Jennifer Garner & David Tennant Talk New HBO Series ‘Camping’ & Why There Won’t Be A Season 2 [Interview]

With all the behind-the-scenes stuff we’ve gotten to see from the show, it seems like everybody was smiling and laughing a lot on the set. So, if we got to see the blooper reel from this season, what would be the craziest or silliest or funniest thing that you guys would be doing on it?

TENNANT: Jenni directed the first episode and set the tone. You would shoot the scene, and then the cameras would keep rolling for a bit and you’d be encouraged to allow yourself to see what would come out. Sometimes, of course, it would work out and some little gems would appear, and then other times, you’d come up with some nonsense. So, it would probably be something from that. There was some, “I’ll try this. No, that doesn’t go anywhere,” and it would descend into gibberish.

GARNER: David and I were also struck at the time — I don’t mean to speak for you, but I am [laughter].

TENNANT: Please do.

GARNER: We were working with comedians. And so, if they have a bit in their minds, they have to say it out loud. They’re overtaken by bits. And so, there were a lot of bits.

David, how are you able to pull off an American accent so well?

TENNANT: I’m glad that you finished the sentence with “so well.” I suppose I’ve done it a bit now. I’ve had a bit of practice. These things always get easier with practice. I also had a dialect coach that I’ve worked with before, when I went through each script, before we started shooting. The thing with accents is that there’s some you can do and there’s some that you have to work on, but they’re in your back pocket forever, hopefully. I’m never going to play a South African very successfully, but we grew up with watching a lot of American stuff. I think most people in the UK are quite immersed in American sounds, from an early age.

GARNER: Every now and then, there would be a word that would get you, though, and we were always really happy about that.

This series has such a diverse group of writers and directors such as Paula Pell, John Riggi, Travon Free, and Jude Weng, just to name a few. What can you say about working with such a talented group?

GARNER: Oh, gosh, all those names you just mentioned.

TENNANT: What I had never done is work in a situation where there was a team of writers on set, the whole time. I’ve never done a job like that.

GARNER: Me either, and it was just the best part about the job. They would come up to you and say, “We have a pitch,” and they would pitch you a few lines that they had been discussing. They were there, night and day, no matter the time, making every scene better, making sure stories were tracking, and just coming up with different jokes to try.

TENNANT: I loved that, it kept you there, mentally. You’d film a scene, and there was always another bit to go. Travon would have another idea, or Jenni would suggest this or that, or it would suddenly occur to John that there was another scene that might work. One thing would inspire a whole other thing, live on set.

GARNER: It was quite diverse, in that way, but what was equally important, and was supposedly just by accident, was that most of the department heads were women, so it was a very human set. They found ways for David to go home to see his family. They found ways to make things happen for the kids. It was very human, in that way. Everyone’s lives mattered.

Where did you shoot this? Where was the set?

GARNER In Santa Clarita at a place called Disney Ranch. We actually shot a ton of Alias there, so it was really fun to go back. I blew things up on Disney Ranch.

Jen, do you find it harder to do physical comedy or physical action?

GARNER: It’s harder to do the action, definitely, but I do just like connecting to a role from a physical place. Kathryn made the most sense to me, once we were actually on set and shooting and, all of a sudden, there was a physicality to her. I loved the words so much, but instead of it just being words, on this set, they were like, “Go further! Do more! Go for it!” Any instinct that you had for something, they would just push for more.

People tend to think that, if they go back to nature that it’s just going to be great, and they’ll get to relax and unwind, but when they realize that they’ll be without their comforts and their wi-fi, they become almost primal. What do you think the show says about our relationship to the world around us?

GARNER: That’s the whole point of the show.

TENNANT: That’s why it’s a great set-up.

GARNER: Yeah, it is. When you remove all of these ways that we escape and deflect from an uncomfortable moment, you’re just stuck. Here you are, in the middle of the great wild, but it’s suffocating and really insular.

TENNANT: You’ve got all of this dysfunction in a little Petri dish, and it’s got nowhere to go.

GARNER: You can’t have eight people together, who have known each other for that long, and not have dysfunction. This is just turned up a crank.

Jen, there’s a moment in Episode 4 when you’re finally letting loose, and you’re telling two truths and a lie, and your lie is that you’re a spy. Was that an “Alias” reference?

GARNER: I think it was, yeah. I think they were just cracking themselves up. I wanted to bust out in another language, but I was the only one that thought that was a good idea.

When you’re on a show called “Camping” and the characters’ relationships are already fractured, half-way into the season, how would you get these same characters back together again for another camping trip, if there’s a second season?

TENNANT: I don’t think that’s the intention.

GARNER: No, I think we’re done.

TENNANT: It’s a limited series.

GARNER: We don’t even have a deal, if they were to go for a second season.

TENNANT: It’s interesting, I don’t know how you’d get these characters back together. I’m glad that I’m not a writer who has to make that up.

GARNER: I think we could go to Umbria.

TENNANT: At the end of this show, these guys are not gonna go, “Same time next year!”

GARNER: Yeah, definitely.

TENNANT: They are in quite different places at the end. I’m sure there is another story to be told, but I wouldn’t know where to begin.

GARNER: I wouldn’t either. I’m not holding a spot in my calendar, as much as I would love to be with [the cast and crew] again.

TENNANT: That would be joyous.

David, have you seen Jodie Whittaker on “Doctor Who?”

TENNANT: Yeah, I saw it Saturday night, and I thought it was thrilling and exciting. It was brilliant. I’ve always thought she was a great choice, and she proved to be exactly that. I think it’s great that there’s another Doctor, for a new generation of girls and boys.

“Camping” premiered on October 14 and airs every Sunday night on HBO.