DWM recently ran a very long and very interesting interview with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, I definitely recommend buying a copy. This is a transcript from a piece of audio, from that interview, that appeared on YouTube. Karen Gillan talks about her police uniform, while Matt Smith enthuses about the beauty of the TARDIS.
Q: When was the first time you met? Was it at Karen’s audition?
Karen Gillan: Well I first met Matt when I did my recall, and I read with him. And he was very friendly, I have to say! I was actually quite intimidated about meeting Matt, because he’s Dr. Who and it was all very scary.
Matt Smith: Didn’t show.
KG: Well thanks, but I was feeling it inside. But he was very friendly and made me feel at ease.
MS: I do the reverse of that now. I’m a complete bastard and make her feel uncomfortable.
Q: I’ve got to ask you about the costumes. Matt, you did the regeneration in this.
MS: Well, no, in a newer version of this, ’cause this is the raggy Doctor.
Q: But how’s it been altered? Because you’re a bit, sort of, taller than David.
MS: He was a very thin man, whereas I’m rolling down the aisles! I don’t know how it’s been accommodated, if they’ve altered the waistline or… One would hope that at the tender age of 26, that I’m not spinning out of it. It’s been made raggedy.
Q: Karen, what about your first reaction to the police woman’s uniform? Because it’s been made quite… short.
KG: Yes, well we went through a long process trying to find this uniform. Initially, they wanted me in trousers, just because of the practicality of running around, but I did want the short skirt because of how we meet her and who her character is.
MS: Let’s say it out loud, it’s sexier, isn’t it? Come on…
KG: I do feel more sassy in it, which is good because I think she’s a sassy lady.
MS: Mmm… political…
Q: What clues can you give us about the dynamic between the Doctor and Amy?
MS: He’s less tolerant than most other Doctors, and she’s got fire in her belly, so they combust together. But there’s great affection and love there, and we’re developing that all the time. And Steven is truly a genius, he lives in a fairytale land and it sort of comes through, and that’s what I think is magical about this particular series, it taps into the fairytale side of it.
Q: Some of it seems almost Tim Burton?
MS: Yes! And the way it’s being shot, it’s sort of ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’-y. It’s exciting.
Q: What about acting opposite the iconic aspects of the series, the TARDIS, the Daleks, are they sort of pinch-yourself moments?
KG: Yes, totally. When I first met a Dalek, I couldn’t believe it. It’s just such an iconic image, and then you meet the guys who control them!
MS: And the TARDIS, the first time I saw that… I look at it every day now, and it’s breathtaking, it’s the most attractive thing in the world. It doesn’t matter where you put it, it doesn’t matter what landscape, it looks like someone brilliant has come back, like Picasso or someone, and placed it perfectly on a beach or… even, just in a room, it dominates, it’s like… Wow!
Q: There’s a long tradition, dating right back to the 60’s, of actors breaking the set. Bits coming off the console. Have you managed to keep it in one piece so far?
KG: Matt breaks everything.
MS: Yes, I think I’m the clumsiest Doctor in history. I break it daily. They give me things with trepidation.
Tags: Doctor Who, Karen Gillan, Matt Smith
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