Christian Cawley's Blog, page 16

Matt Smith to Play Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in Biopic

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Matt Smith has been cast as acclaimed photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in an upcoming biopic of the avant-garde photographer.

Mapplethorpe – which will be written and directed by Dig! helmer Ondi Timoner – has the full backing of The Mapplethorpe Foundation and is a separate entity to the recently announced adaptation of Just Kids, singer/songwriter Patti Smith’s acclaimed coming of age autobiography which is being developed by Showtime – although the two projects will cover the same time shared by Mapplethorpe and Smith, who’ll be played by Girls regular Zosia Mamet, who was Mapplethorpe’s one-time lover and best friend.

Director Ondi Timoner said of the one time Eleventh Doctor and his cast:

“After several years of developing this script and searching across the globe for the perfect talent to embody the rich and layered roles of visionary artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith, I am ecstatic to have found Matt Smith and Zosia Mamet. They will bring indelible passion, raw humanity, and authenticity to this timeless, inspiring story.”

Mapplethorpe, who died of AIDS in 1989 at 42, was renowned for his unflinching, yet sensitive portraits of controversial subject matter. His body of work includes celebrity portraiture, album covers (notably Smith’s Horses) and erotica.

The film will begin shooting this Summer.

Smith can next be seen in Pride & Prejudice & Zombies which opens in the US on February 5th and in UK on February 11th  

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Coming Soon: New Tenth and Eleventh Doctor Comics

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Its Neanderthals and war crimes from the Doctor this week as the adventure continues for both the Eleventh and Tenth Doctors.

In Titan Comics Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #2.5 – written by Nick Abadzis with art by Elena Casagrande – the Doctor and Gabby are still caught between two factions as modern humanity is born. Neanderthals and Cro Magnons clash, and their actions will shape the direction taken by humankind in the millennia to come! Plus: Cindy discovers an alarming secret back in NYC… and in deep space, Anubis grows impatient!

While in Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #2.5 – written by Si Spurrier & Rob Williams with art by Warren Pleece – It’s time for the Doctor to take the fight back to those who have accused the Doctor of horrible war crimes! The TARDIS team needs to break into a remote prison to get the tech that will allow them to pull off an incredible heist… Sounds like they’ll need some expert help!

Both comics are available Wednesday 27th January from all good stockist.

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Questions We’ve Got After *THAT* Showrunner Announcement

Katie Gribble is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

So we’ve all heard the news! Wait. You haven’t? Well you should totally go and check out the news of Moffat’s exit right about here!!!

Better? Right, now, on with the motley! After this rather important announcement hit the Whoniverse, lots of questions were asked about what this would do to the programme we know and love.

How will Moffat bring his era to an end? Will he wrap it up for Chibnall to start afresh as we saw with the RTD-Moffat changeover? Or will the intervening time allow the writers to weave the two eras together somehow?

Will the 12 episode series format with a Christmas special remain or will the schedules shift? What kind of companion will we get? Will Moffat introduce one only to stay for a season or will they continue into the Chibnall years?

Will Capaldi stay after Moffat leaves? If so how will his Doctor change with the new management? Could we finally get a properly dark Doctor? If not, who will be next?

People have even  been asking the big question that has fans secretly hiding behind the sofa: Will Doctor Who survive?

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over five years since Moffat took the reigns of Doctor Who back in 2010. In this time, the series has come an awful long way since it crashed back onto our screens in 2005. Now, with no new full series of Doctor Who scheduled for 2016, I like to think that this gives new showrunner, Chris Chibnall, plenty of time to look at what has and hasn’t been successful and what could be improved. It’s certainly an opportunity to reach out to new fans and those who may have abandoned the series along the way.

What are your thoughts? What would you like to see from the new showrunner? What do you think of his appointment? Will you miss Moffat or are you glad he’s leaving? As usual, leave your comments below! And let the speculation begin!

 

 

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Rumour: Peter Capaldi is Leaving Doctor Who after Series Ten

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

The Mirror are reporting that Peter Capaldi will leave Doctor Who after the next series – when Steven Moffat departs in 2017.

A source said that when Chris Chibnall takes on the role of showrunner, he’ll be allowed to choose his own actor to play the Doctor.

“Bosses are already discussing a fresh start when Steven leaves,” the source said. “They’ve been happy with what Peter has brought to the role but some think it might make sense to give Chris his own choice of actor to play the Doctor.

“They hope he will be able to find someone who can have the same impact as Matt Smith did when Steven Moffat kicked off his run as executive producer.”

Whether or not that example reflects the same situation as Matt Smith’s eventually arrival – where David Tennant was approached to stay on as the Doctor – has yet to be disclosed. Capaldi has already spoken of this coming year potentially being his ‘last year’ – if so, the move would mirror what happened when Russell T. Davies departed at the same time David Tennant left the role of the Tenth Doctor.

A BBC spokesman said Capaldi was signed up for the 2017 series but beyond that said: “We don’t discuss contracts.”

Also, there’s the implication that if we are to get something similar Smith’s Eleventh Doctor, we’ll also get a younger Doctor again – something that executives may be keen on given the increased focus on faltering ratings by the press.

Whether or not that chimes with Chibnall’s plans remains to be seen; however, it seems more than likely that the new showrunner would largely see eye to eye with his new employers.

Speaking of his departure, Moffat said:

“It took a lot of gin and tonic to talk him into this, but I am beyond delighted that one of the true stars of British Television drama will be taking the Time Lord even further into the future.

“Chris Chibnall will become the new showrunner of Doctor Who. And I will be thrown in a skip.”

So do you believe Peter Capaldi will leave when Moffat departs? Do you want him to leave? Should Chibnall be given a clean break? Should we go back to another younger Doctor in a similar vein to Matt Smith?

 

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Is The Doctor The Only Time Lord to Suffer Post-Regenerative Madness?

Jonathan Appleton is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Change, as this month’s big news announcement has once again demonstrated, is one of the few constants in Doctor Who. The fact that the programme has lasted in its various different forms for over 50 years is down to its ability to renew and revive itself and the most noticeable mechanism for this, of course, through the process of regeneration.

Regeneration has always been a shifting, flexible notion in the programme’s on-screen mythology which is fitting when you think about it for something that involves every cell in the body altering. Sometimes it happens through injury, sometimes illness, sometimes old age… Alarmingly, it can also happened seemingly on a whim for no particularly pressing reason at all, or be prevented from happening by force of effort. One thing that Doctor Who viewers have come to think of as consistent when it comes to regeneration is the idea that it causes substantial trauma – we’ve grown used to seeing the Doctor acting confused and rather more erratically than usual as he gets used to his new body.

Indeed, from the evidence we’ve seen, the Doctor does seem to suffer more than most who have the capacity to regenerate in the hours and days afterwards. Long spells of unconsciousness, manic episodes, fainting, mood swings, amnesia, an urge to try on questionable outfits – the Doctor has been through all of it. But others who have been through the process don’t, on the face of it at least, appear to go through the same gamut of traumas. Why should this be so?

Other on-screen regenerations have been relatively rare in Doctor Who’s long history. Romana’s transformation in that jokey opening to Destiny of the Daleks caused no ill effects whatsoever despite the frankly casual manner in which she seemed happy to rattle though her regenerations like someone flipping through a magazine at the hairdressers. The General seemed just fine after that recent gender-swapping change in Hell Bent and carried straight on with things without so much as taking the afternoon off.

Granted, there have been regenerations where the person undergoing the process didn’t exactly seem to have come out of it unscathed. Think of the Master in Utopia, cackling and plotting the minute he turned into John Simm. But you could argue that this was just the Master being himself; the character was never happier than when he was dreaming up a new dastardly scheme and the subsequent episodes revolved around the idea that the character was mad rather than bad. We’ve also seen River regenerate twice in the series and again it’s possible that any outlandish behaviour displayed afterwards is attributable to other things the character had been through (in her case being trained as a killer from childhood).

So where does this leave us? Are we to conclude that the Doctor is particularly susceptible to post-regenerative ill effects? Is it a bit like hay fever, really bad hangovers or a dodgy tummy after eating  seafood – some people suffer from it and some don’t? Did the Doctor miss a couple of crucial lessons at the Academy? Is it because he’s more than just a Time Lord? Is it because he’s half-human? Is it because showing other characters going through the same kind of trauma as the Doctor does would hold up the plot and become tiresome, so it’s conveniently overlooked?

As with so many things in Doctor Who, there isn’t not necessarily any hard-and-fast answer. But what do you think? Why might the Doctor be so much more prone to being all shook up by regeneration than others who go through it? Let us have your theories!

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Peter Capaldi’s Top Ten Comedy Movies

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

On the lookout for a comedy classic to chase away the January blues? Well Peter Capaldi has your guffaw needs covered as he lays down his top ten comedy films of all time.

Time Out have released an updated 100 best comedy movies list – voted for by comedians, filmmakers and comedy experts, the list was first published back in 2011 – and who better to add their two cents than the man that brought the foul-mouthed Malcolm Tucker to life in The Thick of It and is now charming the universe as the Doctor.

Here’s Peter’s top ten:

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (John Hughes, 1987)
It’s a Gift (Norman Z MacLeod, 1934)
A Night at the Opera (Sam Wood, 1935)
Four Lions (Christopher Morris, 2010)
I’m Still Here (Casey Affleck, 2010)
Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994)
The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, 1975)
This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
Broadway Danny Rose (Woody Allen, 1984)

It’s an impressive, if idiosyncratic list. You might balk at the idea of picking Monty Python and the Holy Grail over Life of Brian or Broadway Danny Rose over Annie Hall or Manhattan but then again, both are great choices.

Some selections that may not be as familiar as the others are the W.C Fields classic It’s a Gift (although it often gets overlooked for The Bank Dick or My Little Chickadee), and the reality blurring Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary I’m Still Here.

And any list with Ed Wood on it get’s my vote.

If you were in need of a bit of laughter you could do a lot worse than picking one of these classics to lighten your day – Peter’s own film Local Hero sits at number 93 in the original 2011 list.

You can check out the full list here.

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Coming Soon: Travels in Time Colouring Book

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

It might seem like a simple fad, but adult colouring is extraordinarily popular right now. But just because it’s big business doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. Certainly judging from the number of sites offering free templates, we can gather that there’s been a considerable audience for some time now.

Doctor Who has already stuck its foot in the fad’s proverbial water, and tested the temperature; the reception was good, which is why a second Doctor Who colouring book is on its way! Whereas the previous book collected together themes from across the show’s 50 years, the Doctor Who: Travels in Time Colouring Book appears to focus on familiar faces from Earth’s history:

Experience the timey-wimey travels of the Doctor moment by moment with this historical Doctor Who colouring book.

Inside you’ll find the Doctor’s greatest friends and foes from throughout all of history, with original illustrations featuring Churchill, Shakespeare, Van Gogh, Dickens, Madame de Pompadour and many more. Colour in kings and queens, Romans and Egyptians, Viking villages and erupting volcanoes . . . not forgetting the occasional dinosaur on a spaceship.

With 45 brand new images to colour, Travels in Time is a fantastic addition to any colouring collection.

You have to wonder whether we’ll see folk from the future too. It’s hinted that it will, perhaps briefly, with that reference to the 2012 Eleventh Doctor adventure.

It’s easy to be cynical about these things but the first Doctor Who Colouring Book was incredibly good, detailing all 12 Doctors (not including John Hurt’s incarnation of the Time Lord), enemies, and reflecting the series’ fun but dark tone. Coupled with memorable quotes, it remains a very well-received book.

Doctor Who: Travels in Time Colouring Book is available to pre-order now, priced £9.99, and is released on 7th April 2016.

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What to Watch Next? Rediscover 10 Years’ Worth of NuWho!

Katie Gribble is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

So we’re a fair way into January already. Where has that time gone, eh? I looked down the back of the sofa but I just found a load of Doctor Who fans asking whether it was safe to come out. Some of us are still sticking to our New Years Resolutions, some of us have fallen by the wayside, but the way we see it here at the K is that whatever your situation, whether for celebration or comfort, you can’t complain about a little more Doctor Who in your lives.

… Particularly now that there’s only going to be one new episode this year – and that we have to wait until Christmas for that!

So we have some episode suggestions for your enjoyment. Naturally, we would recommend them all – yes, even Timelash – but if you don’t have the time to watch 52 years’ worth of Gallifreyan gallivanting then perhaps just the last 10 will do.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of our favourite TV show, we looked at our favourite and most underrated episodes from each of the new series – well, up to and including Series 7 at least. Rediscover those you may have forgotten and find our which ones topped the polls as voted by you.

Series 1 favourite and Series 1 underrated 

Series 2 favourite and Series 2 underrated

Series 3 favourite and Series 3 underrated 

Series 4 favourite and Series 4 underrated 

The favourite Special and The underrated Special

Series 5 favourite and Series 5 underrated 

Series 6 favourite and Series 6 underrated

Series 7A favourite and Series 7A underrated

Series 7B favourite and Series 7B underrated 

Well? What are you waiting for? Enjoy!

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Lethbridge-Stewart Audiobooks Are Coming!

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

A year on from the launch of Candy Jar Books’ Lethbridge-Stewart books, the company has announced a new partnership with Fantom Films to turn the novels into audio adventures!

And they’ll be read by Terry Molloy, best-known for playing Davros throughout the 1980s!

The fully-licensed Lethbridge-Stewart range launched in February 2015, with Andy Frankham-Allen’s The Forgotten Son , a follow-up to The Web of Fear that saw the return of the Great Intelligence, once more possessing the innocents and covering the landscape with Yeti. Almost immediately fans asked to see audiobooks of the titles released, and our pleas have been answered! Fantom Films, producer of various audiobook titles, including classics by Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker and Doctor Who related titles, have joined forces with Candy Jar Books to produce a new range of unabridged Lethbridge-Stewart audiobooks read by Molloy.

Shaun Russell, Head of Publishing at Candy Jar Books, says:

“People have really been excited about the range, and have continually asked for audio versions of the titles. This was something we’ve always wanted to do, so when Fantom Films got in touch we jumped at the opportunity. It’s a great pleasure to finally be able to announce this new avenue for the series. I am very excited that Terry Molloy’s narration/performance really reflects the vision the writers had for the characters. We all couldn’t be happier.”

The Forgotten Son by Andy Frankham-Allen is released next month (with a sample soon to appear on Fantom Films’ soundcloud page), followed by The Schizoid Earth by David A McIntee in March. The remaining two titles from series one, Beast of Fang Rock by Andy Frankham-Allen and Mutually Assured Domination by Nick Walters, will be released in June and July respectively. Paul WT Ballard, director of the audio range, says:

“Terry has done a brilliant job in bringing these stories to life, adding a whole new dimension to them with his skillful renditions.”

Terry Molloy has been a radio and voice actor for almost 43 years. He has played the character of Mike Tucker in BBC Radio 4’s The Archers since 1973, and since 1984, he has played Davros both on television and audio (including for Big Finish).

Andy Frankham-Allen, editor of the Lethbridge-Stewart range, says:

“The fans asked, and we listened. It’s a real delight to hear Terry Molloy bring the book, and indeed the characters, to life. Even though I wrote the first book, I found myself listening and wondering what was going to happen next. Such is the power of Terry’s rich performance.”

All four audiobooks are now available for pre-order directly from Fanton Films: £18.99 in the UK, and £22.99 overseas for the individual titles, including p&p, with bundles at £60.00 for the UK and £75.00 for overseas – that’s four titles for the price of three!

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Matt Smith Reacts to Steven Moffat’s Departure

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Matt Smith has given his thoughts on the news that Steven Moffat will depart the show after six series, with Broadchurch creator and Doctor Who writer Chris Chibnall stepping into the role of showrunner.

Smith who was giving a phone interview for his upcoming film Pride & Prejudice & Zombies when news broke of Moffat’s departure. Speaking to Guide Live, Smith, who began his career as the Doctor at the same time as Moffat took over praised his former show runner.

“I’m sad to see Steven Moffat leave,” Smith said. “He was a wonderful, wonderful asset to the show and I had the most amazing time with him. He’s a great friend, one of the greatest writers on the planet, and I think he’s just done wonders for Doctor Who. I’m forever indebted to him.”

It’s a wonderful tribute to the man that gave him his highest profile job at that point – and, how could he not – Matt was a wonderful Doctor and an ambassador for the show, and working with Moffat, the pair created some of the best episodes and moments we’ve seen in the shows long, illustrious history.

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies is released in US on February 5th and in the UK on February 11th.

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