One of the benefits of being an Outlander fan is the interaction with the people behind the scenes. We have been afforded a rare look at film making and access to creative process through their generosity. The cast, the crew, the designers, the writers, the producers have all gone out of their way to include us, inform us and educate us. The biggest take away for me has been understanding why these folks do what they do. I now understand why they write design, film, produce, apply makeup, fix hair, dress the sets, and edit as they do.
Were you a fan of the Diana Gabaldon series before you started working on the show?
When I first got the audition, I didn’t even know about the books. I had two scenes sent to me, and you don’t really get full context. But as soon as I found out that I was going to be testing, I went out to my local bookstore in L.A., Book Soup, and grabbed a copy of the first novel; the guy at the counter was like, “Oh, you know they’re going to make a TV show out of this.” And I was like “Oh really?” It was quite a lucky omen.
What did you think of Claire?
She’s one of those great female characters — she’s funny, she’s kind of stubborn, she’s hot-headed but she’s also very empathetic, very intelligent. She just felt like a very well-rounded, fully-formed character. It felt like it would be a really exciting experience to portray her.
The book series has been around for 25 years and has a pretty diehard fanbase.
I think if I had been aware of the magnitude of the fanbase and all of their expectations, I would have probably stumbled or been a little overwhelmed by it all. It was nice to go into it not knowing — then my Twitter account started exploding.
When we meet in a hotel suite in Soho, London, Caitriona Balfe looks impeccably summery in a pink silk dress. It’s hard to imagine that she has spent the past 10 months in full corsetry, battling the elements in rural Scotland, filming the TV drama Outlander. “It’s sort of epic,” she says in an accent that’s part-Irish drama school, part-California sunshine. “Some days you’re running along mountains, galloping across the moors, and it’s incredible. Then there are days when you’re standing in mud and it has been raining for 12 hours and you’re like, ‘Why did I choose this again?’”
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