Him in the bow tie...

[elisi]

A long time ago (Feb 2010), a kind soul typed up an interview with Moffat from DWM. During the interview he spoke at some length about how Eleven's costume had come together, which I shall copy & paste for you:

DWM has heard a rumour that the new Doctor particularly enjoyed The Tomb of the Cybermen...

"He phoned me one evening about The Tomb of the Cybermen and he was on the phone for about 20 minutes!" Steven recalls. "Just raving about it, about how brilliant it was, and how fantastic it was and how much he loved Patrick Troughton. From that point on, I think the bow tie was a given. I don't think there was any getting out of it! [...] I'm absolutely certain from that point on that Matt was just going to wea a bow tie, whatever we did!"

So the bow tie was something that Matt particularly wanted? Was the costume and the overall 'look' for Matt's Doctor ultimately his choice then?

"Well, it's a bizarre story the whole thing..." Steven begins. "We were so far down the road with a completely different look. Costumes had been made, fittings done, we were heading towards the first photocall - mere days before the first day of filming. We had a different look altogether, a bit more piratey, big long coats and all that stuff - and Matt hated it all, so we knew we were in trouble. He hated everything. On the last day - in the last half an hour of the last day we could make this decision - he asked if he could try this jacket. I think it was his, this old tweedy jacket with elbow patches. So he put that on, and he liked that, he liked his tweed jacket and his elbow patches. Then he said, 'Could I try braces?' So he put the braces on, and I'm thinking, 'Yeah, that's not bad.' It wasn't spectacular, it was just okay.

"And then he said, 'Can I have a bow tie? And I said, 'Absolutely no. Under no circumstances are we having a bow tie! It's retro, outdated, ridiculous, it's a pantomime idea of what Doctor Who is like. We are not having a bow tie!' [LOL] But Piers said, 'Just let him try it with the bow tie.' So we stuck a bow tie on him and it just looked fantastic. Instantly! And you could tell that he, for the first time since the costume fitting started, was leaping around the room pretending his pen was a sonic screwdriver, and absolutely believing it! Beth [Willis, the third executive producer] had popped out for a while, so we got her back and I thought, well, 'Surely we've just gone mad, so let's see if Beth thinks this looks okay.' She came back in and she loved it. Girls sometimes just smack you round the head and say 'No, you can't wear that, it's ridiculous!' But she didn't - she loved it, too! And that's the reason I signed off on it that day. I mean, he's a clothes horse, Matt, he looks good in anything. But he just stood there in the other costumes chewing his lip and looking miserable. When he wore the bow tie and the braces and the tweedy jacket he was honestly jumping around the room with his pen going 'Fzzzt!' being Doctor Who. I still have the photographs on my iPhone. Here is the previous costume. Look at his face! Look how miserable he is."

Steven leans over to show DWM some pictures on his iPhone of Matt wearing a different costume. Matt does indeed look great - but not at all happy. We whiz through other photos before finally reaching the now familiar attire of the Eleventh Doctor.

"You just see the change in his mood from, frankly, being a bit miserable and convinced we were not going to get there... and suddenly he's happy! Can't take his eyes off himself. In love!"

We flick back to an earlier shot - to an outfit that look a little like something Captain Jack Sparrow wears in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

"He's absolutely not feeling it there," Steven recalls. "He said to me, 'Other people would dress the Doctor like that. I don't think the Doctor would ever dress himself like that.' And he's right. Cos the Doctor doesn't think he's going on an adventure... He thinks he's a scientist and an explorer and a fun guy. Matt's costume is distinct; it's lovable; it's accessible to children, they all think he's funny. One of the odd things about Matt is that if you make him look cool, he looks insanely cool, and the Doctor shouldn't look too cool. You want kids to run up to him and take his hand."

And guess what - SOMEONE POSTED THE PHOTOS! Just LOOK at him!. His sad little face... and then - MAGIC. Eleven! ♥ ♥ ♥

(Transcript of interviews here: Moff On Matt Part One and Moff On Matt Part Two.)

Comments

[owlboy]

Bawww. I'm having ''No more Matt'' pains again.

But I also really want to see the process of choosing an outfit for Capaldi.

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

yes to the "no more Matt" pain...he is too cute.

[elisi]

See below. MY HEART. (I am in complete denial btw.)

[elisi]

But yes. The outfit will tell us a LOT.

[owlboy]

pls hair grow back

[kikimay]

Matt, please, don't leave! *fangirl cries*
All my feelings.

[elisi]

I'm just going to post this gif EVERYWHERE.

[kikimay]

And I'm going to cry! Seriously, the other day I was posting just about that. I'm really curious about Capaldi, my Matt is my first Doctor love! çOç

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting that. didn't like him in the pirate gear at all!

[elisi]

My pleasure - and the pirate stuff was v. v. bad! I am so, so glad he put his foot down!

[eaweek.livejournal.com]

Wow, those pirate-y costumes are SO AWFUL! Really, really embarrassing. You can tell Matt felt miserable in them. They look good on him, but they don't look **Doctor** on him, and the outfit he ultimately went with just said "Dcctor" much more convincingly. Plus, it suits the scene in the hospital where he randomly pulls the outfit together. And the particulars did evolve over time, with the same basic look (bow tie, suspenders) staying the same.

It's also a "softer" look than the one Ten had (the commanding long coat) and certainly the look Nine had (buzzcut and black leather), much more suiting to his new personality.

Thanks so much for sharing this! I'd heard about the proposed "pirate" costume, but seeing the photos makes you realize what a mistake it would have been.

[elisi]

Yes, aren't they terrible? OK, the long coat (and the second to last picture with the waistcoat) are lovely, but they're lovely for Matt, not for the Doctor.

Plus as you say, the evolution. Like Matt noted, the Doctor would never choose the pirate outfit.

And so much more whimsical & like the older Doctors. Twelve could do a full Hartnell, and it'd be a perfectly smooth transition.

I couldn't not share! I still had the quotes from that interview in my head (three years later), and goodness, they were true.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

OMG, I've seen those pics!! And I have long loved this interview! Just...*squeals* Brilliant! Thank you for sharing...

I'm going to go sob now...I am having Feelings again.

[elisi]

Oh yes. Feelings. I know how those go... /o\

[geekslave.livejournal.com]

I love, love the bow tie and braces. But I have to admit I would not at all been upset with the outfit in the first picture.

LOL that pirate costume would have been a travesty.

Stacey

[elisi]

The first one just looks like Matt dressed up for some sort of occasion. It's not very Doctor-y, just swapping Ten's clothes for something of a different colour & cut.

Much like the one with the waistcoat is lovely of *Matt*, but not at all Doctor-y.

::loves the bowtie forever::

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

Aw, Matt! What continues to be hilarious to me, though, is how much I believe that *Matt* would wear any of those other combinations (the black coat/jacket even reminds me of the coat he was wearing on the S5 premiere tour, on Confidential), but they're absolutely wrong for his Doctor.

[elisi]

This. Matt's totally a hipster, and he looks good. But it's so, so un-Doctor-y...

[eaweek.livejournal.com]

My fave pic is the second row from the bottom, on the left. That's an amazing look on Matt... but so wrong for his Doctor.

[elisi]

Exactly my thoughts.

[promethia_tenk]

What were they thiiiiiiiiiinking???!!?

What would you call it when you're trapped between hopeless giggling and a dread knowledge of a horror narrowly escaped?

Am off to paint all day long--see you later!

[elisi]

What were they thiiiiiiiiiinking???!!?
I DON'T KNOW????

What would you call it when you're trapped between hopeless giggling and a dread knowledge of a horror narrowly escaped?
I don;t know, but it's definitely a thing.

And enjoy your painting - do we get before & after pictures?

[owlboy]

>>What would you call it when you're trapped between hopeless giggling and a dread knowledge of a horror narrowly escaped?

idk but i'm going to make this word happen

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

Eeee, thanks for sharing! That's a lovely story—all the vibes of excitement :D I love the first picture—not the others too much—but umpteenth'ing everyone, that's not the Doctor…
♥

[elisi]

It's funny how ubiqutous the bow tie has become... Here's Idris Elba on the possibility of him being Twelve (before the news about Capaldi):


"No I didn't think I'd be very good at Doctor Who man. I don't look good in a bow tie," he joked.

Speaking to BBC Newsbeat last week he laughed off his chances.

"And the clothes, ah man, I don't know."