David Yates still working on Doctor Who movie

Harry Potter director David Yates has insisted he is still working on the proposed Doctor Who movie but doesn’t expect it to materialise at cinemas any time soon.

Last year the press got all it excited when it was revealed that the BBC were developing a Doctor Who movie and that Harry Potter’s David Yates would helm the project. The fact that the BBC were developing a Doctor Who movie shouldn’t really have come as a surprise to the press – the BBC have been pushing in that direction for years but the project had become been stuck in ‘development hell’.

When David Yates name became associated with the project the press began speculating that the movie would be a reboot of the television series rather than a spin-off and would not star Matt Smith – or the current doctor at the time of its release. Predictably the press began to speculate as to whom would be cast in a big-screen version of Doctor Who. However, in the months since news regarding the project has all but dried up – until now.

In a new interview with Bleeding Cool director David Yates has revealed he is still working on the project but, crucially, he expects it to take five or six years to develop! ‘I’m definitely doing a Doctor Who movie. But I think where everyone got confused was that we’re not making it for five years, or six years—it’s a very slow development. I’ve got projects backed up between now and about 2015, and it’s something I’m very passionate and excited about.’

Yates had praise for Doctor Who’s current show-runner Steven Moffat who was slightly critical of the proposed movie at the time the press revealed its existence. ‘Stephen’s a genius. I love his work, I think he’s incredibly clever. I love what he’s done with Doctor Who, love his Sherlock Holmes. He’s such a gifted man. But this is something that’s a very slow burn and I’m hoping to sit down with him at some point and have a chat. It’s just something that we’ve been talking about for a little while’

The last big-screen outing for Doctor Who was in the 1960s when movies starring Peter Cushing and Roberta Tovey; the two movies were remakes of the first two stories to feature the Daleks. The two movies (Dr. Who and the Daleks & Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D) are fondly remembered by fans even though they sit outside of the television series’ established continuity.

[Via Blastr/Bleeding Cool]