Smith Giving Everything He Has As The Doctor

Actor Matt Smith says when it comes to playing the Doctor, he has only one goal–to give the role his all.

“I go in, do 14 hours on set, then come home and learn lines. I’m saying reams of mad dialogue, and you can’t blag that, you have to know it inside out,” Smith tells the UK’s Esquire.

As for his take on the character and how he’ll feel the shoes left by David Tennant, Smith said his Doctor won’t settle down any time soon.

“It’s because he’s too busy,” said Smith. “He finds humans fascinating, but imagine if you’d traveled round for 900-plus years on your own with this great weight behind you. He’s an addict – if he stopped saving the world, he’d be in real trouble.”

And while Smith is giving his all to the role, he said being an actor wasn’t his first career choice. His first choice was to play football, but that injuries left him unable to pursue that goal.

Smith adds that playing the Doctor feels very natural to him and that, in some ways, he’s been preparing for the role for a long time.

“At university I had a big coloured scarf, and people would often say ‘All right, Doctor Who?’ And I thought, I rather liked the notion,” he said.

The Matt Smith era begins in April.