David Chats To Chris Evans

CHRIS EVANS/DAVID TENNANT INTERVIEW BBC RADIO 2 BREAKFAST SHOW FRIDAY 19 AUGUST 2011
8.16 – DAVID CRIED AT BEACHES DT - on the movie Beaches 'I cried at that!'
8.24 – BEING A BEATLES FAN DT: I became a Beatles fan very late in life last year. I've always liked them but it was when I was in Alberquerque making this film, Fright Night. I went to Walmart and thought I need some cds to play in this apartment they've given me and picked up Let It Be and from then became obsessed, and since then I've become like a proper full on flag-waving Beatles fan.
CE: And what about Abbey Road - have you Abbey Roaded yet?
DT: Of course, yeah, it's brilliant. What I've also got into is Beatles rock band, have you played the game?
CE: No
DT: Where you play the, well you don’t play the guitar, you're just pressing buttons on a Playstation 3 but you feel like you have this guitar and you hang it over your (shoulder), and you feel like a rock star.
8.40 - DT - I kind of believe that I introduced Owl City to Britain rather pompously. I was in America and they were playing it on the radio all the time, and I loved it and bought the CD. And I came back here and I did a bunch of radio promotion. I think it was Jo Whiley's show and she said ‘what have you been listening to?’, so I said 'this great track by Owl City' and she'd never heard of it. If I'm ahead of Jo Whiley, I couldn't be further ahead of the curve! I played that record on her show and it was number one six weeks later. So they owe me big time.
CE - I think that's a claim that can be substantiated. Did Jo play it when you went on her show?
DT - I think it was Jo's show, unless it was Fearne’s show - It was one or the other, it was one of the two….
CE - You're doing what I just did! How do you think Jo will feel about that?
DT - Well, she won't mind. I don't want it to be investigated too thoroughly incase I'm disabused of the fact that I believe it was me
FRIGHT NIGHT PLOT 8.35ish
CE – David Tennant plays a reluctant vampire slayer who is in the middle of doing an illusion show in Las Vegas, you’ve collected all your anti-vampire things becaues your parents were slain in a time gone by…
DT – ooh that’s a spoiler given away Chris!
CE - I don’t know how much to give away?
DT - I don’t think that will kill it
CE - Have I just pierced a stake through the heart of the movie?
DT – I think that’s it! Our opening weekend has just deflated. It’s over!
CE - This is the thing when you’re interviewing, you don’t know how far to go with the plot! Can you give me some ‘don’t blow it’ guidelines?
DT - You’re supposed to say ‘your character has a deep secret in his past’ not come right out with what it is! (hysterical laughter)
CE – I’m genuinely sweating. what do I ask you now? I might just play a record, I’m bailing, I’m drowning….
8.40ish - APPEARING WITH HIS TOP OFF IN HIS NEW MOVIE
CE: You are very cut [buff] in this movie
DT: I'm really not cut!
CE: You spend the first 30 minutes of your appearance, all you have on is leather jeans and some kind of crucifix and that’s about it, you're pretty cut my friend. We were all very impressed
DT: No, no, in fact the director said to me he liked the scrawny British look - 'don't dare be going to the gym'
CE: That is not scrawny
DT: Listen when you're on set with Colin Farrell and Anton Yeltchin - all proper Hollywood gym body types
CE: But that’s the whole point, you can see the work that’s been done there
DT: Whereas with me, it looks careless?
CE: No, it’s natural, let's put it that way!
DT: It’s certainly natural, yeah
CE: So nothing done at all?
DT: My appendicitis scar there for the world to see
CE: Is that what it was, was that genuine?
DT: Yeah. Did you think that was a prosthetic?
CE: Well all I thought, when I saw your torso, your tummy, the centre of your very being, I thought 'where does his food go?' If you had a midget gem you'd see the outline of it. What happens with you and food?
DT: Again in America with the craft service, there's a rolling buffet on set at all times.
CE: That’s always tough isn't it? The smell wafting over the set, alluring you…
DT: Yeah, cheeky Snickers at 3 in the morning, yeah
8.53 David talks to Chris about how he holds back his emotions when acting … “You know I do actually have a hint for that, and do you know where I got it from, Esther Rantzen. I remember her when I was a kid doing 'That’s Life' and somebody interviewed her and said ‘what do you do when you want to cry’, and she said ‘I dig my finger nails into the palm of my hand and it just stops me going and I can carry on’, and she is absolutely right! And I have done that, it can also stop you laughing at the wrong moment as well. So you just have to grow your finger nails slightly long and dig them into the palm of your hand.”
8.42 David talks about the possibility of Fright Night sequels and the clauses for sequels in his contract… “I imagine, and again I’m new to all this, but I imagine it depends on how our opening weekend goes, which starts today (in US, two weeks time in the UK). I can’t speak for everyone else, I don’t know if I’m meant to divulge that information, it’s like top secret, there were clauses yes. I’ll still be there at 75, hopefully keeping my shirt on by then. There might be another couple.”
9.14 Jo Whiley on the phone re Owl City -
CE - David claims to have brought Owl City to the UK as an import
DT - I was hoping this wasn't going to be investigated too thoroughly!
Jo Whiley - You are the saviour of new music despite what anybody might say. People think I know about bands and I kind of hear about them and get tipped off about them and they go on to great success. The truth is, I'd never heard of Coldplay until you got in touch with me. You told me to check them out. You said 'Jo, there's a band called Oasis, have you heard of them' so I played them, they became a big success'. I heard it first from you. There was a band called Owl City, they had the song 'Fireflies'. I was listening to the Breakfast Show on Radio 1 and you were guests with Fearne Cotton, and you said 'Fearne, why don't you play Owl City Fireflies' - and she did! And then you came onto my show and said 'play Owl City Fireflies'. I'd never heard of it before, I played it, I owe it all to you.
DT - I am the power behind your throne Jo
CE - He's given you the same line he gave Fearne Cotton! You're getting second hand lines from the Tennant!
JW - My point precisely! Do I sound like a woman slighted?
DT - If it works for one, you just roll it on...
DAVID REVEALS HE PREFERS THEATRE TO MOVIES CE - Gun to your head - theatre or movies… DT - Oh don't make me choose! I started in the theatre, I could always go back to it
9.14 ON THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY CE - what's the worry ? DT - Cinema going is still going up. We are in the West End at the moment, it's sold out every night. I don't think there is a lack of appetite and people are willing to pay for what they like.