A question

[shivver]

So this question came up today - my husband asked me and my best friend, "Is Matt Smith handsome?" We both answered no, but the Doctor is charismatic and attractive.

What do you think? Objectively, without considering him playing the Doctor or any other role, or as himself (since from all I've seen, he's a very dynamic guy), is Matt Smith facially handsome?

We then talked a bit more about different actors, and my friend and I agreed on most points. Tennant's handsome, but not overwhelmingly so. (In fact, when telling my sister about him last week - she had no idea who he is - and showing her a picture, she said, "You think he's handsome??") Like Smith, he's far more handsome when backed by either personality or talent. Hiddleston is our favorite of the hyper-popular British actors (neither of us finds Cumberbatch handsome), and that took the conversation into the Avengers, where again, we both agreed that Chris Evans is best-looking of the bunch. I was actually surprised at how much she and I agreed; I thought she was more into the more rugged type of male face. I definitely prefer more boyish faces.

Comments

[shivver13.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! The charisma is the key. I think they did a good job with all of the Doctors, matching the actor to the Doctor they wanted to characterize, to let their charisma shine through. Just trying to imagine one actor playing a different Doctor, a lot of them just wouldn't work.

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

Completely agreeing :) They were just great fits! (I wonder if the actor choice didn't also strongly influence the characterization; that would depend on how casting vs. writing were timed.)

[shivver13.livejournal.com]

I think that in casting, for any production, it goes both ways. The director has an idea in mind what he wants to see in a character when they're doing auditions. For example, RTD has told the story that when he was casting for Casanova, he'd gone through tons of actors and none of them portrayed the character the way he wanted. Then he got DT's audition tape and started it going as he went to go make his tea or something, and he heard his words coming out exactly the way he wanted to hear them, and he knew he had his Casanova.

Once the actor is selected, he continues to refine the character to bring new ideas into it. In the case of ongoing writing, I'm sure that the actor, either passively or actively, influences what the writers do with his character. I know that DT had considerable influence over the story and dialogue while he was on DW, and that RTD consulted him all the time about whether or not something would be suitable for the Doctor. Matt Smith did the same for his Doctor, and I'm sure Peter Capaldi isn't any different.

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

That sounds quite accurate to me, yes… :)