Did He or Didn’t He? David Tennant and the short film, ‘One-Eyed Jacques’ (2001)

Today my David Tennant exploration thread goes a new direction - instead of his theatre or audio work, today I’ve chosen to feature one of his oddest performances on film. It’s an odd duck, because you can barely see him in it (and only if you REALLY LOOK)…because he isn’t credited!

This eccentric short film is called One-Eyed Jacques. It’s mentioned a number of places on the Internet, and it has been attributed to David, but his name’s never mentioned in the credits.

So did he do it? I think so, yes. We’ll get to that.

But let’s first take a look at the film in a lot more detail.

One-Eyed Jacques was written by Jonathan Romney, and directed by Romney and Richard Clark, the director of the Doctor Who episodes 'The Lazarus Experiment’ and 'Gridlock.’ It was produced by Lisa-Marie Russo of Jump Monk Films.

Made in 2001, it was one of seven short films which aired on 26 September 2002 at 1:10am as a part of Channel 4’s six-part series called Shooting Gallery. Hosted by Mark Kermode, the show focused on works of talented new UK filmmakers. One-Eyed Jacques was featured in the episode “World Stories” alongside six other short films: Bullet in the Brain, Copyshop, Bus 44, Pourquoi…Pass Keu?, Palindrome, and Shifting Units.

From the Independent, 26 September 2002

One-Eyed Jacques was also screened at two film festivals in 2001: the Uppsala International Short Film Festival in Sweden on 24 October 2001, and at the Brief Encounters Short Film Festival in Bristol on 14 November 2001. It was also screened in 2002 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). It was also shown again on Channel 4 at 5:10a on 10 October 2009. As far as I know, it has never been screened or shown anywhere else.

The short is about Veronique and Jacques, a couple seated in a fancy restaurant enjoying dinner. When Jacques gets food splashed in his eye, we see his eye is made of glass. When he removes it to clean it, it rolls onto the floor! As it rolls around, we see the world from its perspective.

That’s…odd, right? It really is. The short used to be on You Tube, but it’s been gone for years. I grabbed it when it was still available, so I’m happy to say I’ve got a copy!

Here are some screenshots to prep us for our chat about whether we think DT was ever in this at all:

So: the argument against?

He’s NOT CREDITED.

Here are all of the film’s credits. The short is subtitled and has a runtime of 3:04. As you see, the listed cast is Nathalie Paris as Veronique, Alain Bourgouin as Jacques, and James Olivier as the Voice.

No David listed.

The argument for?

He IS credited, just not in the film!

In an industry publication by Thomas Riggs called Contemporary Theatre, Film & Television, One-Eyed Jacques is listed among David’s credits. It’s noted (red arrow) in the January 2007 edition in Vol 75, p. 319.

Now, in case you’re wondering why there would be confusion about whether he was or was not in the film because you could surely just see his face and there you have proof of it…well, that’s the whole problem. You never SEE his face! So we need to put on our detective hats. You call yourself a DT fan? Let’s test that, shall we?

At the very beginning of the short, Veronique is served by a waiter in black pants and a black shirt who’s wearing what appears to be a white waiter’s apron. Only the waiter’s hands and fingers are visible to Veronique’s right as she hands the waiter her menu. Here are a few screen shots from that moment.

Study the waiter’s hand and thumb carefully. At the risk of sounding nutty, from other works he’s been in, we DT fans are familiar with his hands and fingers and all the ways they’re distinctly shaped. What I mean is, his thumb…bends…a certain way. Right? And so does this particular thumb! So it’s MY belief this is his hand, and he is indeed the uncredited waiter. But what say you?

Really, I think the only way we’ll ever know for sure is if we go to the source. And there are two sources for this information. One source, my friends, is Richard Clark himself. He could tell us if David Tennant is the uncredited waiter in the short film One-Eyed Jacques. And the other source is of course David himself. So if someone sees this and asks him someday, leave me a comment!