TERRY GROSS, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. At the moment’s visitor, David Tennant, is greatest 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 friends embrace 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 assorted. Maybe greatest recognized for taking part in Physician Who, he’s additionally thought of one of many most interesting Shakespearean actors of his technology, 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 perhaps even within the American adaptation referred to as “Gracepoint,” the place he performs roughly the identical position, however with an American accent.
David Tennant has additionally been his share of display screen 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 tune “500 Miles” in a bespoke black jacket and kilt swimsuit. And he was hilarious to look at taking part in a model of himself within the streaming comedy “Staged” with Michael Sheen, one of many few good issues to return out of the COVID pandemic.
David Tennant additionally has a podcast referred to as “David Tennant Does A Podcast With…”, the place you fill within the title of the visitor from that episode, typically an actor he has labored with. A 3rd season of the podcast launched this 12 months. And whereas we’d have stated, hey, David Tennant, keep in your lane, there’s sufficient long-format interview exhibits on the market, as a substitute, we determined that this could be a great 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 couple of folks I had both meant to interview or had kind of bought to know within the interim, and I assumed I might have naturally interviewed them after I’ve executed this podcast earlier than, so perhaps now it is a possibility to sort of scoop them up. It actually has at all times been the case with the podcast. It is one thing I’ve executed – I do not imply to attenuate it, however it’s nearly been a interest, like a sideline, like a kind of factor I’ve executed for pleasure after I’ve had a second. It is by no means been my principal job. So it was only a kind of second of alternative.
BRIGER: Once you go into these interviews, like, do you’ve a selected agenda? Like, are you – if you’re like, oh, Olivia Colman, I’ve at all times needed to know this about her, or do you generally take into consideration issues in your individual profession which have puzzled you that offers 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 kind of does to your life outdoors the work that’s the kind of bit you do not get skilled for at a drama faculty. , one of many kind of uncomfortable side 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 at all times fairly intrigued to understand how others have handled that or are coping with that, or sort of characterize what that does to them and the folks round them.
But it surely’s a combination of issues. You are additionally simply -again, if it is somebody you understand, you are typically occupied with kind of celebrating them and wanting the world to know them and perceive what’s likable about them as a result of there is a kind of enjoyment of celebrating that to the general public in some way. So it is at all times – sure, it is at all times a combination of impulses, I believe.
BRIGER: Talking about dealing with being a star, you inform a narrative that somebody requested you for an autograph whilst you have 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 might say so.
TENNANT: Sure. Maybe that is stating the plain. However simply, it is fairly – I am at all times fairly intrigued to know if different folks have had related experiences and the way they – or how they’d have handled experiences like that, as a result of I believe it is fairly – it is a bit of a kind of membership which you can’t actually count on any kind of sympathy for as a result of it is a very privileged place to be in. But it surely’s – you understand, it is a difficult one. It is one I battle with since you’re additionally very conscious if somebody desires to have a second’s interplay with you, that they are kind of – that second for them is representing all of the work you might need executed that has meant one thing to them. In order that’s a vastly – it is fairly a treasured second for another person, whereas you may be simply pondering, I will 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, after all, that you simply’re not likely going to make the state of affairs higher by explaining to somebody why that is an inappropriate second, if they are not 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 kind of carve a signature into what was the mulch of the piece of paper that he was now holding beneath a bathe. And kind of – he stated, thanks very a lot, and went on his method.
BRIGER: Effectively, I needed to speak about one other model of David Tennant that you have performed on three seasons of the present “Staged” with Michael Sheen.
TENNANT: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
BRIGER: This present largely takes place – no less than it appears to – I do not know if it was filmed this fashion – however as a collection of Zoom calls between you and Michael Sheen and your respective spouses and different folks. Not less than within the first season, you are rehearsing this play throughout COVID, hoping that when the lockdown is over, you will have this factor able to go. And, after all, that does not work out so nicely. However – so how did this present come about?
TENNANT: It was a fully opportunistic pitch by a good friend of – nicely, really, somebody that my spouse was in school with, who’s a movie producer referred to as Phin Glynn, who we – each Georgia and I – have labored with on numerous tasks over time. And some days into that first lockdown – should have been March 2020 – Phin phoned us up and went, I might need an thought of one thing we may make whereas we’re all locked in our homes. It was completely his child. He went off, bought a script written. We went off and enlisted Michael Sheen and Anna Lundberg, who have 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 bought 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 after I first heard in regards to the present, I did not suppose I used to be going to get pleasure from watching it. Like, we have been…
TENNANT: Oh, no – sounds desperately uninteresting.
BRIGER: Effectively, yeah.
TENNANT: And likewise…
BRIGER: Effectively, we…
TENNANT: …It was reflecting…
BRIGER: Proper.
TENNANT: …That we have been all residing…
BRIGER: We have been all residing 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 assumed we’d 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 have 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 believe we’ll additionally hear Simon Evans on this, and he is determined to maintain issues on observe. However Michael Sheen is mainly attempting to select a struggle 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 improper with my phrases?
MICHAEL SHEEN: I am struggling to consider them. There’s rather a lot occurring there.
TENNANT: So much occurring? OK.
SHEEN: Would you attempt one thing for me?
TENNANT: Oh, certain. Completely satisfied to, yeah.
SHEEN: Is that OK, Simon?
SIMON EVANS: I might fairly we simply pushed on, really.
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 assumed 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 bought to have one thing – I wish to be heard. It is bought to have one thing behind it.
SHEEN: No, it is bought to return 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 special…
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 kind of a sense factor.
TENNANT: , what I am doing is smart, and what you are doing is a kind of bizarre…
SHEEN: It would 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, kind of synthetic method, 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 amazing rapport. Are you able to discuss in regards to the model of your self that you simply’re taking part in on this present?
TENNANT: I believe we fairly loved taking part in terrible variations of ourselves.
BRIGER: (Laughter).
TENNANT: We have been fairly comfortable to lean into that. Apparently, Simon stated that one of many issues he did as he was writing it was take heed to the episode of my podcast with Michael Sheen. Once more, I do not know what that claims about – I imply, Michael’s this kind of fairly pompous or a grand character…
BRIGER: Yeah, boastful actor
TENNANT: Somewhat boastful actor. I am a kind 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, however 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, after 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 occurring apart from homeschooling our kids, which was an actual contemporary hell that we have been all attempting to meet up with.
BRIGER: Yeah.
TENNANT: And being locked in our home. And though, you understand, in some ways, I did not dislike lockdown in any respect as a result of I used to be very comfortable to be locked in my home and refrained from different human beings past my circle of relatives. It was actually pretty to have that launch, and that artistic launch, significantly.
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 selected time, is not it?
BRIGER: It actually was. One of many humorous sight gags is that you simply maintain getting caught ingesting out of this mug together with your face on it (laughter).
TENNANT: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
BRIGER: They usually maintain saying, is that you simply on that mug?
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: And also you deny it.
TENNANT: Sure, numerous bits of that have been kind of impressed by what was taking place round us. We do occur to have a few mugs in my home that will or might not have my face on them.
BRIGER: (Laughter).
TENNANT: And I can not keep in mind fairly the origin of that exact gag. But it surely was both we have been on a Zoom discussing what we have been going to do and I had the mug there, or I introduced it, and perhaps I steered it someday. Anyway, it turned a kind of long-running gag that runs all through…
BRIGER: That is very humorous (laughter)
TENNANT: …Three seasons, I believe. Yeah.
BRIGER: So that you stated you have been residence. You and your spouse, Georgia, have 5 children. I’ve two children. And it was very robust to kind of maintain them busy, maintain them on their education throughout COVID. What was it like with 5? Like, was your own home simply loopy on a regular basis?
TENNANT: We’re lucky that we have now a good quantity of house. And we have got a bit of out of doors house, which I believe it could’ve killed us with out that. However, sure, after all, it was difficult. Our youngest was brand-new. She was born in direction of the top of 2019. So we had a really small child, with all of the pleasures and difficulties that that brings, three who have been in class. That was the actual hell, the homeschooling, simply attempting to be the kind of manager-come-teacher that retains them on observe was very, very onerous. After which our eldest, his 18th birthday got here three, 4 days after lockdown was referred to as. So his large 18th birthday celebration was spent watching us over the kitchen desk.
BRIGER: (Laughter).
TENNANT: I nonetheless really feel like he bought barely shortchanged there.
BRIGER: Yeah. Yeah. For those who’re simply becoming a member of us, our visitor is actor David Tennant. He has his personal interview podcast referred to 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 screen actor David Tennant. The third season of his interview podcast is out now. It is referred to as “David Tennant Does A Podcast With…”
So I needed to speak to you just a little bit about your work doing Shakespeare. Your model of “Macbeth” that I believe was initially staged in 2023 is now out there to stream on Marquee TV. And…
TENNANT: Proper.
BRIGER: You star with Cush Jumbo as Girl Macbeth.
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: So this can be a very minimalist staging. The stage itself is just about like this white platform.
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: And the viewers is kind of across the stage. And I observed watching the movie of it that every one the viewers members have 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 executed a manufacturing of “Henry V” the place they’d seemed rather a lot into the reality of being a soldier who goes to struggle, 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 have been taking place that weren’t. And he kind of took the concept of PTSD and put it onto Macbeth, and it sort of matches remarkably nicely. I imply, who is aware of what Shakespeare’s expertise was with veterans from no matter wars have been round on the time. But it surely feels prefer it all tracks with how modern-day veterans describe among the issues they battle with after excursions of obligation.
And he began working with a sound designer referred to as Gareth Fry, who had executed different exhibits 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 taking place inside Macbeth’s very troubled mind.
So you would – significantly when a lot of what Macbeth says is in soliloquy, which is an handle to the viewers, I believe it was simply utilizing a device that was out there and including to that, you’ve a kind of soundscape, which is going on the entire time. You are mixing within the music. You are mixing in sound results that will or might not be stay 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 kind of conceptual method of telling this very well-told story, maybe in a barely new, fairly trendy method, whereas nonetheless being completely devoted to the textual content that Shakespeare wrote.
BRIGER: Let’s hear what a kind of soliloquies feels like. That is the well-known “Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow”…
TENNANT: Oh, OK.
BRIGER: …Soliloquy from the top 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 daily to the final syllable of recorded time. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the best way to dusty demise. 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 instructed by an fool. It is stuffed with sound and fury, signifying nothing.
BRIGER: OK. In order that’s from the movie model of “Macbeth.” So, you understand, I am sporting headphones now, so I really feel like I am kind of experiencing what that might have been like for the viewers since you are actually whispering. And I assume I used to be questioning, like, should you have been doing that in a extra conventional theater sense and also you needed to challenge to a budget seats, like, how do you method that very same speech in these kind of two totally different eventualities?
TENNANT: It is onerous to know as a result of, you understand, if you put together a manufacturing like that, you sort 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 might have executed otherwise. However…
BRIGER: What would you’ve executed otherwise?
TENNANT: Oh, I do not know. , I believe that speech, particularly, really was most likely – out of the entire play, that was kind of by no means fairly the identical twice. So you have bought a model of it from the time…
BRIGER: And what number of occasions did do the play? Like, a whole lot of occasions?
TENNANT: Oh, like, 150 or one thing.
BRIGER: Yeah. So each time it feels totally different?
TENNANT: Sure. I believe that speech greater than any as a result of it comes close to the top. It is the – most likely probably 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, significantly in our staging, it was proper out the again. I used to be kind 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 kind of tried to dare myself each night time to sort of discover it. However that exact second kind of afresh every time. Clearly, that is what you are at all times attempting to do. It is simpler with one thing like Shakespeare as a result of the phrases are fairly bottomless they usually have numerous totally different out there meanings. And that is why actors love doing it a lot as a result of on efficiency 150, you may out of the blue hear a line that you simply thought you knew inside out. You’ll be able to kind of hear it in a brand-new method. 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 executed 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 referred to 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 position of Physician Who, as he’s holding up poor Yorick’s cranium as Hamlet. The filmed adaptation of his Macbeth is now out there 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 keep in mind your father’s sermons? Had been they fiery or extra contemplative?
TENNANT: Oh, he may get fairly fiery. Sure, he was fairly a performer, my dad. There was positively a little bit of an previous ham about him. And, sure, it wasn’t hearth and brimstone a lot, though it may get there. , he may get just a little bit – he would thump the pulpit once in a while. However no, he was positively a performer. And he was an excellent preacher, really. Individuals would ask him to return and visitor preach in numerous locations. I believe he was very nicely considered. And he was very cherished. He was an excellent minister. His congregation preferred him. And he was variety, and he was affected person and all of the issues that I assume you must be in that job. However no, he was a great preacher, yeah.
BRIGER: Effectively, he should’ve been as a result of for a 12 months, he served because the moderator of the Common Meeting of the Church of Scotland, which is mainly, like…
TENNANT: That is proper.
BRIGER: …The best place…
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: …Within the church.
TENNANT: The 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 referred to 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, really, sure. It was on Scottish tv. However, sure, he did. On a Sunday afternoon in Scotland, you would see my dad in “That is The Spirit.” It was a kind of non secular journal program. So, you understand, he would go and meet a group challenge. He would do some bit to digital camera, the place he gave just a little message for the day. He’d do interviews with individuals who have been doing attention-grabbing or essential issues on the planet of, I suppose, divinity or outreach or no matter it was. However, yeah, he did that for fairly a couple of years. And I keep in mind sitting off digital camera and watching it occur a few occasions, yeah.
BRIGER: I’ve a tough time believing the story, however it’s been instructed many occasions, so…
TENNANT: Oh. Oh, come on. What’s this?
BRIGER: (Laughter) Effectively, it is on the age of three, you instructed your loved ones that you simply needed to be an actor since you needed 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, to begin with, simply the want achievement that you simply have been in a position to obtain in your maturity taking part in…
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: …Probably the most well-known Physician Whos. But in addition, 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? May I’ve been 3? As a result of it does really feel like fairly a sophisticated thought course of, would not it? However I can date it as a result of, you understand, 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 previous. Possibly they repeated it like a 12 months later, as a result of generally they did that, so perhaps 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 dad and mom. And also you’re completely proper that it was a dialog the place I realized 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 needed to do. So regardless of how implausible it appears, I do know that it is true.
BRIGER: Do you keep in mind what was so charming in regards to the present to you?
TENNANT: One thing about that present and the mix of components, actually that central character, at all times fascinated me. I simply thought he was good. I simply thought he was cool, he was intelligent. He was wearing kind of good, cool, mad garments. However he seemed like a traditional human. And I believe that was fairly essential to me as a reasonably geeky younger baby. I did not think about I may ever aspire to be Superman or the Unimaginable Hulk. , I used to be kind of fairly weedy, and I wore glasses, and I had a horrible haircut. So all these issues nonetheless felt doable on the planet of The Physician. There was one thing about that character that I may very well be.
I additionally cherished – it is a brilliantly constructed present in that you do not know the place they’ll 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 return 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 have been the identical in Scotland.
TENNANT: Effectively, you say 13 channels such as you have been starved.
BRIGER: No, I do know (laughter).
TENNANT: I imply, faculty, I do know, three channels.
BRIGER: Proper.
TENNANT: We had three.
BRIGER: However there was this different dial the place you would – it was sort of like a radio dial the place you would dial in, like, farther tv stations. And generally I may dial in, like, the out-of-state public tv present that did have “Physician Who.” And the issues that I keep in mind about it was, first, that it was actually scary. Like, the monsters have been scary, and the theme music terrified me.
However then the factor that I additionally observed was, like, generally I might discover how cheaply made the present was. Like, why are all these sci-fi, futuristic characters sporting garments that seem like they have been borrowed from, like, “Masterpiece Theatre”? After which, in all of those science fiction or futuristic units, there are at all times these drapes in every single place (laughter), like, blockading sections of the stage. I do not know, so these have been my early recollections of it.
TENNANT: Hear, all of these recollections are very correct, I believe. I do not suppose there’s something improper with any of these observations you make. And I believe 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 really the writing, they have been extremely well-written. And people central performances – I keep 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 chunk of kind of mad performing. It was a surprise to behold, and that simply scooped me up. How thrilling that you simply tuned in.
BRIGER: Yeah, to, like, a special 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 great secrets and techniques.
BRIGER: It did really feel that method, 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 might occur. It is kind of just like the character could be reincarnated, which was a handy technique to have new actors play this position. 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) Totally different.
TENNANT: (As The Physician) Good totally different or unhealthy totally different?
PIPER: (As Rose Tyler) Simply totally different.
TENNANT: (As The Physician) Am I ginger?
PIPER: (As Rose Tyler) No, you are simply kind of brown.
TENNANT: (As The Physician)Aw, I needed to be ginger. I’ve by no means been ginger. And also you, Rose Tyler, fats lot of excellent you have 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 would interrupt.
TENNANT: (As The Physician) Sure. Sorry. Hiya, 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? Attractive? Proper previous 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 bought 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 delivered to the character. However, you understand, 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 realized and the ways in which you have skilled provide help to kind of embody this position?
TENNANT: Oh, it is an excellent query. I do not know. I imply, it is a kind of elements that has plenty of cultural baggage about it, however it additionally, the entire thought of regeneration the place one actor takes over from the following, 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 carry your individual model of it. You simply have to seek out your self in it, I suppose. You simply need to sort of chuck your self at it and see what you get. And, after all, it was written by Russell T. Davies, who’s one of many nice tv writers of our time, and wrote it with kind of a bit like himself. I imply, Russell has an exquisite present of the gab about him. He can discuss, and he is humorous and he is fast, and he is most likely the cleverest individual in most rooms. And that is sort of how he writes The Physician.
So that you simply sort of look to plug into that vitality, filter it by your self and hope that that produces one thing that is sort of endearing and never smug and annoying. In all probability some folks did discover it smug and annoying, however hopefully, most individuals discovered it charming and humorous. I believe it is essential that The Physician is humorous as a result of he makes use of wit to undermine among the sort of worst creatures that the universe can throw at him. That is a part of what’s wonderful about that character is that he will be humorous in occasions of disaster. And that is his cool. He is very uncool in some ways, however he is bought that swagger, that capacity to undermine the whole lot 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 outstanding how a lot the present has given you. Once more, like, it is kind of this nice want fulfilment. You additionally met your spouse…
TENNANT: I did. I did.
BRIGER: Georgia, on the present. She really…
TENNANT: Yeah.
BRIGER: …Performed your daughter in an episode.
TENNANT: Sure, however it’s – pay attention, time could be very relative if you’re a Time Lord, and he or she’s just a little 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 special 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 after I was about 11, so he was completely somebody that I drew footage 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 significantly stays with me is the supervillain Kilgrave from the Marvel TV present “Jessica Jones,” and Kilgrave mainly can have folks do no matter he desires. He can simply command them. He abuses his capacity in very sadistic methods, taking away consent from ladies, like, telling folks, like, if I am late, carve your face off. Like, and, you understand, this character is charmless and, like, actually repugnant. Are you able to discuss the way you discovered a technique to play him?
TENNANT: You must simply return to what’s written. And I believe why “Jessica Jones” as a collection labored so nicely is as a result of Melissa Rosenberg, who was the showrunner, and her group of writers, did one thing actually fairly outstanding, I believe. 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 capacity that no matter he says, folks need to obey him. So if he tells them to lie down on the road, they’re going to lie down on the street. , what may very well be fairly a kind of simplistic, fairly kind of schlocky comedian guide thought, within the palms of the writers that we had turned, as you’ve hinted, it turned a narrative about consent, and it turned a narrative about emotional abuse and psychological abuse.
But it surely was additionally trying into what had induced Kilgrave to be this fashion. And should you had that capacity, what would that do to your individual 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 believe we have been additionally let in to know that, with that capacity all his life, how may he not be broken by that? When he would not know if any individual does one thing as a result of they wish to or as a result of he is instructed them to, how may he work together as a rational human being with anybody? And I believe that was all there within the writing.
In order that they created one thing actually fairly grownup, fairly troublesome at occasions, fairly difficult, but additionally 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 tricky watch at occasions. However I simply felt very fortunate that I ended up in that Marvel present as a result of I believe it actually was a unprecedented piece of labor. And that, – you understand, I used to be only a tiny a part of that.
BRIGER: Once you’re taking part in these roles which might be, like, horrible folks, like real-life serial killers or these villains, like, do you must kind of, like, shrug them off on the finish of the day or else you will take them residence with you?
TENNANT: Probably not. Not consciously. I believe after I put the script down, I kind of – I go away it at work. However you’d most likely need to ask Georgia. I imply, you most likely need to ask the those that need to stay…
BRIGER: Proper, to stay with you.
TENNANT: …By way of a challenge with you.
BRIGER: Yeah.
TENNANT: Yeah. Yeah. As a result of I suppose issues do generally sort of go in humorous route. There have been a few occasions when Georgia stated, oh, I am glad that is over. I did not at all times like that model of you that you simply introduced residence. I imply, I do not come residence as Kilgrave, however I suppose, you understand, there is a component of – it is all faux, however should you’re pretending significantly darkish stuff, you’re kind of attempting to trick your mind into behaving within the ways in which you would possibly behave if sure terrible issues have been taking place. And that most likely does have one thing of a value in your actual life. However I’ve by no means felt it weighing significantly closely, I do not suppose. However as I say, it is most likely – that is most likely a kind of aspect interview with Georgia. Yeah. Yeah.
BRIGER: Within the present “Staged,” Michael Sheen is commonly kind of poking enjoyable just a little little bit of you being Scottish, and also you guys discuss haggis and – are there kind of stereotypical issues about being a Scot that you simply kind of lean into, in addition to sporting a kilt?
TENNANT: It is humorous. Once I lived in Scotland, I had no real interest in being Scottish, perhaps as a result of it was so ubiquitous. However if you’re not there anymore, you do develop into a kind of unofficial ambassador for all issues Scottish. And I do get pleasure from that tremendously. I do love a little bit of haggis. And it is – yeah, there’s – after all 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 kind of now patriotic and pleased with Scotland in a method that I by no means actually appreciated after I was there. Yeah, I like being Scottish. It is nice. It provides you a calling card. It provides 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, referred to 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 assessment the brand new collection “Dying For Intercourse,” starring Michelle Williams. That is FRESH AIR.
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