ADWEEK: Matt Smith Interview

What’s the first information you consume in the morning?
The time from the alarm on my phone.

What do you read or watch or listen to at the breakfast table?
Always the paper. I read The Times (U.K.). I start at the back with the football, and then I work forward.

What occupies your mind in the car, on the subway, train, or bus?
Work, I suppose. Learning my lines. Or, if I’m going to work up in Cardiff [where Doctor Who films], sleeping—catching up on rest.

Are you a TV junkie, or on an airtime-restricted diet?
Usually on an airtime-restricted diet, I’m afraid, because if I’m working, I don’t really get to watch that much TV at all. But at the moment, I’m not working, so I’ve been watching a lot of it.

If you’re a couch potato, what do you watch, and how: TV, laptop, or tablet?
I always watch the sports news, a lot of Arrested Development—that’s my favorite show at the moment—a lot of Family Guy, and a lot of films. I just watched The Kids Are All Right and Inglourious Basterds for the second time. Sometimes if I’m in the car, I’ll use the iPad, but I try to watch on a TV as much as possible.

Before bed, do you bite into a novel, graze on Twitter, or fast until morning?
I read, or I go on the Internet—I tend to go through my emails or check the football. I’ve just read Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and now I’m reading The Girl Who Played With Fire. They’re brilliant.

Which is more nutritious: print or Web?
Print, I think, because it has more class. There’s a vintage quality to it.

Give us the skinny on your favorite app.
There’s a really good app from a taxi company in the U.K. called Addison Lee that lets you order a taxi by just sending a text. That’s pretty groovy. There’s a Jamie Oliver cooking app that’s pretty groovy as well, and the Hipstamatic camera is probably one of my favorites.

What’s your biggest digital indulgence?
It depends, really. I’m not hugely technical with things, but I guess that the thing I use most is my iPhone, on a practical level.

With such a bloated media universe, how do you cut out the fat?
I think you just ignore the majority of it and take only what you need. Lest we forget, 10 years ago, we were still using telephone boxes. Sometimes when you lose your mobile phone, even though it’s frustrating, it’s sort of rewarding in many ways because though we do rely on them a lot, we are not reliant on them. The world continues without.

Source: ADWEEK