thoughts on casting Eleven

[dbskyler]

I mostly haven't even been following the fan-wank over Matt Smith being cast as the 11th Doctor, but one of the things that's struck me about the arguments over why other actors would have been better is that the arguers seem to be going primarily on look and gravitas. For example, I saw one post about how great Patrick Stewart would be. Now I think Patrick Stewart is a fantastic actor, but I think he would be a terrible Doctor. Because you don't just need someone who can be stern and commanding, you also need someone who can be silly and immature. In fact, you need someone who can go from one to the other in a heartbeat. And that doesn't just take a good actor, it takes a very particular type of actor. It reminds me of something I read about the casting for the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." For that movie, the lead actor had to do a lot of scenes against nothing -- imagining a character who was later animated in. In the newspaper article I read, the person in charge of casting for the movie said there were a lot of big-name, very (deservedly) respected actors who just couldn't do it. They couldn't act against nothing. That doesn't mean they're not still good actors, it just means they don't have that particular very specialized skill. I think the part of the Doctor is similar; it requires a special skill that a lot of actors, through no fault of their own, don't happen to have.

But I'm guessing Matt Smith has it.

Either way, we'll find out -- and no matter what, the Doctor will eventually regenerate again. So really, what's all the fuss about?