BAD SAMARITAN: Dean Devlin On The 'Amazingly Talented And Gifted' David Tennant



Dean Devlin, the director of the upcoming feature film Bad Samaritan has been singing the praises of his star, David Tennant. The Portland-set thriller, scripted by Apt Pupil writer Brandon Boyce, is due to begin filming later this year.

“David is going to bring a level of intensity that's going to really ratchet up the drama," Dean told local paper The Oregonian in a recent interview. The self-confessed Doctor Who fan also said, "He's something else, and when I met him, it was so hard to not fanboy the entire time. David is such an amazingly talented and gifted actor that he brings so many colours, and so much range to his roles. There were episodes of Doctor Who, for example, where he was hilarious, and episodes where he rips your heart out. He's amazingly versatile."

Of David’s character, he was more tight-lipped. "I can't tell you anything about it," he said. "But Tennant has passionate fans thanks to his time starring in Doctor Who, from 2005 to 2010. But he's also given memorable performances in the British drama, Broadchurch (as well as its less successful U.S. version, Gracepoint) and the Netflix series Jessica Jones, among other roles.”

Dean was a bit more open about the plot, which centres on two young car valet who work in a restaurant. "They've come up with a little scam to take things from people while they're at the restaurant, if they live close by,” he explained. “But they break into the wrong house, and a lot of bad things start to happen, and it escalates, and it keeps escalating and gets more scary."

His comments have added to speculation that David is playing the owner of the house broken into where, according to the film summary on IMDB, the valets stumble across a young woman being held prisoner.

Devlin says that he chose the Oregon location for the film because Portland "provides opportunities for a creepier, more interesting, more scary film." He also tells how his determination to make the film there influenced his good friend Brandon Boyce.

“I brought Brandon up to Portland," he said. "He'd never been to Portland before, and like everybody, he fell in love with Oregon. He rewrote the whole film to take place in Oregon." He added, "Portland has all the accoutrements of a big city, but the heart and soul of it is a small town, so that creates an intimacy in a large environment. Part of the story is a personal secret gets out, and people get very upset. In Los Angeles, something like that could get lost. But in Portland, it's a really big deal."

The two-month production schedule begins later this year, and Dean is hoping for rainy, cold weather. "That's perfect for the moodiness of the script," he said. "We're hoping for a cold winter."

David Tennant is joined in the cast by Irish actor and Misfits star Robert Sheehan, who recently worked with Dean on the sci-fi thriller Geostorm. Bad Samaritan will also be produced by Dean Devlin through his own company Electric Entertainment, with co-producers Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan.

Read the whole interview on The Oregonian here.





Comments