Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Every so often a role sticks to an actor a little too well. No matter how talented they are, they will forever be associated with that one iconic performance. It will hulk over their entire lives and force its way into the audience’s mind no matter what. For a few years now, British actor Matt Smith has been tied like this to his work on Doctor Who. (In fact, Doctor Who has a history of keeping its stars stuck in its orbit.) However, Matt Smith might have finally overcome the “curse.” His work as Prince Philip on The Crown is nothing short of extraordinary and could signal a new chapter in his career.
Back in early 2009, the BBC announced — to everyone’s utter shock — that 26-year-old no-name actor Matt Smith had been tapped to replace the then uber-popular David Tennant as the Doctor on Doctor Who. Older, more established actors like Paterson Joseph, David Morrissey, and Peter Capaldi had been considered the big front runners. No one would have imagined that the Beeb would have replaced a young, energetic Doctor with an even younger one, but then no one could have predicted just how comprehensively Smith would invigorate the role.
As much as I’m a fan, I’m the first to admit that Doctor Who is a very silly show made to give British children a “good fright.” At its best, it can be one of the most ground-breaking works of science fiction ever created, but it’s not usually at its best. Doctor Who is a wacky melange of plot holes and camp. But Smith’s performance as the Doctor was a masterful tour de force that lifted the quality of everything spiraling around him. He flitted from madmen to warrior to comedian to wizard in single line readings. He was complicated to the extreme. And yes, he made wearing a fez and donning a bow tie cool.
Smith was so good that he helped push the show to a crazy new level of global popularity. By the time he was done, the once niche show, a true cult classic, had become a mainstream hit in the USA. Smith stepped down from the role a few years ago and tried to jump into a film career. However, he kept getting set up with flops: Ryan Gosling’s Lost River and Terminator: Genysis. Now he’s in Netflix’s delightfully indulgent new costume drama The Crown. As the young Prince Philip, Smith does something that not even David Tennant has managed to do: make audiences forget he was ever in Doctor Who. (I’m serious about Tennant; He’s never managed to spark in any big American production and he let mannerisms from his time on Who bleed into his work on Marvel’s Jessica Jones.)
Smith’s big secret skill as a performer is his physicality. He gave the Doctor the energy of A.A. Milne’s Tigger. He was bouncy, flouncy, fun-fun-fun-fun! As Philip, Smith has taken his cues from the stalwart British leading men of the mid-20th century. In particular, he seems to be channeling Peter O’Toole. There’s a slouch to his every move that reveals his character’s aristocratic birth — for no one can be as apathetic as the truly, securely wealthy – and he acts like something of the human equivalent of a leopard. He’s controlled, cool, and bronzed like a Mediterranean god. It’s this physical shift that helps Smith fully rid himself of the tweed-wearing, tightly-wound Doctor.
The Crown marks a potential major sea change for Smith’s career. Before, he could have bounced around Hollywood, struggling to break through, forever linked to his iconic work in Doctor Who. Now he’s established that he can hold his own as a major acting force in a prestige drama. Chances are there are going to be huge swaths of people who will forever know him as Prince Philip — and who will never know him as the Doctor. Together, they are a one-two punch that establish just how good of an actor Smith is. He can be the swashbuckling weirdo and the cool, brooding royal. Now we’ll just have to wait to see what he’ll pull out of his bag of tricks next…
[Watch The Crown on Netflix]
[Watch Doctor Who on Prime Video]
