I thought "The Bank Job" was decent. I liked the second half of the movie better then the first half but on the whole I have to agree - Statham was great in the movie 
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He's like fire, ice and rage. He's like the night, and the storm in the heart of the sun.
He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.
And he's wonderful. -
The Times has an interview with RTD today. Haven't time to read it yet, will post later if it's any good.
MadeleineComment
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Thanks for the heads up
He's like fire, ice and rage. He's like the night, and the storm in the heart of the sun.
He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.
And he's wonderful.Comment
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Sorry, not an interview, but an extract from his forthcoming book, which is a collection of e-mails between him and a DWM writer.
Dennis Hopper wanted to be in the 2007 Christmas Special but wasn't available for enough days. (He was mooted for the part that became Mr Copper.) RTD wanted a JK Rowling themed 2008 Christmas Special, but that was knocked on the head because it would have either been brilliant or a dodgy Blue Peter crossover type thing. The news about the hiatus was supposed to be broken very strategically, but it came out a day too soon by accident, when the RSC released their list of forthcoming productions and DT's name was there.
More of the excerpts tomorrow.
MadeleineComment
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I just read through it. That was interesting. Nothing new really but interesting:
From The Times
September 15, 2008
Doctor Who's secrets revealed, by Russell T. Davies
Last year, Russell T. Davies, who revived Doctor Who, began to work on a book about the final series with the journalist Benjamin Cook. Their e-mail exchange provides a unique insight into the show - and reveals some of its most closely-guarded secrets
How I write
From: Russell T.Davies To: Benjamin Cook Sunday February 18, 2007 12:41:59 GMT
There's little physical evidence of the script process to show you. No notes. Nothing. I think, and think, and think...and by the time I come to write, a lot has been decided. Also, a lot hasn't been decided, but I trust myself, and scare myself, that it'll happen in the actual writing. It all exists in my head, but in this soup. It's like the ideas are fluctuating in this great big quantum state of Maybe. The choices look easy when recounted later, but that's hindsight. When nothing is real and nothing is fixed, it can go anywhere. The Maybe is a hell of a place to live. As well as being the best place in the world.
I filter through all those thoughts, but that's rarely sitting at my desk, if ever. It's all done walking about, going to town, having tea and watching telly. The rest of your life becomes just the surface, chattering away on top of the Maybe...and the doubts. That's where this job is knackering and debilitating. Everything - and I mean every story ever written anywhere - is underscored by the constant murmur of: this is rubbish, I am rubbish, and this is due in on Tuesday! The hardest part of writing is the writing.
Monstrous impulses
From: Russell T.Davies To: Benjamin Cook
Thursday February 22, 2007 16:46:33 GMT
When I read about other writers' seething fury or alcoholism or whatever, I actually think, blimey, I'm so vanilla. But I'm just barmy in different ways, I suppose. I had a hell of a time from my mid-20s to mid-30s. Well, everyone does. But I was compulsive and obsessive, and that can get dangerous. I was out every night - really, every night, even Sundays - dancing, drinking and off my head on God knows what. I'd be out till five in the morning, get into work at Granada at nine, throw up in the toilets, then go and be brilliant at my job. What a time! It was madness (I'll draw a veil over a lot of it or this'll never be printed). Then I had one calamitous night in 1997, three days after the death of Princess Diana. I actually, really, remember thinking, Jesus, if I die, I won't even make a minor headline, it's all Diana! But that cleaned me up completely. No therapy, no nothing. Just stopped. Well, no, not straight away, it took me three more years, but I got there in the end. I hardly even drink any more. God, I miss it. Really. Compulsive obsessive.
From: Russell T. Davies To: Benjamin Cook
Monday February 26, 2007 01:51:01 GMT
In a crisis, another sly snake of a voice starts wheedling away. “Go out and get off your head, then you'll think of a good idea,” it says. I used to do that, go out drinking in a crisis. I used to believe it worked...Bad voice. But it's always there. And I'm not 100 per cent clean. I don't want to sound like a saint here. Once a year or so, I still go out, on my own, I do get slaughtered, I end up God- knows-where... ha ha, pathetic... but then I can lock it away again.
I thought I'd tell you this because, well, that's the contract, and the things that are past are never really past; they're still going on in my head, all the time. But they're under control now.
Hollywood calling
From: Russell T. Davies To: Benjamin Cook
Wednesday March 7, 2007 12:06:51 GMT
Right. Mental Tuesday. First up, we got interest from Dennis Hopper. Yes, the Dennis Hopper. American movie star Dennis Hopper!...What a showbiz tale! I could fit Dennis Hopper into 4.X, maybe, if I can work out who he can play. A nice little cameo? Or a proper big part, I don't know, like the ship's historian? Mind you, we should be so lucky. I'll believe it when I see it. Secondly, back in the world of hard facts, Julie [Gardner, executive producer] said that Billie Piper is up for doing four episodes next year.
Breaking the news
From: Russell T. Davies To: Benjamin Cook
Tuesday March 13, 2007 22:27:29 GMT
I had to go into Peter Fincham's [Controller of BBC One, 2005-2007] extremely posh office today, and explain why I will not be doing a Series Five. Ohh, he's not happy. It was very awkward. Mind you, it did strike me that he has no idea how much work Doctor Who actually is, how much work I actually do, and absolutely no awareness of the fact that so many of us have had to up sticks and live in Cardiff for years on bloody end. Instead, he just supports us with money and publicity and trust and...oh, I shouldn't complain, should I?
Step back in Time
From: Russell T. Davies To: Benjamin Cook
Saturday March 24, 2007 16:44:56 GMT
The press launch [for Series Three] was brilliant...And The Times' Caitlin Moran was there, too. Did you see her? She said to me: “You always write about unrequited love.” I've been thinking about that a lot since. Not sure what it says about me. Not sure that it's healthy.
Kylie Minogue wants to appear in Doctor Who. Yes, Kylie Minogue! Ha ha ha ha. I wish I could see your face as you read that sentence...Plus, on Monday, I've got to phone Dennis Hopper, who is interested. This is so weird. Kylie Minogue and Dennis Hopper!
Panic stations
From: Benjamin Cook To: Russell T. Davies
Monday April 2, 2007 10:31:53 GMT
How do you know when to start writing?
From: Russell T. Davies To: Benjamin Cook
Tuesday April 3, 2007 02:34:17 GMT
I leave it till the last minute. And then I leave it some more. Eventually, I leave it till I'm desperate. That's really the word, desperate. I always think, I'm not ready to write it, I don't know what I'm doing, it's just a jumble of thoughts in a state of flux, there's no story, I don't know how A connects to B, I don't know anything! I get myself into a genuine state of panic. Except panic sounds exciting. It sounds all running-around and adrenalised. This is more like a black cloud of fear and failure.
Separation anxiety
From: Russell T. Davies To: Benjamin Cook
Wednesday April 11, 2007 23:48:42 GMT
Lordy, what a night! Jane Tranter [BBC One Controller of Fiction] came to Cardiff this afternoon for a read-through, but then she asked if she could come round my flat tonight, with Julie, for “a chat”, which they did. The chat was to formally convey from the Sixth Floor of the BBC that they want me to stay for a fifth series. The three of us have talked about this before, loads of times, but Jane felt that she'd never really been “offcial” about it. I still said no. It's not about the money, and Jane and Julie both know that.
From: Benjamin Cook To: Russell T. Davies
Thursday April 12, 2007 02:40:08 GMT
Tell 'em that you'll stay on for three million quid and Freddie Ljungberg on a serving dish! Go on, just for a laugh. See what they say. You are probably right to decline, but were you tempted? Just a little bit tempted?
From: Russell T. Davies To: Benjamin Cook
Thursday April 12, 2007 03:19:05 GMT
Tempted? To do a fifth series? Not for a second. Weird, isn't it? I'm going to go to bed and think that through, and wonder why that is exactly. I'm not sure. I think, really, it's because the option is untenable, because way back, around the time that we filmed Doomsday, we promised this course of action to David. And to each other. We decided that we'd have a fourth series (David's third), with a big ending, after which we'd take the show off air, just for a short while, apart from the odd special, so that we could have a breather, and a new production team could settle in, find its feet, and prepare for Series Five. And there's all sorts of other plans, for the future, but...I'm almost superstitious about putting things into print.
Doctor New?
Note: Kylie has agreed to star alongside David Tennant in the 2007 Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned, and Davies and his team are finalising the casting.
From: Russell T .Davies To: Benjamin Cook
Tuesday June 26, 2007 23:13:50 GMT
A read-through with Kylie Minogue! Marvellous, isn't it? She's going to watch Last of the Time Lords on Saturday with David. Madder and madder! And we've cast Clive Swift as Mr Copper. That's brilliant! (Dennis Hopper, it turned out, isn't available for that many days.) And Geoffrey Palmer is Captain Hardaker, which is glorious. Also, Russell Tovey as Midshipman Frame, which is my favourite casting of the lot, because he's going to be huge, that man. He's amazing. I think I'd make him the Eleventh Doctor.
Russell regenerated
Note: Davies has stuck to his guns - he will leave Dr Who. His choice of replacement is Steven Moffat, guest writer on earlier episodes From: Russell T. Davies To: Benjamin Cook
Thursday July 12, 2007 21:35:06 GMT
I just e-mailed Moffat and finally spoke about the Elephant in the Room. I asked him: is he interested in the job? I'm fascinated to know what his reply will be. As is the whole Doctor Who-loving world.
(cont)He's like fire, ice and rage. He's like the night, and the storm in the heart of the sun.
He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.
And he's wonderful.Comment
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J.K. Who?
Note: Davies is working on his ideas for this year's Christmas special
From: Russell T. Davies
To: Benjamin Cook
Sunday July 29, 2007 20:21:48 GMT
I had an idea on holiday. Such a mad idea that I phoned Julie, to start setting it in motion. I was in the shower on Saturday morning (you may avert your eyes), thinking about how much I'd enjoyed that last Harry Potter book, how I'd love to write something like that, remembering that, back in 2004, I asked J.K.Rowling to write an episode of Doctor Who, though she politely declined, and reflecting that we can't possibly get someone to star in next year's Christmas Special who's as famous as Kylie...when all those things coalesced. BAM! I thought, don't ask J.K. to write a Doctor Who, ask her to be in a Doctor Who! We've done Dickens, Shakespeare, Agatha Christie...why should kids think that all great authors are dead? Imagine it. A cold Edinburgh Christmas Eve. J.K.Rowling walking through the snow, pursued by a journalist. “What are you going to write after Harry Potter?”
The diffcult second album...Later, J.K. sits down to write. At the same time, a Space Bug (maybe the same as Donna's time-psych creature in 4.11), probably put there by the Rita Skeeter-type journalist, leaps onto her back. ZAP!
J.K.'s imagination becomes real! A world of Victorian magic replaces the present-day world. The Doctor arrives and has to battle through a world of witches and wizards, with wands and spells and CGI wonders, to reach J.K. Rowling at the heart of it all... That's either brilliant or more like a Blue Peter crossover.
But worth trying. It's different, certainly. So, Julie is trying to set up a meeting with J.K. ...Imagine those opening titles: DAVID TENNANT flying at you, then J.K.ROWLING!...Imagine the Doctor in a world of magic made real - that would be glorious. So, there we go. That's under way.
From: Russell T. Davies
To: Benjamin Cook
Tuesday August 21, 2007 23:04:21 GMT
Christmas 2008 is steaming up on the horizon! I should be writing that in January. That's like tomorrow! That could be J.K. Rowling, or Cybermen in Victorian London [This was Davies's first idea]. David doesn't like the J.K. idea, he thinks it sounds like a spoof, so we've paused slightly, wondering whether to win him round or just abandon something that he's not going to be happy with. We've got to keep him happy. He keeps us happy. (You should see the rushes of him and Catherine [Tate] chasing Agatha Christie in vintage cars - it's a hoot!) Plus, he might be right. So that idea has parked itself, while Julie tries to find ways to approach J.K. anyway. And I doubt we'd ever get J.K. - she doesn't need to do it - so Cybermen in the snow are hauling themselves back into my head.
Shakespearean tragedy
Note: The BBC has been preparing to announce the forthcoming schedule for Doctor Who, after speculation that David Tennant is to leave the series. Davies' departure means that after this year's Christmas special there will be only two specials in 2009 before a new full series in 2010 - under the control of Davies' successor. Unexpectedly, the announcement has to be brought forward
From: Benjamin Cook
To: Russell T. Davies
Monday September 3, 2007 15:33:52 GMT
“No Doctor Who return until 2010,” declares BBC News. “Doctor Who to return for fifth series in 2010,” says the official Doctor Who website.
From: Russell T. Davies
To: Benjamin Cook
Monday September 3, 2007 15:54:06 GMT
The weeks of work that bloody press release has taken! The RSC was going to announce that David is doing Hamlet, at a press conference on 11 September, so everything was timed for then...until the RSC brochure was sent out last week, mentioning David! Clearly, their PR is as good as ours. Numbskulls.
More separation anxiety
From: Russell T. Davies
To: Benjamin Cook
Wednesday September 5, 2007 01:39:29 GMT
It's all hitting the fan over Monday's press release. If I told you all the shenanigans, I'd have to type for 500 hours. Peter Fincham, having been talked through our plans for 2009 so many times, is reacting to the press release like it's brand new information. Seriously! Since this stupid Queen business, he's in siege mentality. [Launching the BBCs' autumn schedule in July 2007, BBC One controller Peter Fincham told journalists that a trailer for the documentary A Year with the Queen showed the Queen “walking out in a huff” from a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz. He was unaware that the footage had been misleadingly edited and showed the Queen walking in, not out. The BBC ordered an internal investigation and apologised to the Queen. Fincham admitted the mistake - but did not initially resign.] He's been phoning up Julie: “Why are we doing this?! Why?!” Maybe I'm getting paranoid, but I reckon if it escalates one more notch, just one, then his next step is to overrule Jane Tranter, magic a new production team out of nowhere, and have a complete new series in 2009. That's how much of an emergency it is. Interesting times.
From: Russell T. Davies
To: Benjamin Cook
Friday September 21, 2007 23:41:24 GMT
We saw the half-finished FX on 4.X today. The Titanic sailing over Buckingham Palace is so brilliant, we stood up and clapped! Amazing. We also realised, for the first time, that since the BBC's trouble with the Queen, it's probably a very good thing that we didn't trash the Palace after all. Phew.
©Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook 2008.
Extracted from Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale, to be published by BBC Books on September 25, RRP £30. Available from TimesBooksFirst for £27, free p&p. 0870 1608080; timesonline.co.uk/booksfirst
Doctor Who will return for a Christmas special.He's like fire, ice and rage. He's like the night, and the storm in the heart of the sun.
He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.
And he's wonderful.Comment
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That could have been either positively brilliant or absolutely awful (in imagination at least it's brilliant). Either way might have been worth seeing them give it a shot.Originally posted by huntress View Post
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Title of the Christmas special revealed -Spoiler:
That and the bits published about it from RTD's book make me squee. Which is good. I'm still depressed over my seminar paper so I need some squeeage.Pinky, are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Yes, I am!
sigpicImproved and unfuzzy banner being the result of more of Caldwell's 2IC sick, yet genuis, mind.
Help Pitry win a competition! Listen to Kula Shaker's new single Peter Pan R.I.P
Comment
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What the.....?Originally posted by Pitry View Post I thought David Tennant would stay for the specials and that talks regarding the fifth series have not yet ended.
He's like fire, ice and rage. He's like the night, and the storm in the heart of the sun.
He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.
And he's wonderful.Comment
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Originally posted by huntress View PostWhat the.....? I thought David Tennant would stay for the specials and that talks regarding the fifth series have not yet ended.Spoiler:Comment
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Spoiler:Pinky, are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Yes, I am!
sigpicImproved and unfuzzy banner being the result of more of Caldwell's 2IC sick, yet genuis, mind.
Help Pitry win a competition! Listen to Kula Shaker's new single Peter Pan R.I.P
Comment
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Spoiler:
MadeleineComment
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sigpic
Long before you and I were born, others beat these benches with their empty cups,
To the night and its stars, to the here and now with who we are.
Another sunrise with my sad captains, with who I choose to lose my mind,
And if it's all we only pass this way but once, what a perfect waste of time.Comment
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Anyone here plowing their way through Trial of a Timelord?
Anyone spotted the links to the new series in Mindwarp?Comment
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