From The Wall Street Journal:
Sam, unlike the rest of the series, which is told from Claire’s point of view, the mid-season premiere is told from Jamie’s. When you found out that was the plan, were you excited? Scared? Did you go, “Finally!”?
Sam Heughan: My days off have gone now!
Caitriona Balfe: [Laughs] Now you get to experience what I was going through…
SH: Yeah, she gets one day, one day off. No, it was really exciting. It was a thrill to get that opportunity, and it felt great as well because up until that point, Jamie’s kind of on the peripheral. I mean, he’s there and he tells you stuff about him, but you don’t really get to know an awful lot, so, it was great to get that opportunity to see more of his past and what he has to go through to get to rescue Claire, and then out of that, what comes, you know, the corporal punishment scenes, and it’s all important stuff and very telling for the character.
More after the jump!
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So along those lines, Caitriona, was it nice having a “break”?
CB: Somehow I remember everyone saying it’s going to be so much easier, this block, “You’ve got some days off.” But somehow I managed to have more days than him – I don’t know how that worked. I’m trying to figure that one out! But I think it was really nice to see it from Jamie’s perspective, and especially with the punishment scene, because I think you have to view that from the mindset of 1743, so it was so fantastic to be able to hear what Jamie was going through. Because I think if we had heard it from Claire’s point of view, it just would’ve been all condemnation and anger and hurt, and you wouldn’t have been able to see it for what the actual situation is.
And Sam [who narrates the episode] has a very soothing tone to his voice, so it’s very nice to hear. I think it made very many people happy.
Speaking of the spanking scene, what was your reaction when you first heard that this was part of the story?
CB: You try not to think too far ahead when you’re working, because there’s so much going on that you really just have to focus on what that week is. So in the back of your mind you kind of know that it’s going to come up, but I tend not to think too much about them until they’re sort of closer to the time. But when it came to that week when we were about to film, we had a rehearsal, we blocked it out, and Sam and I talked a lot about it. We talked with the director, we talked with [creator] Ron [D. Moore], and, you prepare for it, but you never know how it’s gonna feel in the moment. And that’s the funny thing, like, the day started off probably a little more lighthearted, and then there was kind of a shift, and definitely, the atmosphere changed in the room. It was tough because also there’s a lot of choreography in it and getting all of that right, but also keeping the right tone was the hard part. And it was one of those days where I felt like, “Ooooh, I hope that went well…” because it’s an important topic to not sensationalize or not make light of. And so it was important to give it the respect that it deserved and [turns to Heughan] I remember you and I texting that night, just talking about it. And Sam’s amazing, he always checks in when we have difficult scenes and makes sure we’re okay.
SH: I remember saying something to the producers that night, just trying to work out the tone of it, trying to work out how we felt about it. Because it was the first time we had done anything of that nature. And it was a learning process. But I always remember the hardest part was the argument. And I remember trying to get what [Jamie] says, he’s always trying to, like, make it very plain and clear for her, why he’s doing what he’s doing. Also because he was doing that for himself, as well, and struggling with those lines, because he was struggling with it himself, so that’s what helped. But, yeah, it was one of just many in the show this year, challenging stuff.
Other than the whole corporal punishment thing, even though Claire is from the 1940s and Jamie is from the 1740s, I can’t help but draw parallels between Claire and Jamie’s relationship to those of modern-day marriages. Do you see that at all?
CB: I feel like the character of Jamie is so emotionally intelligent and emotionally sensitive that he feels like a modern man, even though he’s this brawny, muscle-ly guy. [To Heughan] Why are you laughing?
And with Claire, she struggles with what is her identity as a woman. When we get further into the season, this idea that Jamie is so excited about his return to [his childhood home] Lallybroch, and going home as the laird of Lallybroch, and he keeps saying to her, “You’ll be my lady.” And that fills her with so much trepidation, because she doesn’t know what kind of life that is for her, and she is someone who’s used to feeling so useful, and having a vocation and having this career. The idea of now being a “lady,” who’s sort of waited on or has to run a household, she just doesn’t know how that feels. She feels like she should want a family and a home and stability, but it’s not really in her DNA. She’s never really had that, so, I think modern women today, we’re all struggling with a career and family, and how do we balance those? What does it mean to be a woman in today’s time? I feel like you can see those struggles with Claire, albeit in very different circumstances.
Read the full article at the source.
Reblogged this on Ana Fraser Lallybroch Blog.
Great interview…S&C must be getting tired of all the interviews! But this one seems to be more cerebral…Love the Waal Street Journal!