advertisement

'Doctor Who' star David Tennant changes sides in Netflix's 'Jessica Jones'

David Tennant well knows the way of the geek. The Scottish actor, so widely recognized as the Tenth Doctor by passionate “Doctor Who” fans, looks upon the Hollywood proliferation of live-action comic-book adaptations and understands.

That's because since boyhood, Tennant has been a fan of the source form.

“As I've watched the Marvel Cinematic Universe bloom and grow and take root over recent years, I've wondered if there might be some way I (could) show up in there,” Tennant said. “So it was very exciting to get the call.”

That call offered Tennant the chance to join the MCU in Marvel's newest Netflix show, “Jessica Jones,” landing Friday. He plays the sinister Kilgrave and describes him as a “nice, juicy villain” with an “extraordinary facility for compelling people to do whatever he likes.”

“What I liked about (Kilgrave was), he wasn't a villain who was trying to take over the world,” Tennant said. “His goals are much more selfish.”

“Jessica Jones” will dive into the villain's ability to dictate everything around him by the power of suggestion. And he exercises this mind control in the gritty, urban world of Jessica Jones' (Krysten Ritter) Hell's Kitchen, which is just coming to terms with the fact that there's a guy in a red devil suit fighting crime on rooftops.

As “Jessica Jones” aims to at least match the success of its Marvel/Netflix predecessor, “Daredevil,” Tennant believes in the brains behind the show. And he thinks the keys to Marvel/Netflix's success in their live-action collaboration is having producers who, with genuine comics backgrounds, provide knowing authenticity for die-hard fans.

“Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe is reaching out into a whole new mass audience, it's being done with a real respect and a love for the source material,” Tennant said.

One aspect of the “source material” that didn't make it to Tennant's role as Kilgrave is purple skin. Instead, he will wear lots of purple clothes.

“It was explained to me very early on that I was not going to be painted purple,” Tennant joked. “I think it was decided before I came on board that painting someone purple would perhaps be on the fantastical end of things, which is not the kind of world they're trying to create in ‘Jessica Jones.'”

What really makes Kilgrave tick is a singular obsession. A man who can have anything he wants is someone who can get bored pretty quickly. So if you're someone who everyone always says yes to, what's the one thing you have a chance of being obsessed with? How about the person that got far enough away to say no.

Enter Jessica Jones.

As a past Doctor Who who has plenty of experience getting cheers from a fan base, Tennant said that being on the evil side of things has advantages.

“There's always something very tempting about the villains because they have the liberty of immorality,” Tennant said. “They get to go to all the places that the hero can never go to. And there's something rather appealing about that.”

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.