Entertainment
Even David Tennant couldn’t tell difference between himself and Alexander Litvinenko in hospital photo-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro
The resemblance is uncanny.
David Tennant underwent a real transformation to play the Russian spy (Picture: ITV)
David Tennant’s transformation into Alexander Litvinenko was so lifelike, even he struggled to tell himself apart from the Russian spy.
Litvinenko was an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin. He was murdered in November 2006 and died in agony after ingesting a rare radioactive substance, claiming on his deathbed that Putin himself ordered the poisoning.
Doctor Who icon Tennant will appear in new ITVx drama Litvinenko this month, taking on the role of the former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service.
When the first image of the Scottish star in character dropped, showing Tennant as Litvinenko at University College Hospital in London, the internet was flabbergasted by the his likeness to the real person.
Admitting that he even struggled to tell the difference between himself and Litvinenko, Tennant, 51, explained that the make-up process took ‘several hours’.
‘One of the first things we did was recreate the image of him in the hospital bed which went all around the world,’ he said of the instantly recognisable snap. ‘We had prop newspapers that had to have this photo on the front of them for other scenes.’
The image of Alexander Litvinenko in his hospital bed at University College Hospital in central London became iconic around the world (Picture: PA)
He continued to ITV: ‘That involved a lot of very skilled people helping to recreate that image. The make-up and the prosthetics and the costume team staring at photographs to figure out, “What is that hospital gown and where is it arranged?”. If you can get that image right you allow the audience into the detail of the story, I hope.
‘It was a relatively lengthy process. It took several hours. But that was the least I could do. Sit in a chair and have very skilful people transform me. So it would emerge over several hours with a number of stages in the process.
‘When we got that image and I saw it on a laptop screen, for a second you couldn’t quite tell if you were looking at the original or what we had just done.’
He said that was a ‘moment’ for him when he realised all the hours of make-up and set dressing were ‘an effort worth making’.
The Doctor Who actor felt a real responsibility when telling the story (Picture: PA)
‘If we can get this right and remind people of that image from 2006, then that will, hopefully, give us a great starting point to make this story as impactful as it needs to be.’
Of course, this isn’t the first time Tennant has been unrecognisable as himself on screen, yet baring an incredible likeness to someone else.
In 2020, he portrayed killer Dennis Nilsen, winning an NTA for his outstanding delivery.
As the release of Litvinenko approaches, Tennant says he can’t ‘second guess’ how the project might be received.
He stars opposite Margarita Levieva as Marina Litvinenko (Picture: ITV)
Mark Bonnar joins the cast as DS Clive Timmons (Picture: ITV)
However, on a ‘personal level’, it’s something he’s ‘very proud’ to have taken on.
‘I feel like we gave it our best shot,’ he declared, hoping to ‘honour the memory’ of Litvinenko and his wife, Mariana, whom he met and describes as a ‘motivation’ for telling the story.
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‘There is so much about this story that is fantastical, implausible and remarkable,’ he shared.
‘And, of course, it’s all anchored to what becomes a very personal story about Sasha, his wife Marina and son Anatoly. Which is what makes it so tragic.’
Litvinenko starts streaming on December 15 on ITVX.
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