Scottish actor Sam Heughan joins the Graham Norton Radio Show with Waitrose to chat all about his Clanlands In New Zealand: Kiwis, Kilts and an Adventure Down Under, his brand new book with fellow Outlander star Graham McTavish
Posted by admin on January 18th, 2024
Posted by admin on November 21st, 2023
The Scottish actor on rethinking sex scenes, losing out on Bond to Daniel Craig and his steamy new Channel 4 drama The Couple Next Door
If anyone knows a thing or two about sex scenes, it’s Sam Heughan. Over the past decade, the 43-year-old Scottish star of Outlander, the cult-hit historical drama, has filmed hours of notoriously raunchy footage in his role as Jamie Fraser, the dashing 18th-century Highland rebel, with his wife, Claire – a time-traveller from the 20th century, played by Caitríona Balfe.
Yet two years ago, Heughan, as one of the executive producers (with Balfe), introduced an intimacy co-ordinator to choreograph such scenes, which had been criticised by many as excessively violent.
“The industry’s completely changed since Outlander started,” Heughan says, sitting in a Soho bar on a visit to London from his home outside Glasgow. “Not just our show but also shows like Game of Thrones were very graphic, with no room for the imagination, in a way that’s quite jarring now. As young, keen actors, we were just expected to get naked and go at it. Caitríona and I formed a bond and trusted each other, but there were times when we were pushed too far.” He was especially troubled by a scene involving full-frontal nudity in season one, when Jamie was tortured and raped by his rival, Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies). “That really didn’t sit well.”
Everything changed following the MeToo scandal, leading Heughan to employ Vanessa Coffey to choreograph the sex scenes. “So now everyone knows what the boundaries are, like in a football or rugby match. It’s been so helpful and freeing, and it was because I didn’t want younger actors to go through what we’d gone through. Now, the scenes are sexually charged, but not gratuitous.”
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Posted by admin on July 23rd, 2023
SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “The Happiest Place on Earth,” Season 7, Episode 2 of “Outlander,” now streaming on Starz.
While an epic explosion at Frasier’s Ridge would seem like the most shocking event thus far this season on “Outlander,” the Starz series managed to also pack in a shocking reveal, a bittersweet birth and the series’ most heartbreaking goodbye yet.
Moments into “The Happiest Place on Earth,” the mystery of who actually killed Malva (Jessica Reynolds) is finally solved. Despite Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones) having taken the blame for his daughter’s murder to save Claire (Caitriona Balfe) from the noose, it was actually his son Allan (Alexander Vlahos) who did it. Claire tries to stop Allan, overcome with grief, from taking his own life but Ian (John Bell) appears and shoots him with an arrow — stating that Allan’s actions killed an unborn child and for that, he cannot live.
On a somewhat happier note, Frasier’s Ridge welcomes its newest resident, Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger’s (Richard Rankin) daughter Amanda. But it isn’t long before Claire notices the child has a potentially fatal heart issue. With this discovery comes the realization that Bri, Roger and their children must travel back to the future where modern medicine can save Amanda — and also potentially never see Claire and Jamie again.
As the MacKenzie family time-travel to the 1980s, Claire and Jamie (Sam Heughan) try to settle into their new normal. It isn’t long before trouble strikes. Fellow time traveler Wendigo Donner breaks into Claire’s surgery room to steal gemstones so he can go back home. As he and his crew rabidly search for more, they knock ether all over the floor. With an unfortunate strike of the match, Claire and Jamie’s life at Frasier’s Ridge goes up in flames.
Variety spoke with Balfe, Heughan, Skelton and Rankin about their families possibly parting ways forever, and what fans can expect for both couples this season.
This week’s episode, “The Happiest Place On Earth,” features a devastating parting of ways. These two families, the Frasiers and the MacKenzies, are going to be broken apart by hundreds of years, and just after Brianna has given birth to her daughter, Amanda. How does this rank in terms of sad goodbyes on the series, which are, unfortunately, a common occurrence?
CAITRIONA BALFE: I think that the joy and the absolute thrill of Brianna having a new kid, and everyone being able to be present there for that new life coming into the family — that was such a high. And then for the fear and the worry to come in when they realize that there’s actually something wrong with Mandy, and the implications of that and what that means. There really was only one solution, and that was for them to go back to save her. But it’s a death. It’s like they know that this is the final goodbye, or they think it’s the final goodbye.
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Posted by admin on June 15th, 2023
“Outlander” stars Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe dish with “Extra’s” Melvin Robert on what to expect for Season 7, which picks up after Season 6’s cliffhanger with Claire in jail. The stars also say there’s no break for Claire and Jamie in sight with the Revolutionary War upon them! Plus, Sam reveals what item of Jamie’s he’d like to take home when the show wraps up after Season 8. “Outlander” Season 7 premieres on STARZ June 16.
Posted by admin on June 15th, 2023
Speaking to ET Canada’s Keshia Chanté about the upcoming seventh season of “Outlander”, Sam Heughan And Caitriona Balfe reflect on the show’s decade-long run, calling the seventh season “better than the last.”
