David Tennant's Awesome Con Panel Best Bits



David Tennant is making an appearance at Awesome Con in Washington DC this weekend.
He is taking part in photo opportunities and autograph sessions with fans as well as chatting in a panel. He will be joined at the event by his Doctor Who friends and co stars Catherine Tate and John Barrowman.

David's panel "David Tennant Explores Time and Space" took place yesterday morning. The hall was a 5000 seater capacity and even then not all of David's fans managed to get a seat!
David was joined on stage by Dr. Grant Tremblay and Dr. Matt Shindell, experts on the outer reaches of our galaxy. Together they geeked out about Doctor Who, what’s really out there among the stars, and took questions from fans about life, the universe, and everything.

Here are a few of the highlights from David's chat...

David on shaking off a character you're playing:
“You take your costume off, you get in your car, and you go home…it’s just a part of the job.”

David on the challenges of being an actor:
“When you start out as an actor, the challenge is getting a job…being able to eat…making it a professional thing.”
 He also says there's a“low level panic” actors have in-between jobs.  “You have to live with it.”

David admitted his most challenging role was Hamlet for the RSC:
"There's a lot of lines."

David's advice for all actors:
"1. Don’t be late, 2. Learn your lines, 3. Don’t be an arsehole."

Talking about doing stunts on Doctor Who David said:
" Actors who say they always do all their own stunts are lying. There are these things called insurance companies!" However he added, “I did everything they let me do…because it’s fun!”

Asked on how many of his own foibles he's put in to the Doctor he said:
"It's hard to quantify. We stayed pretty true to the script but it evolves."

Talking about the actors he played opposite when they portrayed the Master (John Simm and Derek Jacobi) he told the audience  that Derek Jacobi was "acting royalty" and acting with him "was a total joy." And that he "couldn't ask for a better sparring partner than John Simm".

David also spoke about his iconic Tenth Doctor costume and told the crowd about the original converse trainers he wore being his actual own shoes. They were worn in the show until the production department thought they looked “too scruffy”, and  threw them out!
Another pair were bought “and covered them in muck!” to give them that Tenth Doctor edge.

David also spoke about how the character of the Doctor was something he aspired to be when he was "just a skinny kid" adding that he liked that Hulk too, but he didn't think he'd have got that role!
He also reckoned he knows why people want to meet him...
"It's not me, this collection of atoms – see? I'm being scientific! – it's the character I represent.”

On playing the Doctor David said:
"It's lovely playing the cleverest person in the room. I get all the best lines ... There's something about the Doctor that's quite aspirational, I think."

David Tennant will be back at Awesome Con today.

Photo Credit: Grant Tremblay


Comments