Behind the Scenes of The Star Beast - Part Three
Excerpt from Benjamin Cook’s Star Beast Set Visit in DWM 597:
Meanwhile on set, Catherine Tate is struggling to carry a stack of cardboard boxes through the market. To be fair, it’s a lofty stack. Her vision is impaired. She cannot see. “I think this is the reason I don’t drive,” she says. “I’ve got no brain for spacial awareness. How do I look?”
“Amazing,” says Yasmin Finney (known as Yaz), who plays Donna’s daughter, Rose. “This is certainly a moment,” she adds.
“Yes, it is, thank you,” says Catherine, dropping the boxes. None of this is in the script. “How can I make it look like I know what I’m doing?”
Here’s what’s scripted: “Hold on. Hold on! Let me help,” says the Doctor, running over. He takes the top box and sees who it is – oh no!
“Thank you very much,” says Donna. Very calmly, the Doctor puts the box back. “Oi! Do you mind?!” she says. “If you’re finished playing games, mister.”
Despite “the incredible scope” – Rachel’s words [Rachel Talalay, director] – of this Camden shoot, it’s characterful moments like this one, the Doctor and Donna meeting again after all these years, that make The Star Beast’s hearts beat. “Actors of this calibre don’t lose sight of that,” says Rachel, “and neither must I. Russell has written it so brilliantly – I adore Russell – so I have to make sure these moments work. They’re the emotional core of this episode, and this is the moment we’ve all been waiting for: the Doctor and Donna, back together! Setting eyes on each other again…”
“Would I keep hold of the box?” wonders David. “I suppose I’ve got to be polite somehow.”
“I think it’s that or he runs away,” agrees Rachel. “Yeah, sure. No, absolutely.”
“Still looking good,” Yaz whispers to Catherine, encouragingly, as the boxes are re-stacked.
“I know,” Catherine whispers back, “I’m feeling damn fine. I think it’s the shoes.” She has a question for Rachel: “When I say, ‘This stuff’s not mine, it’s hers. Oh, where’s she gone? Rose! ROSE!’, am I looking at him” – this is David – “or at the boxes, or looking around for Yaz?”
“Well…” replies Rachel (this is the director’s lot: fielding dozens of question every minute), “I think you’d be looking at David, but what feels more natural? And when you do the very loud ‘ROSE!’, is that working for you both?”
“It’s working for me,” says David. “It’s quite weird, she’s shouting it in my face –”
“Donna’s in her own world, isn’t she?” says Catherine. “I like that.”
“I like that too,” says David.
So does Rachel. “I totally trust you guys’ instincts.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that,” says Catherine, with a chortle.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who posted set photos
I’ll post additional parts in the coming months with the #whoBtsBeast tag. The full episode list is [ here ]
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