

[Avon]

i vote for Damian Lewis. the doctor could finally be ginger

 

[The Nth Doctor]

i vote for Damian Lewis. the doctor could finally be ginger

Not a big enough name for general American audiences, but I would love to see him as The Doctor on the show.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

And am I the only one who's finding the reaction of Moffat and his chums to the news pretty childish? Clever people would use the film, if it happens, as a way of generating positive free publicity for the TV series rather than taking to Twitter to disparage and dismiss it.

I'm not surprised by the lad-mag maturity of Moffat and Spillsbury; it's not like they've been the bastions of maturity before. I am disappointed by their churlishness, though. Moffat can't have been unaware that the BBC wanted a film, and Spillsbury, as the brand's official head cheerleader, doesn't get to pick and choose what he cheerleads about. (Edward Russell's tweets don't bother me as much; he's a marketing flack, and from my experience, working in marketing, marketing flacks are the last people to know what's going on.) I expect fans like Ian Levine to call Yates "a scumbag." I'd expect a little more restraint from the brand's public faces.

 

[Skywalker]

I have absolutely no problem with this. There's no reason why a Doctor Who movie and a Doctor Who TV series can't coexist. Why does it matter if they don't sync up? Just pretend the movie Doctor exists in a different dimension and you'll be fine.

 

[Silent_Bob]

The whole idea that people are too stupid to be able to accept two different versions of DW is pretty patronising.

It's incredibly patronising. But its how movie executives think of their audiences. I wouldnt be surprised if we eventually see the same lame "its not a reboot its a different timeline!" excuse thrown in.

How man people are going to be sitting in the cinema in a couple of weeks getting confused when Robert Downey Jr appears on screen instead of Benedict Cumberbatch?

***

When i see Hollywoods version of Holmes i'm usually too busy being confused as to why Jude Law still gets work rather than why Holmes looks different and is in a different century.

And am I the only one who's finding the reaction of Moffat and his chums to the news pretty childish? Clever people would use the film, if it happens, as a way of generating positive free publicity for the TV series rather than taking to Twitter to disparage and dismiss it.

I wouldn't say they are being childish. I can completely understand why they may take offense- they've spent years working on Doctor Who, its through the hard work of RTD, Moffat, Eccleston, Tennent, Smith and so so many others since 2005 that Doctor Who has re-emerged as a franchise popular enough to carry off a cinematic release, and it's being handed to someone who's had no involvement with the series at all, is ditching everything they have established and is intent on casting their own Doctor. If i were in their place i'd be fairly annoyed too.

His tweet was fairly tame to how i personally would have reacted to the BBC's plans for the film.

But thats from a production stand point, from a fan stand point i don't mind the film as long as long as the series continues. And ultimately it could be worse, Abrams or Burton could have directorial duties.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Michael Fassbender for the Doctor, Oliva Wilde for the companion with the a score from Alexandre Desplat doing his own take on the classic theme.

 

[Starkers]

Can someone repeat what Moffat actually tweeted? And Silent Bob, once again I'm in near total agreement (pretty soon I might need to change my username to Jay) although I rather likes Abrahm's Trek

 

[ColeMercury]

I expect fans like Ian Levine to call Yates "a scumbag."

You know that joke, "You can tell I'm its biggest fan because I hate it more than anybody else"? It's really true, isn't it?

 

[Jetfire]

Henry Cavill as The Doctor.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Can someone repeat what Moffat actually tweeted? And Silent Bob, once again I'm in near total agreement (pretty soon I might need to change my username to Jay) although I rather likes Abrahm's Trek

His tweet:

Announcing my personal moonshot, starting from scratch. No money, no plan, no help from NASA. But I know where the moon is - I've seen it.

He's combining the "starting from scratch" line by Yates from the Variety article, and then riffing on the "no cast, no script, no production crew" from the BBC's later tweet.

In a vacuum, I could give this the benefit of the doubt. And a follow-up tweet, where someone said that "I expect Yates to do better than you," Moffat replied, "At going to the moon?? I'd like to see him try!!" which suggests some friendly rivalry between Moffat and Yates.

But then there's his conversation with Spilsbury (sorry, one L, not two, made a boo-boo in the other post), and they cross the line into outright mockery.

 

[StCoop]

Can someone repeat what Moffat actually tweeted?

“Announcing my personal moonshot, starting from scratch. No money, no plan, no help from NASA. But I know where the moon is – I’ve seen it.”

Basically dismissing the woman without who he wouldn't have a TV series to be in charge of and one of the biggest Directors in the world (and even if you don't like HP he also made stuff like the original "State Of Play") as being incapable of making a Doctor Who film. Which is nonsense.

Even funnier was Tom Spilsbury, or Smee as I like to call him, insisting at first that it was nothing more than "old rumours" despite the front page story in Variety with direct quotes from Yates.

If it does get made and Smee is still running DWM at the time it'll be facinating to see if they try and pretend that it doesn't exist in much they same way they pretend Series 5 was actually Series 1 and Series 6, Series 2...

I'm know I'm biased but I'm delighted that Moffat's been reminded that Doctor Who didn't start with him and it won't end with him either.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Michael Fassbender for the Doctor,

No, he needs to be kept available to take over from Daniel Craig as the next Bond

 

[Lonemagpie]

Can someone repeat what Moffat actually tweeted? And Silent Bob, once again I'm in near total agreement (pretty soon I might need to change my username to Jay) although I rather likes Abrahm's Trek

His tweet:

Announcing my personal moonshot, starting from scratch. No money, no plan, no help from NASA. But I know where the moon is - I've seen it.

He's combining the "starting from scratch" line by Yates from the Variety article, and then riffing on the "no cast, no script, no production crew" from the BBC's later tweet.

In a vacuum, I could give this the benefit of the doubt. And a follow-up tweet, where someone said that "I expect Yates to do better than you," Moffat replied, "At going to the moon?? I'd like to see him try!!" which suggests some friendly rivalry between Moffat and Yates.

But then there's his conversation with Spilsbury (sorry, one L, not two, made a boo-boo in the other post), and they cross the line into outright mockery.

Remind us how many things Moffat has directed? Or Yates has scripted?

They do completely different jobs, FFS - they're not actually rivals for the same performance...

But they know their audience of haters gonna hate...

Nobody, including Moff, DWM, or the fans, seem to be noting that the person in charge of commissioning and developing is the *same* person who did so with NuWho- Jane Tranter

Not a "no plan", then, more of a "well, I did it fucking well successfully already..."

 

[Skywalker]

Michael Fassbender for the Doctor,

No, he needs to be kept available to take over from Daniel Craig as the next Bond

What's the big deal? He'll have a time machine. He can do both!

 

[StCoop]

Nobody, including Moff, DWM, or the fans, seem to be noting that the person in charge of commissioning and developing is the *same* person who did so with NuWho- Jane Tranter

Me Sir, me Sir. I did!

 

[Lonemagpie]

Nobody, including Moff, DWM, or the fans, seem to be noting that the person in charge of commissioning and developing is the *same* person who did so with NuWho- Jane Tranter

Me Sir, me Sir. I did!

Ah, and are you taking that element as a good - or at least potentially a sign that Hollywood isn't going to crash in and turn it into a disaster - thing?

 

[Lonemagpie]

Michael Fassbender for the Doctor,

No, he needs to be kept available to take over from Daniel Craig as the next Bond

What's the big deal? He'll have a time machine. He can do both!

Well, we know Bond's a Time Lord anyway... We've just never seen a regeneration story with him.