Peter Capaldi compares what it was like working on Doctor Who and The Suicide Squad. Capaldi plays The Thinker in James Gunn's reimagining of David Ayer's Suicide Squad. Thinker is a title used by a variety of characters in DC's comics with a variety of powers often revolving around telekinesis, mind control, and an extremely high intelligence.
Capaldi played the Twelfth Doctor in Doctor Who from 2013 to 2017 and was accompanied by Jenna Coleman's Clara Oswald, Pearl Mackie's Bill Potts, and Matt Lucas' alien Nardole. He had previously appeared in the 2008 episode "The Fire of Pompeii" as Lobus Caecilius opposite David Tennant's Doctor, as well as in the spinoff Torchwood: Children of Earth in 2009 as civil servant John Frobisher. Interestingly, he was invited to audition for the role of the Eighth Doctor in 1995 for the 1996 TV-movie; the role eventually went to Paul McGann.
Speaking to Digital Spy, Capaldi compared battling aliens in Doctor Who and giant ones like Starro in The Suicide Squad. Capaldi noted how everything was different "because it was so much bigger". He also added that money was a huge difference, explaining that props and costumes on Doctor Who tended to fall apart, whereas in a big-budget Hollywood film like The Suicide Squad "everybody [looks] as good in real life as they look in the movies. They weren't all just held together with safety pins". You can read Capaldi's full statement below:
"[The Suicide Squad] was totally different [to Doctor Who] because it was so much bigger. I mean that everything about it was bigger, and also, you know, we had this incredible cast. I'd turn around and see, you know, Margot, and Idris and John, and David Dastmalchian, you know, they were just a sensational group of people to be around. And also there was more money! With Doctor Who, we don't really have enough – everything on Doctor Who falls to pieces, all of the props fall to pieces and the costumes have to be stuck together with duct tape and Velcro and stuff. With this, everybody looked as good in real life as they look in the movies. They weren't all just held together with safety pins."
While there will inevitably be a huge difference between funding for TV shows and blockbuster movies, Capaldi did claim that the low-budget nature of Doctor Who was one of thing he loved most about the show. He claimed that he enjoys "the kind of B movie, kind of cobbled together quality of it. That … there's never really quite enough money, but the ideas are often very special". A lifelong Doctor Who fan, the show will inevitably have a place in the actor's heart, but his belief that the B-Movie aspect of the show is one of the things that is most charming about Doctor Who is one many share. Moreover, it's often impressive how the show delivers genuinely unsettling and incredible effects on such a lower budget. That said, Capaldi did add that he appreciated working on a project "where they do have enough money to make the monsters look … scary."
The Suicide Squad certainly represents a marked step-up from Doctor Who in terms of production, and while they may seem vastly different they do possess similarities. Chiefly, they both come with a vast amount of loyal fans, and it's good to see Capaldi reaching across this barrier. It's unclear how involved the Thinker will be in the events of film, but his depiction in the trailers suggests he will be a later addition to the team. Fans will just have to wait until The Suicide Squad releases on August 6th to see how well he fairs alongside his fellow members of Task Force X.
Source: Digital Spy
