Heughan: Outlander actors 'perhaps forced' into nude scenes
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- Sam Heughan told Alan Cumming on stage at Pitlochry Festival Theatre that Outlander actors were 'perhaps forced' into nude scenes, saying negotiations with production 'wasn't particularly a nice one' and was 'always a negotiation.'
- The 46-year-old actor said Outlander had no intimacy coordinators when filming began in 2014 and cast members were 'very much left to our own devices,' contrasting that with the later introduction of coordinators, which he called a 'great protection.'
- Heughan described starting out as an actor and being asked to remove clothing at auditions — 'they'd be like, "Right, OK, take your top off now", and it was awful' — but said 'it's not like that anymore' and 'it was just a different time.'
- Fellow Scottish actor Alan Cumming told the Highlands audience that in previous years 'some lines have been crossed' by actors during intimate scenes.
- Heughan called the rape scene his character Jamie Fraser endures — filmed 'many days' as 'a really long scene' — the most challenging of his career, saying it was 'horrific to do' but stories like that 'if treated well and done with respect can be revealing or helpful.'
- Outlander concluded after eight seasons this year; Sony Pictures Television, which produces the show, has been approached for comment but had not responded at time of publication.
Why it matters: Heughan gave one of the clearest on-the-record accounts from a lead actor about conditions on a major drama before intimacy coordinators became standard — concrete testimony from a show that ran from 2014 across eight seasons, a period the industry has publicly sought to move past.
