Imagine a world where Take That singer Robbie Williams was the Doctor. What a different "Doctor Who" that would be. Well, that was almost the case at a certain point.
It's revealed in a new DVD documentary that Williams was in the running to voice the Doctor in the 2003 animated web series, "Scream of the Shalka." The news comes from Blogtor Who, which reports that both sides were interested. According to producer Muirinn Lane Kelly, "We got word that Robbie Williams was interested in playing The Doctor. We all sat around wondering, 'Is this a good idea? Is this a crazy idea?'"
In the end Williams wasn't available and the role went to Richard E. Grant. Still, James Gross, another producer, says, "Think about it, if you really wanted to bring 'Doctor Who' to a whole new audience, it would have been the most popular, talked-about thing the BBC website ever did.
It's revealed in a new DVD documentary that Williams was in the running to voice the Doctor in the 2003 animated web series, "Scream of the Shalka." The news comes from Blogtor Who, which reports that both sides were interested. According to producer Muirinn Lane Kelly, "We got word that Robbie Williams was interested in playing The Doctor. We all sat around wondering, 'Is this a good idea? Is this a crazy idea?'"
In the end Williams wasn't available and the role went to Richard E. Grant. Still, James Gross, another producer, says, "Think about it, if you really wanted to bring 'Doctor Who' to a whole new audience, it would have been the most popular, talked-about thing the BBC website ever did.
- 8/31/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
The Smithsonian reports the clip to the right from Franco Zeffirelli's remake of the 1931 movie The Champ, starring Jon Voight as a boxer and Ricky Schroder as his son "has become a must-see in psychology laboratories around the world when scientists want to make people sad." The Champ has been used in experiments to see if depressed people are more likely to cry than non-depressed people (they aren't). It has helped determine whether people are more likely to spend money when they are sad (they are) and whether older people are more sensitive to grief than younger people (older people did report more sadness when they watched the scene). Dutch scientists used the scene when they studied the effect of sadness on people with binge eating disorders (sadness didn't increase eating). The project to find scenes that could reliably elicit a strong emotional response in laboratory settings began all...
- 7/29/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Franco Zeffirelli's 1979 boxing tearjerker "The Champ" has officially been named "the saddest movie of all time", not by an internet poll, but rather by a 23-year scientific study by psychologists Robert Levinson and James Gross as noted in Smithsonian. The climactic scene, in which Jon Voight dies in the ring in front of his son, played by a sobbing Ricky Schroeder, has been used in psychological experiments to see ...
- 7/29/2011
- Indiewire
After years of research, scientists have found out that "The Champ," starring Jon Voight and Ricky Schroder, is the saddest movie ever made. This finding was part of a study that tried to figure out how emotions affect people's behavior. While it's unlikely that scientists watched every movie out there, James Gross and Robert Levenson have determined that a clip from "The Champ" gets people to cry the fastest. And as soon as the tears begin flowing, volunteers are immediately hit with questions about food (not likely to eat when sad) and shopping (more likely to spend when sad). "Bambi" was used for a little while, but "The Champ" gets the crying going faster. I'm not going to describe the scene from "The Champ" that's used since it spoils the entire movie, but you can watch it below (stars at 5:25). To elicit other emotions, Meg Ryan's orgasm scene...
- 7/28/2011
- WorstPreviews.com
We'd have chosen the closing scene of "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial," but this probably works just as well... and without the potentially off-putting weird-looking alien.
Do you want to make someone cry? The movie clip of choice for psychologists is the closing scene of "The Champ," according to The Smithsonian.
The 1979 boxing drama directed by Franco Zeffirelli launched the career of the nine-year-old Ricky Schroder, who bawled his eyes out as his boxer father (Jon Voight) died in front of him. "Champ, wake up!"
Audiences bawled their eyes out, too -- and continue to do so, all in the name of science.
"The Champ" has become a must-see in psychology laboratories around the world when scientists want to make people sad. The closing scene has been used in experiments to see if depressed people are more likely to cry than non-depressed people (they aren’t). It has helped determine whether people...
Do you want to make someone cry? The movie clip of choice for psychologists is the closing scene of "The Champ," according to The Smithsonian.
The 1979 boxing drama directed by Franco Zeffirelli launched the career of the nine-year-old Ricky Schroder, who bawled his eyes out as his boxer father (Jon Voight) died in front of him. "Champ, wake up!"
Audiences bawled their eyes out, too -- and continue to do so, all in the name of science.
"The Champ" has become a must-see in psychology laboratories around the world when scientists want to make people sad. The closing scene has been used in experiments to see if depressed people are more likely to cry than non-depressed people (they aren’t). It has helped determine whether people...
- 7/26/2011
- by Bryan Enk
- NextMovie
Filed under: Features, Hot Topic, Best and Worst
It's easy to make someone cry. Just show them a key two-and-a-half-minute scene from what scientists have determined is the Saddest Movie Ever Made.
According to Smithsonian.com, scientific study has determined that the most reliable tearjerker of all time is 1979's 'The Champ,' in which washed-up boxer Jon Voight returns to the ring in order to earn enough to retain custody of his son, Ricky Schroder. Particularly, the climactic scene where -- spoiler alert! -- the little boy watches his battered dad die (end spoiler). It's a moment that makes Schroder and the hardened old men in the scene all bawl their eyes out, and it's all but guaranteed to do the same to you.
Those are the findings of James Gross and Robert Levenson (you can read their study in this Pdf document), who spent years looking for...
It's easy to make someone cry. Just show them a key two-and-a-half-minute scene from what scientists have determined is the Saddest Movie Ever Made.
According to Smithsonian.com, scientific study has determined that the most reliable tearjerker of all time is 1979's 'The Champ,' in which washed-up boxer Jon Voight returns to the ring in order to earn enough to retain custody of his son, Ricky Schroder. Particularly, the climactic scene where -- spoiler alert! -- the little boy watches his battered dad die (end spoiler). It's a moment that makes Schroder and the hardened old men in the scene all bawl their eyes out, and it's all but guaranteed to do the same to you.
Those are the findings of James Gross and Robert Levenson (you can read their study in this Pdf document), who spent years looking for...
- 7/25/2011
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
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