Doctor Who 'to be made into film'

[CaptainLewis]

Dr Who is to be taken to the big screen by Harry Potter director David Yates.

Yates, who directed the last four Potter films, told Variety that he is about to start work on developing a "Doctor Who" film with the BBC.

He told the showbiz magazine that the film would take a fresh approach to the cult sci-fi show.

"We're going to spend two to three years to get it right. It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena," he said.

"Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch," he said.

Yates is reported to be working with the head of LA-based BBC Worldwide Productions, Jane Tranter.

A BBC spokesman said: "A Doctor Who feature film remains in development with BBC Worldwide Productions in Los Angeles. T

"The project is unlikely to reach cinemas for several years and as yet there is no script, cast or production crew in place."

Doctor Who began in 1963, and seven actors played the Doctor before the show was dropped in 1989.

After a TV movie in 1996 - starring Paul McGann - the TV series returned in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston in the lead role. David Tennant took over in the same year.

The sixth series of Doctor Who, starring Matt Smith as the Doctor, broadcast on BBC earlier this year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15730665

[Kristatos]

I think I've just come.

[Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry]

Great news!

[Blowfeld]

Very exciting! They have been talking about doing this for years and years. I wonder if it will be a new story starting from the beginning, or possibly picking up with say the 8th Doctor to tell the story of the Time War.
If not bring back David.

[Kristatos]

Very exciting! They have been talking about doing this for years and years. I wonder if it will be a new story starting from the beginning, or possibly picking up with say the 8th Doctor to tell the story of the Time War.
If not bring back David.

If I was doing a stand-alone movie independent of the TV series, I'd do a prequel with the First Doctor as a young Time Lord, a mere stripling of 300-400 years old. Sadly, nobody's asked me. Don't know who would play him. Here's a photo of a young William Hartnell, so it would be someone who looked like this:

[Blowfeld]

David Yates Talks 'Doctor Who' Movie: 'It's Exciting!'
Posted 12/1/11 10:10 am ET by Josh Wigler in News
"Doctor Who" fans were in for one heck of a shock last month when it was revealed that "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" filmmaker David Yates would be bringing a new vision of "Who" to the big screen in the next three or so years. Few details were known at the time: no actors or writers were attached, plot details were completely under wraps, with only the vaguest sense that Yates' take on "Who" wouldn't hinge on the Doctor's previously established continuity.

MTV News staff writer Kara Warner caught up with Yates on the red carpet at the BAFTA Los Angeles 2011 Britannia Awards, and the director confirmed that the search is very much on for a writer to tackle the "Doctor Who" script.

"I can't really talk about that because its such a long way away," Yates told MTV News. "We're principally looking for a writer, and we'll start with that. Everything has to start with a great script, so that's more important than [casting]."


So if you're hoping for Yates to already have his eye on one of his many "Potter" friends to play the Time Lord, no such luck—at least at the moment, Yates isn't talking about putting Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes or any other number of his famous actor pals in the Doctor's shoes. One can hope, though!

Of course, not everyone is on board with Yates' plans for "Doctor Who." But having directed the final four installments of the "Harry Potter" movie franchise, Yates says he isn't too worried about pressure from the fans.

"I've lived with pressure for so long. What's pressure? I don't know anymore! It's fine, it's good," he said, looking only at the positives. "It's such a wonderful character and such a wonderful world. It's exciting."

For now, Yates is taking his time with "Who," and enjoying some much earned rest after finishing his work on the "Potter" films.

"It's a long journey and we're going to take our time with it," said Yates. "Right now I'm looking forward to a vacation, frankly!"

[Blowfeld]

Very exciting! They have been talking about doing this for years and years. I wonder if it will be a new story starting from the beginning, or possibly picking up with say the 8th Doctor to tell the story of the Time War.
If not bring back David.

If I was doing a stand-alone movie independent of the TV series, I'd do a prequel with the First Doctor as a young Time Lord, a mere stripling of 300-400 years old. Sadly, nobody's asked me. Don't know who would play him. Here's a photo of a young William Hartnell, so it would be someone who looked like this:

I hope they follow the show to a certain degree. A young Hartnell would be nice, once years ago as a class project we had an idea for a 2nd Doctor story (set during the time period where he was captured and about to be executed by the Time Lords) the idea we had was to find a actor similar enough to the 2nd Doctor and have a recent companion (Ace after the 7th Doctor got her enrolled at the Time lord academy) meeting him and being surprised he looks different than she imagined, we explained it away by the Time Lord Matrix making the images on file an amalgamation of memories of the Doctor. Terrence Dicks later had a similar idea for using the 2nd Doctor with one of his PDA books (no need for explaining a different actor in the books). He could not have stolen the idea so I pat myself on the back for participating in an idea years later the Official BBC series would use.

[Blowfeld]

Doctor Who EP Steven Moffat has moved to confirm that the much buzzed about Doctor Who movie will be within the continuity of the television series.

We got wind of this confirmation last week, but it was buried in an extensive interview. In case you missed it, Moffat reiterates the good news in this interview with BBC Breakfast:

“David Yates, a very brilliant director talking off the cuff and slightly off-message. We’re not gonna do a film of the nature that he described, which would be rebooting the story and having a different Doctor and be in a different continuity — that would never happen, that would be insane and that would be insulting to the audience.”

“I hope one day we will do a film, maybe even soon, but it will be very much an off-shoot of the television series with the same Doctor and all that.”

Same Doctor and all of that, yikes. No. Keep the continuity, use McGann or Tennant. Let Smith stay on the telly and try not to confuse the series and movies.