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

[23skidoo]

But, the BBC hasn't denied his claims right? That's got to mean something.

The only people denying the story are Moffat, who was clearly taken completely by surprise when the story first broke and has held a grudge ever since and Edward Russell, whose job is to keep media attention on the TV Series.

Which means the BBC has denied the claims. Moffat has made his statements in official BBC publicity venues, and on multiple occasions. If he didn't have the full support of the BBC - or at least BBC Cymru - he'd have either been told to cool it instantly or by now he'd have been starting to waffle or modify his statements. Therefore - to borrow a phrase used elsewhere - his statements are considered authorized Word of God as far as the movie is concerned.

Yates is the one who is waffling a bit as the latest word from him in that Bleeding Cool interview just posted is we're now looking "5 or 6 years" down the line, rather than something that, when we first heard about it, was something that could have entered pre-pro in 2013 or '14. I'm doubling down on my earlier statement that I think Yates (and by extension BBC Worldwide) are working under the assumption that the TV series will have concluded by then, leaving the door open for a movie.

But the idea of abandoning the continuity in favor of a remake is still stupid. Even Abrams didn't go there with Star Trek and he could easily have done so. If Yates and Moffat work out a compromise that'll maintain the continuity and the history, I'd be more than happy to see Yates direct the film. And if he's smart he'll give either Moffat or Gaiman the writing job.

Alex

 

[Captaindemotion]

I think one of the great advantages of DW is that you can basically start afresh but without abandoning continuity. The series did just that in 2005. Old fans got all the nods to the original series, new fans just enjoyed the new show. The 1996 telemovie aimed to do much the same thing, but did it less successfully than RTD and co. I'd hazard a guess that quite a lot of people tuned in for the first time for Matt Smith's first season too.

If the movie was to happen, I think the wisest course would be to make one that didn't require the viewer to have seen the tv series but was still a continuation of it. You wouldn't want to make a movie that required an indepth knowledge of, say, the continuity-heavy most recent season. However, if let's say, for the sake of argument, Smith departs in 2015, there's no reason why the actor playing the role for any subsequent movie couldn't be playing the Twelfth Doctor. You wouldn't need any more introduction and set-up than would be required for an all-new Doctor in an all-new continuity. And everyone would be kept happy.

 

[StCoop]

If Yates and Moffat work out a compromise that'll maintain the continuity and the history, I'd be more than happy to see Yates direct the film.

Given that Yeats has two films lines up to be made, so realistically we'd be talking 2016 before a film went into production it'd almost certainly be nothing to do with Moffat anyway. Toby Whithouse, maybe. (Please God not Gatiss, though.)

 

[Allyn Gibson]

But, the BBC hasn't denied his claims right? That's got to mean something.

The only people denying the story are Moffat, who was clearly taken completely by surprise when the story first broke and has held a grudge ever since and Edward Russell, whose job is to keep media attention on the TV Series.

Which means the BBC has denied the claims. Moffat has made his statements in official BBC publicity venues, and on multiple occasions. If he didn't have the full support of the BBC - or at least BBC Cymru - he'd have either been told to cool it instantly or by now he'd have been starting to waffle or modify his statements. Therefore - to borrow a phrase used elsewhere - his statements are considered authorized Word of God as far as the movie is concerned.

I'm not sure why Moffat's quotes would have any relevance, to be frank. Just because he's in charge of the television side of Doctor Who, he's not automatically in charge of the film side of Doctor Who. Film and television rights are different things; the film rights for Star Trek are separate from the property's television rights, Disney has the television rights to Spider-Man while Sony has the film rights, etc. We've known for years that the BBC was looking to get a Doctor Who film off the ground and that it was being handled separately from BBC Wales; the "A Doctor Who feature film remains in development with BBC Worldwide Productions in Los Angeles" quote from last fall confirms that at high levels of the BBC the film and television rights of Doctor Who are distinct and can be exploited separately. Yates' statements fit those facts. Moffat's statements don't.

 

[stoneroses]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Sci]

The only people denying the story are Moffat, who was clearly taken completely by surprise when the story first broke and has held a grudge ever since and Edward Russell, whose job is to keep media attention on the TV Series.

Which means the BBC has denied the claims. Moffat has made his statements in official BBC publicity venues, and on multiple occasions. If he didn't have the full support of the BBC - or at least BBC Cymru - he'd have either been told to cool it instantly or by now he'd have been starting to waffle or modify his statements. Therefore - to borrow a phrase used elsewhere - his statements are considered authorized Word of God as far as the movie is concerned.

I'm not sure why Moffat's quotes would have any relevance, to be frank. Just because he's in charge of the television side of Doctor Who, he's not automatically in charge of the film side of Doctor Who. Film and television rights are different things; the film rights for Star Trek are separate from the property's television rights, Disney has the television rights to Spider-Man while Sony has the film rights, etc. We've known for years that the BBC was looking to get a Doctor Who film off the ground and that it was being handled separately from BBC Wales; the "A Doctor Who feature film remains in development with BBC Worldwide Productions in Los Angeles" quote from last fall confirms that at high levels of the BBC the film and television rights of Doctor Who are distinct and can be exploited separately. Yates' statements fit those facts. Moffat's statements don't.

That does not mean that Yates's statements are accurate and Moffat's inaccurate. Whether or not BBC Worldwide could do something legally, Moffat may well have a lot of unofficial pull.

Of course, he may not. Yates may be completely right and Moffat full of shit.

We don't know. Know why we don't know? 'Cos none of us work for BBC Wales, BBC Worldwide, or BBC headquarters.

 

[CaptainMatt]

I will believe there is a movie being planned when it happens. No offense to anybody. I just don't like disappointments.

 

[Skellington]

Let's reconvene in five years.

 

[CaptainMatt]

Good idea then the Matt Smith era will be over with. I like his stories way too much to have them do a movie with a different cast and production team. The only way I would be interested now is if Smith was the Doctor in the movie. But how realistic is that?

 

[Aldo]

Not that I'm keen on the idea in the first place. But I think it would work if they did it with a new Doctor but didn't go out of their way to say it took place in a new continuity. That way people could pretend that he was the 12th Doctor, and we just never saw the regeneration. Kind of like how we never saw 8 turn into 9.

Of course, this only works if the show is not currently on the air.

 

[Sindatur]

Not that I'm keen on the idea in the first place. But I think it would work if they did it with a new Doctor but didn't go out of their way to say it took place in a new continuity. That way people could pretend that he was the 12th Doctor, and we just never saw the regeneration. Kind of like how we never saw 8 turn into 9.

Of course, this only works if the show is not currently on the air.

Why would the current show have to not be on? As long as they dont give specifics, like how long it was since "X", he could be 12 or more generations into the future (TIMEY-WIMEY)

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yeah I don't get why the show doesn't have to be on for fans to accept that proposal. Fans will already automatically do that anyway if they don't like the movie. Also just to be clear there is no "they" here, just David Yates

 

[Pseudo]

Actually, didn't Russell come to America to work with Trantor? Or was that just for Torchwood S4?

Last year his agency CV stated that he was working on a script for a Doctor Who movie. The credit quickly disappeared once it was noticed. So, I'd say that Russell wrote a script to shop around to get interest in the project. Now that Yates is on board he obviously wants to develop his own script.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Actually, didn't Russell come to America to work with Trantor? Or was that just for Torchwood S4?

Last year his agency CV stated that he was working on a script for a Doctor Who movie. The credit quickly disappeared once it was noticed. So, I'd say that Russell wrote a script to shop around to get interest in the project. Now that Yates is on board he obviously wants to develop his own script.

If RTD did write a script for a BBC Worldwide Doctor Who movie, you can be assured that he didn't do it on spec (writers don't work on spec in Hollywood) Whatever he was paid will be applied to the development costs of Yates' film. (This is why Superman Returns had an astronomical budget; the film absorbed the costs of a decade's worth of false starts.) Assuming a treatment and first draft, RTD would have been paid between (roughly) 50k and 90k for a script that won't be used.

Yates has said that he's in talks with writers. Again, writers don't work on spec, so there's development money being spent, and that's on top of what's been spent on the RTD script.

 

[Aldo]

I wonder if the script Davies wrote could be reworked a bit and be used as a multipart serial for the current Doctor.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ I doubt that would happen since Moffat has his own plans for the character.

There have been rumours of a "Doctor Who" movie of some kind since at least 2008 I believe. I still remember a thread that was created by someone who posted some kind of "document" (I don't remember the exact nature of what it was now) but it had RTD's name on it and "Untitled Doctor Who" movie. There was all kinds of discussion about that.

I think what bugs me the most about this "story" is that it hasn't really been confirmed (has it other than Yates?) by the actual BBC. We have just Yates word so far and we know writers and directors talk about projects all the time. Some happen, some don't happen. What really amazes me about this particular story is that some of you seem to have just taken Yates word that this is going to happen when it seems to me we really don't know anything except for what he has stated about the "project".

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I think what bugs me the most about this "story" is that it hasn't really been confirmed (has it other than Yates?) by the actual BBC.

BBC Worldwide said that a film was in development. There's nothing more they can say at this stage. There's not a script, there's not a cast, from Yates' statements he's functioning as a producer so there's not even a director (and there's no need for a director without a script). There's nothing more to say than what they've said, which is that there's a production office is Los Angeles for a Doctor Who movie.

We have just Yates word so far and we know writers and directors talk about projects all the time. Some happen, some don't happen. What really amazes me about this particular story is that some of you seem to have just taken Yates word that this is going to happen when it seems to me we really don't know anything except for what he has stated about the "project".

There are a couple of reasons why I trust Yates on this.

First, it was covered in Variety, which is the paper of record in Hollywood. When Variety reports something, they're doing it on more than any single person's say-so.

Second, Yates has said that he's talking to writers. This is important because, as I said a few posts back, writers in Hollywood don't work on spec, especially on someone else's property, which Doctor Who would be. Pitch meetings are different -- and that might be the stage that Yates is at -- where writers do come in and toss out ideas to producers, but that's done with the knowledge that there's money coming if the producer likes their idea. The point is, if Yates is talking to writers, then that means that Worldwide has spent money or is willing to spend money.

Third, no one connected to Worldwide has denied anything Yates has said. They haven't acknowledged him by name, that's true, but they also haven't said that he's not developing a Doctor Who film for them, and they've had ample opportunity over the past few months since the subject keeps coming up. The denials by Moffat and what StCoop has termed "the Greek chorus" aren't actually denials because Moffat, Russell, and especially Spillsbury (who isn't even a BBC employee, for crying in the mud) aren't connected to Worldwide or the production.

That's what I find Yates credible.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I understand that, and I'm truly not saying Yates is a lying about this, I'm sure that he is working on a "Doctor Who" movie for WorldWide, it just seems weird to me that the actual parent company hasn't come out and supported that as I've mentioned a few times in this thread. In fact I saw another supposed denial from them last weekend and that what Moffat said at the convention was true (I don't even know if this statement was from them) . I just really dislike when one group is saying one thing and the other is saying something else, but the main authority hasn't confirmed the story. I have trusted Variety in the past as well. If the BBC or even World Wide actually jots off an official statement (this is what we really need IMO) then all is well and good, but until that happens for me I remain cautious.


I'm not entirely against the notion of a Yates directed "Doctor Who" movie either, I just do not like how this "story" (yes I still am going to use quotations) has been reported, we all know how the fandom is lol. I hate to say it but it seems like Variety has used a Bleeding Cool tactic to get this story out.

 

[Psion]

I agree with Admiral Young. Variety is only repeating the words of exactly one source, with no sign of confirmation from anyone else.

I'll consider this a plausible rumor, but nothing more until someone else speaks up with confirmation. Even the Doctor Who movie starring Johnny Depp had more behind it than this.

 

[captcalhoun]

it's all bullshit until i see a trailer.