Katherine Heigl as a possible Claire?
[UPDATE 12/15/2024: This post is referring to speculation from 2010, before anyone knew there would be an OUTLANDER TV series. That was three years before Caitriona was cast. There was never any truth to it, just a LOT of speculation!]
Some of you may have seen the NY Times article from October 3, 2010 where Katherine Heigl is mentioned as a possible candidate to play Claire in an OUTLANDER movie.
If all goes well, Ms. Heigl will then turn toward sharply dramatic work, starring as a Scottish heroine in an adaptation of "Outlander", the novel by Diana Gabaldon. “Scotland? 2012? What do you think?” she said.
This news broke last night and has, quite understandably, caused an uproar among OUTLANDER fans online. (You can see my own initial reaction here.)
UPDATE 10/2/2010 8:31 am: Diana has posted her reaction on her blog. Her initial comments have been deleted from Compuserve -- and before you ask, no, I didn't do it, she did.
I won't attempt to repeat most of what she said here. But I will say this:
- I suppose we can discount the "Scottish heroine" reference above as sheer ignorance on the part of the person who wrote that NY Times article. <shrug>
- OK, so Heigl's mom is a huge fan of the series, and Heigl herself is also a fan. That doesn't mean she is the best choice to play Claire. (In my opinion, of course.)
- On the question of an American actress playing Claire, Diana said, "They assured me that Claire _is_ English and stays English." (I'm personally relieved to hear that, but still very skeptical that Heigl can pull it off.)
- For those of you who doubted what I said the other day about Diana's opinion of Allan Scott-Douglas, look at item #6 in Diana's post. [UPDATE 10/2/2010 8:31 am: This part of Diana's post has since been deleted. Let's just say she had some positive things to say about him, and leave it at that.]
Opinions? What do you all think of this latest development, and/or Diana's comments?
I just hope they don't come up with some cheesy bodice ripper.
And, I still can't see Mr Scott-Douglas as Hiimself.
Barbara
My 2-cents-worth,
Amy in Atlanta
Karen
Diane in Atlanta, too
If KH is cast in the role of Claire - and that's a big IF, can she pull off a credible English/British accent for an entire film? Has anyone ever seen her in a 'period' role of any kind? Only things I've seen her in are romantic comedy roles and a few episodes of 'Grey's'.
I cannot for the life of me, imagine that a large American movie company would even consider Allan Scott-Douglas as a male lead.
Having checked out his "acting" skits on youtube, I've yet to see any charisma or star quality there at all. Let's be honest here, the stuff on youtube is quite lame, probably more harmful than good for an "aspiring actor".
He may well be a really neat guy in real life and I kind of think that may be influencing Diana's opinion of him...but he's hardly going to make the ladies pulses race. And yeah, I do know it's not all about looks and body shape, but the actual acting skills are not that great either. Sorry if this sounds harsh but i'm being realistic here.
I just don't get it *shakes head*
I am not a huge fan of Katherine as Claire, however I will reserve judgment until it has been confirmed and some idea of her acting as claire and how she will look
I've checked out most of the other suggestions for actors - Gerard B would have been perfect but too old and overexposed now. This guy is by far the closest I have seen anyone come.