Karen drifts off into space

Everyone's talking about Karen's forthcoming role playing Jean Shrimpton in a dramatisation of her affair with photographer David Bailey - We'll Take Manhattan airs this month on BBC4.

The Guardian (or is the Observer?) has a wee interview with the lass here, including this very strange picture of Karen remembering that she's left the oven on whilst pretending to be... well we're not sure what, a fairy cake perhaps.

Anyway, here's a little snippet for anyone too lazy to click the link...

What does she find relaxing? "Space!" Space? As in… "Space! I went to the Royal Observatory the other day, and looked through the biggest telescope in the UK. I saw a star from 47 years in the past. Hang on…" She leaps up to find her phone and shows me her screensaver, a photo of Saturn.

"Yep, space excites me. My dream is to go to space. And dreams – I find the meanings of dreams very interesting. And the brain. Did you know the brain has three layers, and when we're drunk, we revert to the bottom layer, which is only interested in eating, sleeping and 'meeting a partner'. And music connects to that layer, that bottom layer! Did you know that?" No! What would she be if not an actor? Would she go back to college, study science? "I'd be a hypnotist, like Paul McKenna. I'd make people feel like they are in love."

Though she's "relieved" to be leaving Dr Who in the next series, there's some time before she has to think about a career change. However much she tries to suppress it – staying off the red carpets, staying out of the taxis and arms of fellow actors – her fame is growing. She is just back from meetings in LA, "which were pretty weird, actually. In Britain they try and actually dissect your personality – over there they just want to see what you can do."

Can she imagine moving out to Hollywood? What would she do? How would she change? She thinks for a second, and curls a wisp of her ketchup-coloured hair around a long white finger. "I think," she says, slowly, "I think I'd stay in the shade."


Karen jumps for joy at not having to pretend to understand the Moff's timey-wimey scripts anymore. [Photos by Alan Clarke for the Observer]

Gillan talks about departure from Who

Speaking on 'The Graham Norton Show', Karen Gillan admitted it's a "massive relief" to finally be able to discuss her alter-ego's departure from the series. "I've known about it for ages. It's such a massive relief that [the news] is out and I can speak freely about it.

"I'm back next year for a few episodes but it's not actually confirmed when I go."

Karen will depart 'Doctor Who' alongside her on-screen husband Arthur Darvill - who plays Rory Pond - and show boss Steven Moffat has previously revealed the pair's exit will be "heartbreaking".

He said: "The Ponds will be rejoining us next series. But the final days of the Ponds are coming, I am not telling you when and I won't say how. But that story is going to come to a heartbreaking end."

Meanwhile, the flame-haired actress has admitted she wants her alter-ego to be killed off so she can be remembered as a "good" companion to the time-travelling Doctor.

She recently said: "Death would be an option. I don't want Amy to pop up again every so often, because for me it would take away from the big, emotional goodbye.

"Once she's gone, she's gone. I want people to remember the Amy Pond era as a good one."

Karen, not falling around drunk or anything

Few days ago we posted a nice little quote from the lovely Karen Gillan...

"You’ve got to have your own life and do what you want to do, but it is something I take into consideration and I wouldn’t want to fall around drunk or anything."

Good excuse for this little collection of gems I think...






Now don't get me wrong - I have no problem with Karen, or anyone, go out and getting a bit sloshed. Or walking around hotels semi-naked... but just as long as she scrubs up well for filming the next day, that's all... and generally speaking she does!

A while back we read that Karen called Matt a 'drunken giraffe'... I've been wracking my brain for a similar analogy for the lovely Karen, but have yet to find the right one... any ideas?

Karen says it all

Here's some pics of Karen Gillan from ShortList.com (see original, with more pics, here). Think it's an old interview/photoshoot, just using the new series as a good excuse to show them again, and who can blame them.



The best quote? This one...

"You’ve got to have your own life and do what you want to do, but it is something I take into consideration and I wouldn’t want to fall around drunk or anything."

No you wouldn't, would you Karen.

Pond on Pond

No Dalek in sight but no reason why we can't have legs without daleks... what is he on about you wonder. What is he on would be a better question.

Pic from WhoFix, who have a much better caption than my waffle...

Princess Amy

I tend to ignore fan based stuff on this blog (OK, with the exception of 'Daleks with legs' and a few other obsessions) and stick to the offical Who stuff, but this one's just too good to ignore...

Image by by Tryblue. Original source here, and the now standard nod to Combom here.

Karen Gillan: Obsessive fans, short skirts and life with Doctor Who

Karen Gillan: Obsessive fans, short skirts and life with Doctor Who
Interview by Gerard Gilbert
Saturday, 7 May 2011

The boiled down bits...

Matt Smith has playfully likened his co-star to a praying mantis.

Gillan's audition for the role involved a clandestine visit to BBC Television Centre, where she had to give the receptionist the password "panic moon" ("it's an anagram of companion").

She didn't tell her mother that she'd won the role because her mum is a "proper diehard Whovian. She's got a Tardis money-bag, and Dalek bubble-bath" and might have blabbed.


A happy redhead.

Her main memory of school is of being teased for being a redhead. "I don't know why, though, there are loads of us in Scotland. It's almost a majority," she laughs. "I was teased but it's OK, because I used to like my hair even at that age." In fact, Amy Pond has become something of a role model for young redheads. "I get letters from them – it makes me really happy."

The Pilgrim in Kennington will perhaps one day live up to its name and become a destination for Whovian tour groups, Gillan having worked behind the bar there for a year.


Karen in her pub working days. Or is that a club?

Her innocence in such matters as obsessive fans will eventually wear off, no doubt...

Life in Cardiff sounds almost monastic, even with the odd jaunt such as a recent one to see Arcade Fire in concert (Smith was mobbed apparently, but Gillan left to dance unmolested). "Filming the show becomes your life in a way and I really worry that I don't have anything else to talk about," she says. "Everything's Doctor Who. We don't have a social life or anything, because you just can't, and film the next day.


Karen, presumably snapped in her empty bedsit in Cardiff. Poor, depressed struggling actress needs cheering up. Call...


"I watch stuff on YouTube every night – that's what I do in the hour that we have between filming and looking forward to our houmous and Nairn's oatcakes. That's what Matt and I have in the evenings... it's depressing," she laughs.

Source

Sounds like Karen doesn't watch cooking clips on You Tube. I'm a bit worried about those two living like a pair of pikey students in Cardiff. So worried I might start making my own cooking lesson vids for them and post them on YouTube. If only I could cook. Or had a video camera. Perhaps they should do a 'Come Dine with Me' Who Special and share the cooking amongst them. I bet Rory's an untamed force in the kitchen.

Anyway, glad to hear Karen's not out and about in Cardiff on school nights. Guess she learnt that during her first season.

Oh, and I missed out the bits about her boyfriend - we're gonna carry on pretending he doesn't exist...