TERRY GROSS, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. Right now’s visitor, David Tennant, is finest often known as an actor, however he additionally has an interview podcast, which is now in its third season. A few of this 12 months’s company embody Stanley Tucci, Ben Schwartz and Rosamund Pike. Tennant spoke with FRESH AIR’s Sam Briger. Here is Sam.
SAM BRIGER, BYLINE: Scottish actor David Tennant’s listing of accomplishments is so long as it’s various. Maybe finest recognized for enjoying Physician Who, he’s additionally thought of one of many best Shakespearean actors of his era, as you may see now within the movie of his “Macbeth,” which was staged in 2023, with Tennant taking part in the lead and Cush Jumbo as Girl Macbeth. It is now streaming on Marquee TV. He has additionally memorably performed Hamlet and Richard II. You most likely watched him because the haunted and brooding detective within the British crime drama “Broadchurch” and possibly even within the American adaptation known as “Gracepoint,” the place he performs roughly the identical function, however with an American accent.
David Tennant has additionally been his share of display villains, together with real-life serial killer Dennis Nilsen within the miniseries “Des,” Kilgrave within the Marvel TV present “Jessica Jones,” one of the crucial repugnant characters I’ve ever seen, in addition to the smaller however memorable lip-licking Barty Crouch Jr. in “Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fireplace.” He additionally hosted the BAFTA Awards for the previous two years – Nice Britain’s model of the Oscars – this 12 months opening the ceremony singing the track “500 Miles” in a bespoke black jacket and kilt swimsuit. And he was hilarious to observe taking part in a model of himself within the streaming comedy “Staged” with Michael Sheen, one of many few good issues to come back out of the COVID pandemic.
David Tennant additionally has a podcast known as “David Tennant Does A Podcast With…”, the place you fill within the identify of the visitor from that episode, usually an actor he has labored with. A 3rd season of the podcast launched this 12 months. And whereas we would have mentioned, hey, David Tennant, keep in your lane, there’s sufficient long-format interview reveals on the market, as an alternative, we determined that this could be a very good alternative to have him on our long-format interview present to ask him about his life and profession. So, David Tennant, welcome to FRESH AIR.
DAVID TENNANT: Thanks very a lot for having me.
BRIGER: You probably did two seasons of your podcast ending in 2020, however then you definitely got here again final month with the third season. Why did you come again now?
TENNANT: There was a sure sense of there have been a number of individuals I had both meant to interview or had type of acquired to know within the interim, and I believed I’d have naturally interviewed them once I’ve completed this podcast earlier than, so possibly now it is a possibility to form of scoop them up. It actually has all the time been the case with the podcast. It is one thing I’ve completed – I do not imply to reduce it, nevertheless it’s virtually been a pastime, like a sideline, like a type of factor I’ve completed for pleasure once I’ve had a second. It is by no means been my principal job. So it was only a type of second of alternative.
BRIGER: Whenever you go into these interviews, like, do you might have a selected agenda? Like, are you – whenever you’re like, oh, Olivia Colman, I’ve all the time wished to know this about her, or do you typically take into consideration issues in your personal profession which have puzzled you that provides you a chance to ask another person who does the identical work the query?
TENNANT: Yeah. There actually – there’s positively a little bit of that, a little bit of -there are some barely odd issues about being on this occupation and what it type of does to your life outdoors the work that’s the type of bit you aren’t getting skilled for at a drama college. You already know, one of many type of negative effects of being profitable as an actor, I suppose, is that you simply lose a component of anonymity. And I discovered that, personally, fairly difficult when it occurred to me. So I am all the time fairly intrigued to understand how others have handled that or are coping with that, or form of characterize what that does to them and the individuals round them.
But it surely’s a mix of issues. You are additionally simply -again, if it is somebody , you are usually excited about type of celebrating them and wanting the world to know them and perceive what’s likable about them as a result of there is a type of enjoyment of celebrating that to the general public one way or the other. So it is all the time – sure, it is all the time a mix of impulses, I feel.
BRIGER: Talking about dealing with being a celeb, you inform a narrative that somebody requested you for an autograph whilst you had been bare in a bathe on the fitness center.
TENNANT: Yeah. Yeah, completely. Sure, and moments like which might be fairly peculiar.
BRIGER: Sure. I would say so.
TENNANT: Sure. Maybe that is stating the apparent. However simply, it is fairly – I am all the time fairly intrigued to know if different individuals have had related experiences and the way they – or how they might have handled experiences like that, as a result of I feel it is fairly – it is a bit of a type of membership that you may’t actually anticipate any type of sympathy for as a result of it is a very privileged place to be in. But it surely’s – , it is a sophisticated one. It is one I wrestle with since you’re additionally very conscious if somebody needs to have a second’s interplay with you, that they are type of – that second for them is representing all of the work you may need completed that has meant one thing to them. In order that’s a massively – it is fairly a treasured second for another person, whereas you is likely to be simply pondering, I’ll be late for this appointment that…
BRIGER: Otherwise you’re having a foul day or one thing?
TENNANT: Otherwise you’re having a foul day. Yeah. And, in fact, that you simply’re not likely going to make the scenario higher by explaining to somebody why that is an inappropriate second, if they don’t seem to be seeing that for themselves. I draw you again to the second within the bathe. That man clearly did not perceive why I used to be discovering this peculiar and odd. So it turned easier to type of carve a signature into what was the mulch of the piece of paper that he was now holding underneath a bathe. And type of – he mentioned, thanks very a lot, and went on his means.
BRIGER: Effectively, I wished to speak about one other model of David Tennant that you’ve got performed on three seasons of the present “Staged” with Michael Sheen.
TENNANT: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
BRIGER: This present largely takes place – at the least it appears to – I do not know if it was filmed this manner – however as a sequence of Zoom calls between you and Michael Sheen and your respective spouses and different individuals. A minimum of within the first season, you are rehearsing this play throughout COVID, hoping that when the lockdown is over, you may have this factor able to go. And, in fact, that does not work out so nicely. However – so how did this present come about?
TENNANT: It was a completely opportunistic pitch by a pal of – nicely, truly, somebody that my spouse was in school with, who’s a movie producer known as Phin Glynn, who we – each Georgia and I – have labored with on numerous initiatives over time. And some days into that first lockdown – will need to have been March 2020 – Phin phoned us up and went, I may need an thought of one thing we might make whereas we’re all locked in our homes. It was completely his child. He went off, acquired a script written. We went off and enlisted Michael Sheen and Anna Lundberg, who had been locked of their home in Wales. And between us, we simply made one on spec. Simon Evans, who performs the director within the present, can be the director and likewise wrote the script in a short time and really cleverly. Neither Michael nor Georgia nor myself or Anna had met Simon, however we acquired to know him very nicely over Zoom, and all of it occurred…
BRIGER: He was fairly humorous within the present.
TENNANT: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.
BRIGER: I’ve to say that once I first heard concerning the present, I did not suppose I used to be going to get pleasure from watching it. Like, we had been…
TENNANT: Oh, no – sounds desperately uninteresting.
BRIGER: Effectively, yeah.
TENNANT: And in addition…
BRIGER: Effectively, we…
TENNANT: …It was reflecting…
BRIGER: Proper.
TENNANT: …That we had been all dwelling…
BRIGER: We had been all dwelling our lives on Zoom.
TENNANT: Yeah. Yeah.
BRIGER: And the very last thing I wish to do is watch a TV present about Zoom. Nonetheless, it rapidly received me over as a result of it is so humorous. I believed we might play a scene from the present.
TENNANT: Oh, good.
BRIGER: To set this up, Michael Sheen is irritated with you at this level.
TENNANT: That does – that tracks (ph).
BRIGER: Yeah (laughter), as a result of initially, you had been going to do that play with another person, so he was the second alternative. So that you guys are doing a studying, and I feel we’ll additionally hear Simon Evans on this, and he is determined to maintain issues on monitor. However Michael Sheen is mainly attempting to choose a battle with you. And you’ve got had a line the place you used the phrase heard, and he is questioning the way you’re saying that phrase. So let’s hear that.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “STAGED”)
TENNANT: What’s fallacious with my phrases?
MICHAEL SHEEN: I am struggling to imagine them. There’s lots happening there.
TENNANT: So much happening? OK.
SHEEN: Would you attempt one thing for me?
TENNANT: Oh, certain. Glad to, yeah.
SHEEN: Is that OK, Simon?
SIMON EVANS: I would fairly we simply pushed on, truly.
SHEEN: Will not take a sec. Simply give me I wish to be heard once more.
TENNANT: I wish to be heard.
SHEEN: Simon?
EVANS: I believed that was nice.
SHEEN: You do not suppose he sounds cartoonish.
TENNANT: Cartoonish?
SHEEN: I’ve thought it for some time now.
EVANS: Completely not. No, I do not. David, it is with you – I wish to be heard.
TENNANT: I wish to be heard.
SHEEN: I wish to be heard.
EVANS: Please, can we supply on?
SHEEN: I wish to be heard.
TENNANT: I wish to be heard.
SHEEN: I wish to be heard.
TENNANT: I wish to be heard.
SHEEN: I wish to be heard.
TENNANT: I wish to be heard.
SHEEN: I wish to be heard.
TENNANT: It is acquired to have one thing – I wish to be heard. It is acquired to have one thing behind it.
SHEEN: No, it is acquired to come back from someplace.
TENNANT: Simply since you’re mumbling would not make it good.
SHEEN: I communicate the identical language as you. You do not have to talk to me from a distinct…
TENNANT: Effectively, you are barely talking, although. You are barely talking. You are whispering it.
SHEEN: I wish to be heard. Let’s faux we’re all human beings. I wish to be heard.
TENNANT: Yeah, who’ve ears that have to obtain the vibrations.
SHEEN: I imply, it isn’t a listening to factor. It is type of a sense factor.
TENNANT: You already know, what I am doing is sensible, and what you are doing is a type of bizarre…
SHEEN: It’d sound bizarre to you since you will not have been used to listening to that popping out of your self.
TENNANT: It is so affected, should you do not thoughts me saying. (Imitating Michael Sheen) I wish to be heard.
SHEEN: Is not it attention-grabbing, Simon, that should you spend a profession…
TENNANT: Is that attention-grabbing?
SHEEN: …Talking in such a stilted, type of synthetic means, then listening to one thing that is truthful can sound affected to you.
EVANS: I wish to be heard.
BRIGER: That is a scene from the present “Staged” with Michael Sheen and our visitor, David Tennant. David Tennant, there’s so many occasions watching that present the place I simply laughed out loud. You guys have such an excellent rapport. Are you able to speak concerning the model of your self that you simply’re taking part in on this present?
TENNANT: I feel we fairly loved taking part in terrible variations of ourselves.
BRIGER: (Laughter).
TENNANT: We had been fairly pleased to lean into that. Curiously, Simon mentioned that one of many issues he did as he was writing it was hearken to the episode of my podcast with Michael Sheen. Once more, I do not know what that claims about – I imply, Michael’s this type of fairly pompous or a grand character…
BRIGER: Yeah, boastful actor
TENNANT: Slightly boastful actor. I am a type of whining, miserabilist. (Laughter) After which the 2…
BRIGER: Effectively, you are described as weaselly at one level, too (laughter).
TENNANT: Sure, I’m described as weaselly. And I do not know the place that got here from, nevertheless it actually appeared to suit nicely sufficient for us to lean fairly onerous into it and fairly get pleasure from leaning into it. I imply, even listening to that, once I hear bits of it again, it does make me smile. I suppose as a result of it jogs my memory of a second in time the place there wasn’t an terrible lot happening apart from homeschooling our kids, which was an actual contemporary hell that we had been all attempting to meet up with.
BRIGER: Yeah.
TENNANT: And being locked in our home. And though, , in some ways, I did not dislike lockdown in any respect as a result of I used to be very pleased to be locked in my home and refrained from different human beings past my family. It was actually beautiful to have that launch, and that inventive launch, notably.
BRIGER: Effectively, it is so humorous. Simply your look on the present, you simply look stupefied with boredom the entire time.
TENNANT: (Laughter).
BRIGER: Your mouth is hanging open.
(LAUGHTER)
TENNANT: Effectively, it was a specific time, is not it?
BRIGER: It actually was. One of many humorous sight gags is that you simply preserve getting caught consuming out of this mug along with your face on it (laughter).
TENNANT: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
BRIGER: They usually preserve saying, is that you simply on that mug?
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: And also you deny it.
TENNANT: Sure, plenty of bits of that had been type of impressed by what was occurring round us. We do occur to have a few mugs in my home that will or could not have my face on them.
BRIGER: (Laughter).
TENNANT: And I am unable to bear in mind fairly the origin of that exact gag. But it surely was both we had been on a Zoom discussing what we had been going to do and I had the mug there, or I introduced it, and possibly I instructed it sooner or later. Anyway, it turned a type of long-running gag that runs all through…
BRIGER: That is very humorous (laughter)
TENNANT: …Three seasons, I feel. Yeah.
BRIGER: So that you mentioned you had been residence. You and your spouse, Georgia, have 5 youngsters. I’ve two youngsters. And it was very robust to type of preserve them busy, preserve them on their education throughout COVID. What was it like with 5? Like, was your home simply loopy on a regular basis?
TENNANT: We’re lucky that we have now a good quantity of area. And we have a bit of out of doors area, which I feel it might’ve killed us with out that. However, sure, in fact, it was difficult. Our youngest was brand-new. She was born in the direction of the tip of 2019. So we had a really small child, with all of the pleasures and difficulties that that brings, three who had been at school. That was the true hell, the homeschooling, simply attempting to be the type of manager-come-teacher that retains them on monitor was very, very onerous. After which our eldest, his 18th birthday got here three, 4 days after lockdown was known as. So his large 18th birthday celebration was spent looking at us over the kitchen desk.
BRIGER: (Laughter).
TENNANT: I nonetheless really feel like he acquired barely shortchanged there.
BRIGER: Yeah. Yeah. In case you’re simply becoming a member of us, our visitor is actor David Tennant. He has his personal interview podcast known as “David Tennant Does A Podcast With…” that is now in its third season. We’ll be again after a brief break. That is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAKE SHIMABUKURO’S “143 (KELLY’S SONG)”)
BRIGER: That is FRESH AIR. We’re talking with stage and display actor David Tennant. The third season of his interview podcast is out now. It is known as “David Tennant Does A Podcast With…”
So I wished to speak to you a bit bit about your work doing Shakespeare. Your model of “Macbeth” that I feel was initially staged in 2023 is now obtainable to stream on Marquee TV. And…
TENNANT: Proper.
BRIGER: You star with Cush Jumbo as Girl Macbeth.
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: So it is a very minimalist staging. The stage itself is just about like this white platform.
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: And the viewers is type of across the stage. And I observed watching the movie of it that every one the viewers members had been sporting headphones. Why was that?
TENNANT: Max Webster, our director, it was considered one of his very earliest concepts. He was fascinated with the concept of Macbeth as a soldier. He’d completed a manufacturing of “Henry V” the place they’d appeared lots into the reality of being a soldier who goes to battle, what that may do to you, concepts round PTSD and shell shock – and he talked to individuals who’d skilled that – and the concept that one would hear voices, that one would think about issues had been occurring that weren’t. And he type of took the concept of PTSD and put it onto Macbeth, and it form of suits remarkably nicely. I imply, who is aware of what Shakespeare’s expertise was with veterans from no matter wars had been round on the time. But it surely feels prefer it all tracks with how modern-day veterans describe a few of the issues they wrestle with after excursions of obligation.
And he began working with a sound designer known as Gareth Fry, who had completed different reveals the place the audiences all wore headphones, and you are able to do extraordinary issues, then, to the viewers’s expertise as a result of for a begin, you may whisper very quietly, and you’ll transfer the place that whisper is. So if you are able to do that for the viewers, they get an understanding of maybe what’s occurring inside Macbeth’s very troubled mind.
So you possibly can – notably when a lot of what Macbeth says is in soliloquy, which is an tackle to the viewers, I feel it was simply utilizing a software that was obtainable and including to that, you might have a type of soundscape, which is occurring the entire time. You are mixing within the music. You are mixing in sound results that will or is probably not dwell on stage in entrance of you, which, once more, is including to that sense of disconcertion and what’s actual, what is not actual. So it was a type of conceptual means of telling this very well-told story, maybe in a barely new, fairly trendy means, whereas nonetheless being completely devoted to the textual content that Shakespeare wrote.
BRIGER: Let’s hear what a kind of soliloquies appears like. That is the well-known “Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow”…
TENNANT: Oh, OK.
BRIGER: …Soliloquy from the tip of the play, and you’ve got simply found that Girl Macbeth has been killed.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “MACBETH”)
TENNANT: (As Macbeth) Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps on this petty tempo from each day to the final syllable of recorded time. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way in which to dusty loss of life. Out, transient candle. Life’s however a strolling shadow, a poor participant that struts and frets his hour upon the stage after which is heard no extra. It’s a story advised by an fool. It is filled with sound and fury, signifying nothing.
BRIGER: OK. In order that’s from the movie model of “Macbeth.” So, , I am sporting headphones now, so I really feel like I am type of experiencing what that may have been like for the viewers since you are actually whispering. And I suppose I used to be questioning, like, should you had been doing that in a extra conventional theater sense and also you needed to challenge to a budget seats, like, how do you strategy that very same speech in these type of two completely different situations?
TENNANT: It is onerous to know as a result of, , whenever you put together a manufacturing like that, you form of know what your model of it must be. I’ve by no means heard that again, so it is onerous. I do not know. All I am listening to is what I’d have completed in another way. However…
BRIGER: What would you might have completed in another way?
TENNANT: Oh, I do not know. You already know, I feel that speech, specifically, truly was most likely – out of the entire play, that was type of by no means fairly the identical twice. So you have acquired a model of it from the time…
BRIGER: And what number of occasions did do the play? Like, tons of of occasions?
TENNANT: Oh, like, 150 or one thing.
BRIGER: Yeah. So each time it feels completely different?
TENNANT: Sure. I feel that speech greater than any as a result of it comes close to the tip. It is the – most likely essentially the most emotional second. It is the second the place Girl Macbeth is gone. He is aware of it is throughout. It is actually only a case of how he will go down fairly than if he’ll. And it was, notably in our staging, it was proper out the again. I used to be type of sitting very a lot my very own. I could not – the lighting was such that I used to be in a pool of darkness.
And I type of tried to dare myself each night time to form of discover it. However that exact second type of afresh every time. Clearly, that is what you are all the time attempting to do. It is simpler with one thing like Shakespeare as a result of the phrases are fairly bottomless they usually have plenty of completely different obtainable meanings. And that is why actors love doing it a lot as a result of on efficiency 150, you may abruptly hear a line that you simply thought you knew inside out. You may type of hear it in a brand-new means. And that is – clearly, that is a thrill and likewise a bit irritating ‘trigger you are going to go, oh, that is how I ought to have completed that.
BRIGER: Proper.
TENNANT: Can I am going again and do the primary hundred performances once more, please?
BRIGER: Our visitor is David Tennant. He’ll be again after a brief break. I am Sam Briger, and that is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF DELIA DERBYSHIRE’S “DOCTOR WHO OPENING TITLE THEME”)
BRIGER: That is FRESH AIR. I am Sam Briger. Our visitor is actor David Tennant. He has an interview podcast known as “David Tennant Does A Podcast With…” that’s now out in its third season. Tennant is as comfy taking part in characters with their very own spaceships, as he did for the function of Physician Who, as he’s holding up poor Yorick’s cranium as Hamlet. The filmed adaptation of his Macbeth is now obtainable for streaming. It costars Cush Jumbo as Girl Macbeth.
So, David, you grew up outdoors of Glasgow in Paisley. Your father was a Presbyterian minister. So do you bear in mind your father’s sermons? Have been they fiery or extra contemplative?
TENNANT: Oh, he might get fairly fiery. Sure, he was fairly a performer, my dad. There was positively a little bit of an outdated ham about him. And, sure, it wasn’t fireplace and brimstone a lot, though it might get there. You already know, he might get a bit bit – he would thump the pulpit every so often. However no, he was positively a performer. And he was an excellent preacher, truly. Individuals would ask him to come back and visitor preach in numerous locations. I feel he was very nicely considered. And he was very cherished. He was an excellent minister. His congregation preferred him. And he was type, and he was affected person and all of the issues that I suppose it’s important to be in that job. However no, he was a very good preacher, yeah.
BRIGER: Effectively, he should’ve been as a result of for a 12 months, he served because the moderator of the Basic Meeting of the Church of Scotland, which is mainly, like…
TENNANT: That is proper.
BRIGER: …The very best place…
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: …Within the church.
TENNANT: The very best place however on a revolving, yearly foundation.
BRIGER: Proper, it is yearly foundation, proper.
TENNANT: As a result of the Church of Scotland is constructed on the concept that there must be no hierarchy. So you are taking a flip and also you step again once more.
BRIGER: He additionally had a TV present known as “That is The Spirit” that he cohosted.
TENNANT: He did, he did.
BRIGER: What was that present like? Did you ever go to the set?
TENNANT: I did, truly, sure. It was on Scottish tv. However, sure, he did. On a Sunday afternoon in Scotland, you possibly can see my dad in “That is The Spirit.” It was a type of non secular journal program. So, , he would go and meet a neighborhood challenge. He would do some bit to digital camera, the place he gave a bit message for the day. He’d do interviews with individuals who had been doing attention-grabbing or essential issues on this planet of, I suppose, divinity or outreach or no matter it was. However, yeah, he did that for fairly a number of years. And I bear in mind sitting off digital camera and watching it occur a few occasions, yeah.
BRIGER: I’ve a tough time believing the story, nevertheless it’s been advised many occasions, so…
TENNANT: Oh. Oh, come on. What’s this?
BRIGER: (Laughter) Effectively, it is on the age of three, you advised your loved ones that you simply wished to be an actor since you wished to play Physician Who.
TENNANT: Which is the bit you discover most implausible about that story? As a result of I’ve ideas.
BRIGER: Effectively, initially, simply the want achievement that you simply had been in a position to obtain in your maturity taking part in…
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: …One of the vital well-known Physician Whos. But additionally, like, did you, on the age of three, perceive that Physician Who was an actor? Like, did you wish to act as Physician Who? Did you wish to be Physician Who?
TENNANT: That is the bit that now having had my very own kids I can suppose, 3, actually? Might I’ve been 3? As a result of it does really feel like fairly an advanced thought course of, would not it? However I can date it as a result of, , this was within the occasions earlier than residence video recorders, so I do know that I watched Jon Pertwee flip into Tom Baker on “Physician Who.” And I can date it, and it is 1974, so I used to be 3 years outdated. Perhaps they repeated it like a 12 months later, as a result of typically they did that, so possibly I used to be 4. However I do know that it was then, and I do know that that led to a dialog with my mother and father. And also you’re completely proper that it was a dialog the place I discovered what the distinction between a personality in a tv program and an actor was. However in that second, I understood what that idea was and determined that is what I wished to do. So regardless of how implausible it appears, I do know that it is true.
BRIGER: Do you bear in mind what was so charming concerning the present to you?
TENNANT: One thing about that present and the mixture of components, actually that central character, all the time fascinated me. I simply thought he was good. I simply thought he was cool, he was intelligent. He was wearing type of good, cool, mad garments. However he appeared like a traditional human. And I feel that was fairly essential to me as a reasonably geeky younger baby. I did not think about I might ever aspire to be Superman or the Unbelievable Hulk. You already know, I used to be type of fairly weedy, and I wore glasses, and I had a horrible haircut. So all these issues nonetheless felt attainable on this planet of The Physician. There was one thing about that character that I might be.
I additionally cherished – it is a brilliantly constructed present in that you do not know the place they will land every time. Each time the TARDIS lands, the place is it? What is the thriller? There’s a complete new set of characters to get. And the monsters – what is the monster going to be this week? What is going on to come back round that nook, and the way scary is it going to be? And what a thrill all that was. So, no, I used to be obsessional about it.
BRIGER: So the place I grew up, you could not simply get “Physician Who” on the 13 channels that we had.
TENNANT: Proper.
BRIGER: However I do not know if televisions had been the identical in Scotland.
TENNANT: Effectively, you say 13 channels such as you had been starved.
BRIGER: No, I do know (laughter).
TENNANT: I imply, college, I do know, three channels.
BRIGER: Proper.
TENNANT: We had three.
BRIGER: However there was this different dial the place you possibly can – it was form of like a radio dial the place you possibly can dial in, like, farther tv stations. And typically I might dial in, like, the out-of-state public tv present that did have “Physician Who.” And the issues that I bear in mind about it was, first, that it was actually scary. Like, the monsters had been scary, and the theme music terrified me.
However then the factor that I additionally observed was, like, typically I’d discover how cheaply made the present was. Like, why are all these sci-fi, futuristic characters sporting garments that appear like they had been borrowed from, like, “Masterpiece Theatre”? After which, in all of those science fiction or futuristic units, there are all the time these drapes in every single place (laughter), like, blocking sections of the stage. I do not know, so these had been my early reminiscences of it.
TENNANT: Pay attention, all of these reminiscences are very correct, I feel. I do not suppose there’s something fallacious with any of these observations you make. And I feel I used to be conscious of all that, too. However I nonetheless both forgave it or reveled in it, its shortcomings, as a result of truly the writing, they had been extremely well-written. And people central performances – I bear in mind Tom Baker, who performed The Physician by most of my early childhood. It was a very magnificent efficiency. He was a correctly charismatic, mercurial, humorous, humorous, heroic. It was a superb efficiency as a bit of type of mad appearing. It was a surprise to behold, and that simply scooped me up. How thrilling that you simply tuned in.
BRIGER: Yeah, to, like, a distinct planet (laughter).
TENNANT: You tuned your TV set to get – so it is just like the illicit channels. It should’ve felt such as you found fantastic secrets and techniques.
BRIGER: It did really feel that means, positively.
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: Effectively, let’s hear you from “Physician Who.” That is out of your first large scene. You’ve got simply been regenerated. This may occur. It is type of just like the character can be reincarnated, which was a handy option to have new actors play this function. And so that you’re reintroducing your self to your touring companion performed by Billie Piper and another characters. And also you’re additionally surrounded by some fairly tough-looking aliens. Let’s hear this.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “DOCTOR WHO”)
TENNANT: (As The Physician) Now, first issues first – be trustworthy. How do I look?
BILLIE PIPER: (As Rose Tyler) Completely different.
TENNANT: (As The Physician) Good completely different or dangerous completely different?
PIPER: (As Rose Tyler) Simply completely different.
TENNANT: (As The Physician) Am I ginger?
PIPER: (As Rose Tyler) No, you are simply type of brown.
TENNANT: (As The Physician)Aw, I wished to be ginger. I’ve by no means been ginger. And also you, Rose Tyler, fats lot of excellent you had been, you gave up on me. Oh, that is impolite. Is that what I’m now? Am I Impolite? Impolite and never ginger?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) If I’d interrupt.
TENNANT: (As The Physician) Sure. Sorry. Hey, large fella.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Who precisely are you?
TENNANT: (As The Physician) Effectively, that is the query.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) I demand to know who you’re.
TENNANT: (As The Physician) I do not know. See, that is the factor. I am The Physician, however past that, I simply do not know. I actually have no idea who I’m. It is all untested. Am I humorous? Am I sarcastic? Horny? Proper outdated distress? Life and soul? Proper handed? Left handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I imply, judging by the proof, I’ve actually acquired a gob.
BRIGER: That is our visitor David Tennant as Physician Who in his first large scene. So that you’re asking, like, who am I there. One of many issues that I actually preferred about your portrayal of The Physician was this, like, unbridled enthusiasm that you simply dropped at the character. However, , right here you’re at this level. You’ve got been classically skilled. You went to the Royal Scottish Academy Of Music And Dance (ph). And now you are taking part in this essential British pop determine. How did all the issues that you simply had discovered and the ways in which you have skilled enable you to type of embody this function?
TENNANT: Oh, it is an excellent query. I do not know. I imply, it is a kind of components that has quite a lot of cultural baggage about it, nevertheless it additionally, the entire thought of regeneration the place one actor takes over from the subsequent, you are given a little bit of a clean sheet. The Physician has sure immovable truths about them, however you are not anticipated to do what the final one did. You are anticipated to convey your personal model of it. You simply have to seek out your self in it, I suppose. You simply should form of chuck your self at it and see what you get. And, in fact, it was written by Russell T. Davies, who’s one of many nice tv writers of our time, and wrote it with type of a bit like himself. I imply, Russell has an exquisite present of the gab about him. He can speak, and he is humorous and he is fast, and he is most likely the cleverest particular person in most rooms. And that is form of how he writes The Physician.
So that you simply form of look to plug into that vitality, filter it by your self and hope that that produces one thing that is form of endearing and never smug and annoying. In all probability some individuals did discover it smug and annoying, however hopefully, most individuals discovered it charming and humorous. I feel it is essential that The Physician is humorous as a result of he makes use of wit to undermine a few of the form of worst creatures that the universe can throw at him. That is a part of what’s wonderful about that character is that he might be humorous in occasions of disaster. And that is his cool. He is very uncool in some ways, however he is acquired that swagger, that capability to undermine every little thing with a gag or with a twinkle. So I did not ponder all that. It is fairly attention-grabbing listening again to that by headphones now. It feels fairly inexperienced and fairly squeaky to me.
BRIGER: Effectively, it is fairly exceptional how a lot the present has given you. Once more, like, it is type of this nice want fulfilment. You additionally met your spouse…
TENNANT: I did. I did.
BRIGER: Georgia, on the present. She truly…
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: …Performed your daughter in an episode.
TENNANT: Sure, nevertheless it’s – hear, time may be very relative whenever you’re a Time Lord, and she or he’s a bit bit youthful than me. She’s not that a lot youthful than me.
BRIGER: She’s an grownup character within the present.
TENNANT: She’s an grownup character, sure. Precisely.
BRIGER: And Georgia’s father, your father-in-law, was a distinct incarnation of Physician Who.
TENNANT: That is proper. Yeah. He was quantity 5. I imply, I watched him as a child. He turned The Physician once I was about 11, so he was completely somebody that I drew photos of in sketchbooks, yeah. That has simply added to how odd the entire thing is that I’ve ended up being a part of this present that I grew up obsessive about.
BRIGER: Our visitor is actor David Tennant. Extra after a brief break, that is FRESH AIR.
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BRIGER: That is FRESH AIR. Our visitor is actor David Tennant. The third season of his podcast, “David Tennant Does A Podcast With…” is now out.
You’ve got additionally performed a bunch of villains in your profession, and one which notably stays with me is the supervillain Kilgrave from the Marvel TV present “Jessica Jones,” and Kilgrave mainly can have individuals do no matter he needs. He can simply command them. He abuses his capability in very sadistic methods, taking away consent from ladies, like, telling individuals, like, if I am late, carve your face off. Like, and, , this character is charmless and, like, actually repugnant. Are you able to speak about the way you discovered a option to play him?
TENNANT: It’s a must to simply return to what’s written. And I feel why “Jessica Jones” as a sequence labored so nicely is as a result of Melissa Rosenberg, who was the showrunner, and her group of writers, did one thing actually fairly exceptional, I feel. It was a superhero present. Jessica Jones is a part of the Marvel Universe. The – Kilgrave was recognized within the comedian books because the Purple Man, and he is a personality who, in his first look, wears a purple jumpsuit. And it is completely purple however has this capability that no matter he says, individuals should obey him. So if he tells them to lie down on the road, they’re going to lie down on the street. You already know, what might be fairly a type of simplistic, fairly type of schlocky comedian guide thought, within the fingers of the writers that we had turned, as you might have hinted, it turned a narrative about consent, and it turned a narrative about emotional abuse and psychological abuse.
But it surely was additionally wanting into what had brought on Kilgrave to be this manner. And should you had that capability, what would that do to your personal psychology? So sure, he is a monster, and he does terrible issues, and there is nothing – there’s little or no redeemable about him. However I feel we had been additionally let in to know that, with that capability all his life, how might he not be broken by that? When he would not know if someone does one thing as a result of they wish to or as a result of he is advised them to, how might he work together as a rational human being with anybody? And I feel that was all there within the writing.
So that they created one thing actually fairly grownup, fairly troublesome at occasions, fairly sophisticated, but in addition manages, while completely being a superhero present, it manages to not be blithe or glib about any of the issues that it examines. And it is fairly a troublesome watch at occasions. However I simply felt very fortunate that I ended up in that Marvel present as a result of I feel it actually was a rare piece of labor. And that, – , I used to be only a tiny a part of that.
BRIGER: Whenever you’re taking part in these roles which might be, like, horrible individuals, like real-life serial killers or these villains, like, do it’s important to type of, like, shrug them off on the finish of the day or else you may take them residence with you?
TENNANT: Probably not. Not consciously. I feel once I put the script down, I type of – I go away it at work. However you’d most likely should ask Georgia. I imply, you most likely should ask the those that should dwell…
BRIGER: Proper, to dwell with you.
TENNANT: …By way of a challenge with you.
BRIGER: Yeah.
TENNANT: Yeah. Yeah. As a result of I suppose issues do typically form of go in humorous route. There have been a few occasions when Georgia mentioned, oh, I am glad that is over. I did not all the time like that model of you that you simply introduced residence. I imply, I do not come residence as Kilgrave, however I suppose, , there is a component of – it is all faux, however should you’re pretending notably darkish stuff, you’re type of attempting to trick your mind into behaving within the ways in which you would possibly behave if sure terrible issues had been occurring. And that most likely does have one thing of a price in your actual life. However I’ve by no means felt it weighing notably closely, I do not suppose. However as I say, it is most likely – that is most likely a type of aspect interview with Georgia. Yeah. Yeah.
BRIGER: Within the present “Staged,” Michael Sheen is usually type of poking enjoyable a bit little bit of you being Scottish, and also you guys speak about haggis and – are there type of stereotypical issues about being a Scot that you simply type of lean into, moreover sporting a kilt?
TENNANT: It is humorous. Once I lived in Scotland, I had little interest in being Scottish, possibly as a result of it was so ubiquitous. However whenever you’re not there anymore, you do grow to be a type of unofficial ambassador for all issues Scottish. And I do get pleasure from that significantly. I do love a little bit of haggis. And it is – yeah, there’s – in fact there’s one thing self-consciously pleasing about sporting a kilt on the BAFTAs and holding on to a little bit of Scottishness. And I am type of now patriotic and pleased with Scotland in a means that I by no means actually appreciated once I was there. Yeah, I really like being Scottish. It is nice. It offers you a calling card. It offers you a way of self, for certain.
BRIGER: Effectively, David Tennant, it has been an actual pleasure to speak with you. Thanks a lot for approaching FRESH AIR.
TENNANT: Thanks for having me. It has been an absolute delight.
GROSS: David Tennant spoke with FRESH AIR’S Sam Briger. Tennant’s podcast, known as “David Tennant Does A Podcast With…” is now in its third season.
After we take a brief break, our TV critic David Bianculli, will evaluate the brand new sequence “Dying For Intercourse,” starring Michelle Williams. That is FRESH AIR.
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