Caitriona Balfe (2016)

Our special OUTLANDER week continues with another flashback -- this time to Caitriona Balfe's very first appearance on the show back in 2016. All about her beginnings as a model and actress to landing the role of a lifetime with OUTLANDER. SUPPORT THE SHOW BY SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! NordVPN -- EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://nordvpn.com/hsc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Saily -- 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code HSC at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://saily.com/hsc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Limited Time Offer–Get Huel today with my exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with my code happy15 at ⁠⁠http://huel.com/happy15.⁠⁠ New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show! Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:31Speaker 01

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• 1:00Speaker 02

  Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins.

• 1:07Josh Horowitz?

  Hey guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Well, Outlander Week continues. We are celebrating the beginning of the end of this show that has meant so much to me and my career and to many of you. The new season of Outlander, the eighth season, drops Friday, March 6th. So it's been a busy Outlander-filled week for me. And we are celebrating on the podcast by taking a look back. Earlier this week, we shared with you guys a long-lost first Happy, Sad, Confused conversation with Sam Hearn. Today, it is Claire Fraser herself, Katrina Balfe, in a flashback episode. Again, the first extended conversation I had with Katrina back in 2016. So I think you guys are gonna enjoy this one.

• 1:52Josh Horowitz?

  Thanks, guys, as always, for checking out the podcast, enjoying on YouTube, on Spotify, however you're doing it. I appreciate you guys. If you haven't subscribed already, what are you doing? You gotta do it, come on. We don't just do Outlander around here. All the big movies, we've got some Project Hail Mary stuff coming up. Yeah, some exciting things coming up on the podcast that I can't quite officially announce yet. A Peaky Blinders-related person, perhaps? So much cool stuff. Anyway, before we get to today's main event. I want to remind you guys, as always, patreon.com/happy, sad, confused. Especially, by the way, if you love all things Outlander, we've got some special treats for you over there on the way.

• 2:33Josh Horowitz?

  You also get, whether you like Harry Potter, or, by the way, there's a Harry Potter-related guest or two coming up too, whatever, any big franchise, any big movie, any big TV show is covered on Happy Sad Confused. And over on the Patreon, you get early access, you get discount codes to our live events, you get autographed merch, there's a tier level for everybody, patreon.com/happy, sad, confused. So yeah, Katrina Balfe, what can I say about Katrina Balfe? She's a gem. She's not only an amazing actor, but just a great human being, as opposed to her co-star, he's alright, whatever. No, but I got a chance to catch up with Katrina and Sam and the entire cast earlier this week. I hosted the Outlander Season 8 red carpet, four stars,

• 3:19Josh Horowitz?

  in Outlander, and that was such a privilege, to be on this journey all these years with them, and then to kind of come full circle and host that, was really, really cool. That live red carpet stream is still available, of course, on YouTube, look it up, Outlander Stars. It's also on my account, we collabed with them. And it was great to catch up with everybody. Everybody was in a great, kind of slightly melancholy, but mostly positive, excited mood, because the last season is still coming, 10 episodes, a lot to come, a lot to celebrate. As for Katrina, this conversation was 10 years ago, 2016, so a little context for you. Season 2, I think, was running, up and running. I had met Katrina at Comic Con with

• 4:02Josh Horowitz?

  Sam, but again, didn't really know her very well yet, so again, this is kind of the beginnings of our relationship. She had another project coming out at the time, Money Monster. The movie from, I believe Jodie Foster directed it, if I'm remembering correctly. But because this was the first conversation, this was kind of a get to know you, a career conversation with Katrina. So I think you guys are gonna really enjoy this. This is all about her arc of her career up until then and really gives you a sense of her personality and why we all fell in love with her. This is an audio only conversation. Back then, we were not shooting on camera. So if you're watching this on YouTube, you're about to see a beautiful still photo of Katrina Balfe, but you're gonna be able to

• 4:44Josh Horowitz?

  listen to her and imagine how beautiful she is and how semi-attractive I am, hopefully. That's about it. I think you guys are gonna dig this. 10 years ago. What is time? I don't get it. Without any further ado, enjoy this flashback conversation. 2016, me and Katrina Balfe.

• 5:05Speaker 04

  Yeah, you got some cool, you got some cool shit.

• 5:07Josh Horowitz?

  A lot of, a lot of Arrested Development in this office. That is, we're off and rolling, and I'll explain to you, Kat, that that is a painting that Danny McBride did of me.

• 5:18Speaker 04

  No way.

• 5:19Josh Horowitz?

  A few years ago.

• 5:22Speaker 04

  That is amazing.

• 5:22Josh Horowitz?

  My favorite story related to that.

• 5:24Speaker 04

  I thought you were gonna say your three-year-old son.

• 5:26Josh Horowitz?

  Well, that's exactly it. So to name drop for a second, I had Danny Boyle on the podcast a couple of months ago, and as he's walking out, he gestures to the painting and he just goes, "How old?" And I'm like, "He's about 40, 41."

• 5:39Speaker 04

  I love it.

• 5:40Josh Horowitz?

  Amazing, right? Thank you so much for stopping by today.

• 5:43Speaker 04

  Well, thank you for having me.

• 5:44Josh Horowitz?

  I appreciate it. You got a lot going on. Obviously, the second season is

• 5:49Speaker 04

  Up and running.

• 5:50Josh Horowitz?

  Is more than up and running. People are loving it. And I'm very excited about Money Monster. I haven't seen it yet. I apologize. They haven't shown it too much yet. But I mean, come on, Jodie Foster directing, that's enough to get me in the door.

• 6:02Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's very exciting. It was such a cool project. It's this fantastic thriller that's set in the financial world and set in the world of high-frequency trading. And you know, it's my character, she is the head of PR for this high-frequency trading investment bank. And you get to see, you know, what happens when something catastrophic goes wrong in that world.

• 6:26Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 6:27Speaker 04

  And what are the consequences? And what are the consequences for the everyday man? You know, I just, I loved that world. I have such a Interest in economics, such not such a massive knowledge, but.

• 6:39Josh Horowitz?

  I won't pretend to be an expert either, but I mean, it's it's smart and cool in that it's, you know.

• 6:45Josh Horowitz?

  I was gonna say, we see plenty of thrillers. We actually don't even see that many great thrillers done, but it's cool to see a thriller that's sent set in contemporary. Times that has something to say that's dealing with some stuff that we're actually dealing with that's that has some weight to it, too.

• 6:57Speaker 04

  Yeah, I mean, it's so timely right now, but also what Jodi has done so fantastically. You know, this isn't a preachy movie. It's also a fantastic thriller and, you know. It just, it's such a great. Ride that you're you're brought on and you see it, you know, you see it through the eyes of of all of these amazing different characters, but. I always love films where when I walk out of a film at the end of the day, I go and I think about it and I question something about my life or my world.

• 7:25Josh Horowitz?

  Sure.

• 7:26Speaker 04

  You know, I think that this does that fantastically, so.

• 7:29Josh Horowitz?

  As you can tell from my office, I'm a big old film dork and I'm also a sucker for films that kind of experiment with the format and this, I mean, this is essentially in real time, as I understand it, right? Um, and are, do you feel like, are you kind of like in your own world in your own film? Because you're not, as I understand it, even just looking at the materials, you're not. On the set with them, you're not in Clooney world.

• 7:48Speaker 04

  You know, it was so interesting filming it because it was such a different type of beast technically. Um, my first day, we did, uh, one of the scenes where I'm in the lobby. And I'm being, you know, it's the idea is that that's been fed through a video monitor into the TV screens.

• 8:05Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 8:05Speaker 04

  So I had George and Jack in an earpiece in my ear, playing this whole scene that they were doing, you know, off set somewhere off site. And I'm reacting to that. So there was a lot of that. I I kind of went around for about four weeks, five weeks with an earpiece in my ear, just listening to everyone chatting somewhere else.

• 8:22Josh Horowitz?

  Well, the good news is a lot of people day to day walk around with George Clooney talking to them in their brain and they're just insane. You actually had a justified.

• 8:28Speaker 04

  Roberts, I had Tinker Bell in my ear, you know. Um, and it was funny, but there was a couple of days where I was in one of the, I was next door to them in a studio and I was, uh, behind a green or in front of a green screen. So they could see me and hear me, but I could only hear them and they were. Making fun of me and like having these conversations, but it's weird when you, you know, you have Julia and and everyone in your ear and you're like, oh, okay.

• 8:53Josh Horowitz?

  How did I get to this place? This is awesome. Well, I mean, that's kind of what I want to get to too, because, I mean, you know, the arc of your career is definitely a unique one and clearly, you know, Outlander has opened the doors to some very exciting new opportunities like this. Um, is this where you imagined you would be? I mean, if I talked to you 10 years ago, is this, was this the game plan or what?

• 9:14Speaker 04

  Oh, God, I, there was no game plan, so it's probably why there's such a weird trajectory. No, I mean, I started off, I was studying theater in Dublin. And then while I was there, at the end of my first year, I got scouted and I was given this opportunity to move to Paris, which, you know, when someone offers you to get out of dreary old Dublin, you're like, ah, yeah, I'll do that. And then, you know, there was sort of this detour that I took for a decade. And, uh, but I, you know, I got to the point where I knew, I'd always wanted to be an actor, since I was three years old. I've been annoying my family with, you know, various impressions and plays and different things.

• 9:56Speaker 04

  So that was always the hope was that I was going to go back to it. But I had no, you know, you, you just, I moved to LA and you just kind of get into classes and you've no idea how you're going to get your foot in the door, first of all. So it was, it was a series of lucky events and a lot of hard work and somehow brought me here.

• 10:18Josh Horowitz?

  So what was the, um, to my weird little office in downtown New York? Sorry about that. There have been, there have been greater heights than today.

• 10:25Speaker 04

  This is perfect.

• 10:26Josh Horowitz?

  Oh, this is it. This is what you wanted to get into the business for. So what were you, what were your invitations? What were the voices you were doing? What was the first, what was your repertoire?

• 10:34Speaker 04

  But I did, I did used to do Margaret Thatcher when I was about five or six. I don't know why.

• 10:39Josh Horowitz?

  That killed, it was just amazing?

• 10:40Speaker 04

  I don't, I probably not, no. I mean, it was probably awful, but that was, that was one that I remember doing, yeah.

• 10:47Josh Horowitz?

  So, um, I mean, you know, you, you talk about, I mean, you had a fully, you know, more than a prosperous career. You had a great career going. I mean, did you find that like when you made the shift back into acting that the modeling career gave you a leg up? Or did it give you, was there a lot of explaining like, no, no, really, this is what I always wanted to do. I'm not just one of those that just wants to dabble.

• 11:07Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, you know, I think I was lucky that I had a successful career before, but it wasn't, you know, we always call myself and a few of my girlfriends, we'd call ourselves the blue collar models because we were like, we worked well, but we, you know, we weren't known people.

• 11:24Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 11:26Speaker 04

  So by the time I went to LA, I mean, I think it was more just that thing of being like, I'm not a ma, as we called them, you know, model actress, whatever. But I think it also fueled me to like, like stay in class and work hard and not settle for hot girl number two roles, which, you know, in the beginning, those were kind of the things that I was being put forward for. And it was constantly a battle to be like, I, I'm not going to wear the tight dress and push my boobs up because that's not the girl I am. And so, you know, I don't know, but it, yeah.

• 12:02Josh Horowitz?

  At least it wasn't hot girl number 10. You started to hot girl number two, because you didn't have that far to go up.

• 12:06Speaker 04

  You know, no, you know, in the beginning, you take what you can get as well.

• 12:10Josh Horowitz?

  Exactly. We'll be right back with more Happy, Sad, Confused.

• 12:49Speaker 05

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• 13:22Josh Horowitz?

  My ulterior motive for having you here today is I'm actually going to Dublin for the first time in a few weeks on vacation. So if you want to just give me the 101, what do I need to do? What do I need to avoid?

• 13:31Speaker 04

  Probably cleanse your liver now in preparation.

• 13:35Josh Horowitz?

  Fair enough. Okay, done.

• 13:37Speaker 04

  Bring a lot of wet weather gear. No, Dublin's a great city. It's a very small city. You'll walk around and also get out of Dublin.

• 13:44Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, that's the plan. Truthfully, that is the plan. We're gonna be there. My wife and I are going for five days and we're just starting in Dublin and then we're going off.

• 13:52Speaker 04

  Yeah, Dublin's fantastic. Like, you can do that in two days. And then I would get in a car and go see the countryside because, you know, I'm a country girl. That's where it's at.

• 13:59Josh Horowitz?

  So what's the hidden gem that I might not find in a guidebook that I should?

• 14:03Speaker 04

  Well, it depends where you go. I mean, I used to always spend most of my summers in Donegal, which is one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland. But anywhere carries beautiful cork. I mean, you, once you go coastlines, you can't go wrong.

• 14:16Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, you're spoiled.

• 14:17Speaker 04

  I mean, if you end up in my town, Monaghan, you might have like taken a wrong tour somewhere, but...

• 14:22Josh Horowitz?

  So what is, what's the hometown like? What's it known for?

• 14:25Speaker 04

  What is it known for? I think in the guidebooks, it says if you're here, you're probably on your way to somewhere else. We're like a small border town in the Midlands, which, you know, yeah. We're known for Patrick Kavanagh, great Irish writer.

• 14:41Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, okay.

• 14:42Speaker 04

  That's where he's from. "Oh, stony gray soil of Monaghan. You burgled the bank of my youth." That'll tell you a lot. That's what he said about it. What else are we? Yeah, that's about it.

• 14:51Josh Horowitz?

  So does this, does that explain to a degree, again, the opportunity at whatever age it was when Paris came calling? It wasn't necessarily like you were dying to become a model, but oh wow, this is a way out and way into cool, interesting, uncharted territory.

• 15:06Speaker 04

  I had, I'd been to London. Before.

• 15:09Josh Horowitz?

  You've done that. So you're super worldly, is what you're saying.

• 15:12Speaker 04

  I've gone to London once.

• 15:15Speaker 04

  Yeah, I mean, we didn't, I, growing up, we didn't go abroad. So I was itching to get out of Ireland and travel the world. And when that opportunity presented itself, I kind of, I think they literally came, the woman who was in the office that I met her, she was like, well, would you like to go to Paris? I was like, when? And so.

• 15:35Josh Horowitz?

  Is Tuesday good?

• 15:36Speaker 04

  I was, I think it was a week later. I was. And it's weird, you know, because when you're a model, they just give you this piece of paper and directions and I, I mean, I was 18, but I hadn't a clue. And they were like, so take a bus from Paris airport, go to this address. And so I, you know, I'd never been in France before. I barely spoke any French and I had like bad high school, terrible French. But I got off this bus and I go with my massive suitcase to an office and they take my suitcase and they give me another piece of paper with addresses on it. And they go, go across to the metro station, get your carte de rang, which is your metro ticket.

• 16:14Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 16:15Speaker 04

  And go to these three appointments and be back here by six o'clock. And you're like, uh, sorry, what? Who?

• 16:21Josh Horowitz?

  I'm not a functional adult yet. I don't know who told you that I was a real person, but.

• 16:24Speaker 04

  I mean, it's terrifying and at least I'm European. I mean, you know, there are girls coming from Russia who are like 14 and doing that.

• 16:31Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 16:32Speaker 04

  And you would meet them sometimes crying on the subway and you're both like, you know, sharing tears and addresses and trying to figure out your plan to Paris, you know? But it was, it was definitely a good education.

• 16:42Josh Horowitz?

  Did, did that mature you in an aggressive sort of way? Like, did it, like, once you were in it, then did you find that you caught up quickly and kind of?

• 16:50Speaker 04

  Yeah, you have to. I think if you don't, bad things happen. But no, you know, it was a great education. I mean, I became. Quite worldwide, pretty quick. And you know, after three months, I was living in Japan and I was there for like three months and that's a whole other world as well.

• 17:07Josh Horowitz?

  Sure, yeah.

• 17:08Speaker 04

  But it was, it was an amazing opportunity. I mean, there's definitely things that I think should change about that industry, but I also think it's, it's an incredible experience to have gone through.

• 17:18Josh Horowitz?

  Okay. Well, last thing, since you bring it up and then we'll get back into the lucrative acting career, what would you change? Like you, you are, you are the, the high priestess of modeling. You're the queen of modeling. You can change anything about the system.

• 17:29Speaker 04

  I mean, I, I don't think people under 16 should be doing it. I really don't. And I just think there should be more safeguards. I think that, you know, in, in the acting world is a perfect example of how it's done well. You know, there, I think SAG and, and I think everyone in, in the acting world, they're, they look after people and there's safeguards in place and that should be the way it is.

• 17:48Josh Horowitz?

  Don't hand them a piece of paper and tell them where to go.

• 17:50Speaker 04

  No.

• 17:51Josh Horowitz?

  Don't trust them.

• 17:52Speaker 04

  Find your way.

• 17:53Josh Horowitz?

  You'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen? Um, so, okay. So, so prior even to modeling, give me a sense again, you, you had alluded to this at first, but um, when did acting, when did performing even enter into your brain in a semi-serious way?

• 18:08Speaker 04

  I mean, from a very early age, I, I was always in, in youth theater. Um, I think I was probably about seven when I did my first play, which was Oliver. And I played Mr. Bumble. So that goes to show you how tall I was compared to all the other kids my age. Um, why I was the guy though, I, I still haven't figured out that part. I don't remember.

• 18:29Josh Horowitz?

  Is there, is there video? Is there photographic evidence of this?

• 18:31Speaker 04

  No, I don't think there is.

• 18:32Josh Horowitz?

  You burned it all?

• 18:33Speaker 04

  But like, you know, growing up in Ireland, there is kind of a rich local theater culture there. And so, you know, I, I did the pantomimes and all of those things and school plays and. My dad, he was a, a guard, a sergeant, which is a police sergeant, but um, he and his friends, they used to do these comedy skits. So he was part of a comedy troupe. So I guess in some way that's where I got it from. But I remember being about 10 or 11 and filling in for the woman that was part of their group a couple of times if she was away. So, which was probably really odd, but uh, she played the accordion and I could play the accordion. So I would do this.

• 19:12Josh Horowitz?

  You have all these hidden talents. Margaret Thatcher imitations, accordion. You could start a variety show.

• 19:17Speaker 04

  Like, how, how cool are those things?

• 19:19Josh Horowitz?

  Accordion screams, cool.

• 19:22Speaker 04

  accordion and Margaret Thatcher, what a, what a girl I

• 19:24Josh Horowitz?

  friends very early on. Hey, come on over, I'll play the accordion for you.

• 19:27Speaker 04

  Hanging out with my dad and his friends. I just don't get it.

• 19:32Josh Horowitz?

  So, so when you come back around, what's the first, uh, what are the first jobs? What's the first time back on camera?

• 19:38Speaker 04

  Uh, well, my very first job was, uh, Super 8.

• 19:42Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 19:42Speaker 04

  And I played dead mom.

• 19:44Josh Horowitz?

  Dead mom, number one.

• 19:46Speaker 04

  Yeah. Uh, no, but that's

• 19:47Josh Horowitz?

  Hey, the whole movie hangs on your character.

• 19:49Speaker 04

  Yeah. Well, you know, it was a really great opportunity. I'd met with, um, I'd, I'd auditioned for it and, uh, JJ, you know, was, was, he was like, yeah, you know, you've got the role and, and was very great and sort of went to bat for me and sort of changed my visa over, which was great for me at the time. And, um, I went to, uh, West Virginia and where they were filming and I was there for about a week, but I, you know, worked a lot with Kyle Chandler and, and JJ also did some of the stuff on Super 8. And it was an amazing experience for my first job and that was very cool. And then around the same time I then got a web series called H+, which was, it was a really cool project.

• 20:28Josh Horowitz?

  So Brian Singer produced thing, right?

• 20:29Speaker 04

  Singer produced that. Um, John Cabrera and, uh, he was the writer and it was a really cool project and we went down to Chile for a month, which, you know, for a web series is not bad.

• 20:42Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 20:42Speaker 04

  Um, and I worked with some great people and it's funny. I have some very good friends from that Hannah Simone was on that and that was her first job. And that was my second job and she went on then to do, you know, New Girl and Amir Arison is on it, who's now on the blacklist.

• 20:55Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 20:56Speaker 04

  So we had like a cool little crew there.

• 20:59Josh Horowitz?

  We'll be right back with more Happy Sad Confused.

• 21:05Speaker 00

  Visible puts the ultimate wireless hack in the palm of your hand. With unlimited 5G wireless data and hotspot designed to keep you connected, powered by Verizon's 5G network. And no contract holding you back. Plans start at $25 a month or get the premium Visible Plus Pro Plan and save $10 on your first month when you use promo code HACK. Make the switch at visible.com. Terms apply. See visible.com for details.

• 21:35Speaker 05

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• 22:08Josh Horowitz?

  Did you feel like you were rusty at the time? Did it come back to you? I mean, did you feel like, okay, I've got what it takes? Or I need to catch up with my peers that have been doing this for the last decade?

• 22:16Speaker 04

  Well, at this point, I'd been in L.A. about a year and a half. And so I'd been in class like solidly for that year and a half, which was my little return to college. But yeah, you know, I felt green and nervous. But I, you know, the beauty of it was, these were both jobs that were kind of nice easing into it, and I learned a lot on them. And especially the web series, I mean, H+ I learned so much on that job. And it was such a little family unit as well, that it was such a great experience. I mean, we were all like, how are we ever going to replicate this? Like, for our first jobs, this is like such a great feeling. It's probably never going to be like this again. But I've been pretty lucky that everything I've done has always had like great crews and people have been really nice, so.

• 23:01Josh Horowitz?

  Now, did you feel prepared once the opportunity of Outlander came around? Did it feel like, I'm ready for this? Or this is going to be a ginormous kind of leap and this is going to be a major challenge?

• 23:11Speaker 04

  I mean, I was so naive. I hadn't done any TV at all. I'd never done a guest star. And I probably hadn't worked about, for about eight, nine months before I got that job. I mean, I was definitely at the point where I was like, what am I doing? Am I going to be able to pay my rent? And, you know, all of those things are like, am I deluding myself? Like, what is this all about? And so I got the job, but there was no time to think about it. I mean, it was, but I, you know, I think I've always had this inner confidence or delusion where I knew that I loved doing it, and I knew that it was what I'd always wanted to do. So therefore...

• 23:55Speaker 04

  Ergo, I hoped that that meant that I could do it, you know, so. Um, once we got to Scotland, I mean, I I got cast on, they announced my casting on a Tuesday and by Friday I was in Scotland.

• 24:08Josh Horowitz?

  Crazy, so you didn't have time to kind of.

• 24:10Speaker 04

  So I didn't have time to think about it. And then we had two weeks, once I got there of, well, there was no clothes for me. So the purr, uh, costume department were just, I was in fittings every day and they were like.

• 24:22Josh Horowitz?

  So reams of beyond flying and they.

• 24:24Speaker 04

  Um, between that and uh, there was some dialect coaching because obviously I was playing someone from England and it was quite an RP and. Um, and then there was, you know, some horse riding lessons because I also fudged that that I could horse ride.

• 24:38Josh Horowitz?

  Classic, classic. See, that mean, that means you're a true actor if you're whining about your resume.

• 24:41Speaker 04

  If I have, if I have the, yeah, the classic, I can horse ride and also fence. Um, but so it was also just so busy, but we had John Dahl, who's this amazing director.

• 24:53Josh Horowitz?

  Sure, yeah, yeah.

• 24:54Speaker 04

  For the first two blocks. And so, you know, we had a couple of um rehearsals and things, but the great thing about John is like, one of the first things he said. He was kind of like, I'm not here to tell you how to act. Like, you guys have been cast because you know what you're doing.

• 25:09Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 25:10Speaker 04

  Which I was internally going, really?

• 25:12Josh Horowitz?

  Like, uh huh, sure.

• 25:14Speaker 04

  So John's style is very laid back and just let you do what you want to do.

• 25:17Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 25:18Speaker 04

  Which I think also was probably the best thing that could have happened to me because it made me sort of have that confidence and it made me just be like, okay, well. You know what you're doing.

• 25:27Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, because, because you don't want a director who's putting you on edge on the first day being like, prove to me that you can do this because ostensibly you've proven it by getting cast.

• 25:35Speaker 04

  Well, yeah, I mean, I think stars and Sony probably were a little nervous. I mean, they did get a, a, they did get an acting coach for me, but she lasted about two days.

• 25:45Josh Horowitz?

  What happened?

• 25:46Speaker 04

  Well, she was very micromanaging and I, you know, I did feel that thing of like, either let me get on with what I'm doing. You know, you don't want someone getting you in your head.

• 25:57Josh Horowitz?

  Was she like a line readings, like adjusting like minutia like that?

• 26:00Speaker 04

  She would just come in after every take and just comment on what I was doing. And it was like, I don't want to know, like I, you know, unless there's something really wrong.

• 26:08Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 26:08Speaker 04

  Don't make me aware. I'm, I'm in.

• 26:10Josh Horowitz?

  You're, you're killing any spontaneity that I could possibly get, yeah.

• 26:14Speaker 04

  Um, so that, that had to go.

• 26:17Josh Horowitz?

  Such a free Madonna. Hey, it's for the process. It all worked out. Um, so I just had Sam in here a couple of weeks ago. Um, a really disgusting man inside and out.

• 26:26Speaker 04

  A horrible person.

• 26:26Josh Horowitz?

  Not a good person.

• 26:27Speaker 04

  So rude.

• 26:27Josh Horowitz?

  People don't talk about it.

• 26:28Speaker 04

  Such a huge ego.

• 26:31Josh Horowitz?

  But kind of, I mean, kind of fun that you guys have been able to go through this experience together in that like, you know, he wasn't a name person at the time either. And to kind of, I would think, you know, a shoulder to lean on and to kind of be like, this is insane. Isn't this insane? And to look across.

• 26:46Speaker 04

  Having that sounding board and being able to be there for each other as friends and, um, you know, very early on, we were both down in London getting our hair destroyed and we went for this big, long walk, him with this bright red mop and me with a poodle perm. And it was, you know, we sort of just were like, okay, like we're about to go into this crazy experience together. And like, I think, you know, we were both, I think we both are quite similar people in a lot of ways. And I think we were both like, right, well, let's just make sure that we always check in with each other.

• 27:17Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 27:18Speaker 04

  You know, we got each other's backs. So, and we have, you know, it's been such a bonding experience for us, but it's been so important to be able to have that. You know, as we're going through this whole new experience together, being able to be like, is this okay? Should we accept this?

• 27:33Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 27:33Speaker 04

  Is this not? Like, what do we think about this?

• 27:35Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 27:36Speaker 04

  It's important, you know?

• 27:38Josh Horowitz?

  Have you, I asked him the same question, um, the second go around on the second season. Did new things that you've discovered, uh, working with him a year plus in that you didn't realize at first?

• 27:48Speaker 04

  Um, you know, I just think the whole experience has deepened. Um, you know, character wise, also our responsibility has gotten larger in a way, you know, like.

• 27:59Josh Horowitz?

  Are you talking about outside of the show itself in terms of just like carrying the name of the show out?

• 28:03Speaker 04

  Well, I think the first time, you know, we were filming in such a little bubble the first time and nobody really cared what we were doing.

• 28:10Josh Horowitz?

  Or you didn't know better that they did, they cared. Yeah.

• 28:12Speaker 04

  And so there was a real. There was a real innocence to it and that was great and it sort of let it be its own thing. And I mean, now we just have more responsibilities in terms of like, you know, the workload is bigger and you have more press and all of these things to do. But coming back again, it was like, all right, well, now that we've done that season, you know, how do we preserve our characters and, and, you know, fight for certain things? It's just, you know, you also realize where, where you have a little bit of power, where you don't.

• 28:39Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 28:40Speaker 04

  What those negotiations are. And that's everything from, you know, fighting for writers, you know, fighting for character pieces or, or, you know, how you're treated in the grand scheme, where how the crew is, you know, all of those things and.

• 28:56Josh Horowitz?

  Well, and in a way, I would think you're almost trying to replicate that bubble in a way and, and throw all the other stuff away.

• 29:01Speaker 04

  Oh, it's pretty easy to replicate a bubble when you're out in the Highlands. It becomes its own bubble.

• 29:06Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 29:07Speaker 04

  But yeah, you know, we were totally immersed in it, which is nice. You know, it's like you don't have too many distractions.

• 29:14Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 29:14Speaker 04

  In the middle of nowhere in Scotland.

• 29:16Josh Horowitz?

  Do the fans come out in the most remote of regions? Can you still spot them?

• 29:19Speaker 04

  I mean, it's crazy. I don't know how they find us. We're, we're all like, we're convinced that there's some tracking device on some of the like, the, the crew vans or something because, well, we have this one group, the Outlandish Bakers. They will literally come to the middle of a mountain with baked goodies, baked goodies, sorry.

• 29:38Josh Horowitz?

  As devoted fans goes, this, you could do a lot worse.

• 29:41Speaker 04

  I mean, how, how bad is that? Like, you know, people have crazy fans. We're like, yes, stop making us goods. That's so horrible. But no, it's great. And, and, you know, also in Scotland, you can't really lock down places. So if we're filming in a, in a town or whatever, you know, there's a lot of people who come around and stuff, but they're really respectful and polite and it's quite nice. It's nice to know that people care.

• 30:03Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, the alternative is not what you want. Um, when I, when I, when I tweeted about you coming on today, Sam weighed in in terms of what we should talk about.

• 30:12Speaker 04

  Oh, what did he say?

• 30:13Josh Horowitz?

  One simple word, he just said Eddie.

• 30:17Speaker 04

  Why does he want me to talk about my cat? I swear he just wants to paint me as a crazy cat lady. It's not happening, Hugh.

• 30:24Josh Horowitz?

  So you're not a crazy cat lady? Now, wait, is the Twitter-

• 30:26Speaker 04

  I mean, I have a cat.

• 30:26Josh Horowitz?

  Is the Twitter account run by you or anybody you know?

• 30:29Speaker 04

  No, I mean, this is the thing, and I'm like, stop talking to this person.

• 30:34Josh Horowitz?

  Perpetuating this insanity?

• 30:35Speaker 04

  I think she has two Twitter handles, by the way. There was three, I think, another, well, somebody's stepped away.

• 30:41Josh Horowitz?

  With not insignificant followings, by the way.

• 30:43Speaker 04

  We were actually joking about it over dinner last night, me and my friends, and we looked at it, and one of my friends, Donald, was disgusted because she had more followers than he did. It was so good. I was like, you're such a loser. My cat's got more followers than you.

• 30:58Josh Horowitz?

  So is the cat always close by? Is the cat, is the cat within a block of us right now?

• 31:03Speaker 04

  No, she didn't come to New York this time. She's been here, she, she originated from here.

• 31:07Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, she's a New Yorker.

• 31:08Speaker 04

  In a deli in Brooklyn.

• 31:09Josh Horowitz?

  Do they sell cats in delis in Brooklyn now?

• 31:11Speaker 04

  No, she was giving, she was giving away, per thing. Her and her brother, I used to live in South Williamsburg. And so one day I was going home, and by the way, because I tried to adopt a cat from Petco or wherever, because I was a foreigner, they wouldn't give me a cat, which, you know-

• 31:28Josh Horowitz?

  Xenophobia run rampant here in New York. I apologize on behalf of Petco.

• 31:33Speaker 04

  So I was walking home one day, and there was a Puerto Rican lady who was always around our neighborhood, and she was like, hey, lady, you want a cat? Like, what? And she had two kittens in her coat, and I was like, are you giving me these? And she was like, no, no, the deli. And I was like, okay, so-

• 31:52Josh Horowitz?

  Sounds like an elaborate scam. You're lucky you're alive.

• 31:55Speaker 04

  Well, it was like the deli on the corner of my block.

• 31:57Josh Horowitz?

  Okay.

• 31:57Speaker 04

  So, um, I know, so I went into the deli, and I'm like, hey, I, I hear you have some cats.

• 32:06Speaker 04

  And they took me in the back room, and there was, lo and behold, there was four kittens running around.

• 32:11Josh Horowitz?

  Have you heard nothing from your early modeling days? This sounds like a horrible early modeling story. I went into the back of the deli, they said, here's my cat.

• 32:20Speaker 04

  Um, I know, I'm, yeah, naivety, stupidity more like.

• 32:25Josh Horowitz?

  So, but not a crazy cat lady, just simply there's affection for like a nice.

• 32:29Speaker 04

  She started in Brooklyn, then she moved to LA with me. Now she's in Glasgow.

• 32:33Josh Horowitz?

  Okay.

• 32:34Speaker 04

  But she did come to New York, how she got to Glasgow, she came to New York when I was filming Money Monster. For a week, I had to share a hotel with her and that was a disaster.

• 32:43Josh Horowitz?

  She ran the place? It was her, it was her hotel room?

• 32:45Speaker 04

  Well, they don't, they're, you know, they're very attached to their surroundings and they don't like it when there's constant noise and they're on the seventh floor and they don't know what's going on. So. There's a lot of, yeah.

• 32:56Josh Horowitz?

  So.

• 32:57Speaker 04

  Let's just end it.

• 32:58Josh Horowitz?

  Gets, where is, uh, so where is home now? Obviously you're shooting a great portion of the year, but what do you consider home?

• 33:03Speaker 04

  I have a beautiful suitcase.

• 33:05Josh Horowitz?

  Can you fit into it?

• 33:07Speaker 04

  I probably could. Um, I, I don't know, actually. Um. You know, I guess LA still sort of feels a little bit like home, but I sort of bounce between LA and New York and London when I'm not in Scotland. So.

• 33:22Josh Horowitz?

  And is that, is that relatively comfortable? Again, I guess, given the background of the modeling lifestyle, you probably were on the road a lot anyway. Still would be nice to have a place to.

• 33:31Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's weird, you know, I, I bounced around for so long, for about 10 years. And then when I moved to LA, I was so sedentary for about five years, four, I suppose, four years. And that's. I think that's why that still feels very home to me, but now being back on the road, I enjoy it. I enjoy traveling, but I definitely am, I'm itching to.

• 33:50Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 33:50Speaker 04

  You know, to grow some roots.

• 33:52Josh Horowitz?

  We'll come back to New York. You're welcome, welcome here anytime. Have you, uh, does theater, for instance, like intrigue you at all?

• 33:57Speaker 04

  I would love to. Yeah. No, definitely. I, you know, it's not something that I've done since I was like a teenager, but. I think if, you know, any actor, that's kind of a huge part of, of. The feeling for acting is like that live interaction with an audience and being able to tell a story from beginning to end over the course of one night and then repeat that and. See what that experience is like, you know, I, I would love to.

• 34:22Josh Horowitz?

  So what, so what is the, I mean, you're limited in, in respect to the commitments every year to Outlander, obviously, which again takes up a good portion of time and you're. Clearly making the best decisions possible and Money Monster is clearly a good one, but like, is there, is there an ideal kind of an experience you're looking for? You mentioned theater. I mean, obviously film, but like. A type of filmmaker, type of role. I mean, what's kind of like in your head of like what you're itching to get to do?

• 34:46Speaker 04

  I mean, for me, it it depends on the story and the writing, I think, is where you start with. I mean, obviously, there's a list of directors that I would love to work with, and Woody Allen's probably right up there.

• 34:57Josh Horowitz?

  Nice.

• 34:58Speaker 04

  You know, if if that could ever happen, that would be amazing. But it's, you know, I think that it's hard for me to say what I want to do, because I think until you read it or until it's presented to you, you don't know. I mean, um, obviously, I want a long career. So for me, it's more about choosing roles that are are interesting and smart and that hopefully will give me longevity. And, you know, I would like to try a lot of different things. So variety as well, you know?

• 35:26Josh Horowitz?

  So since you you mentioned Woody and I'm the cliched version of a newborn and bred New Yorker, I mean, like, it's in my DNA. And and he was actually on the podcast, which was the biggest thrill of my life. Can you imagine? So what's your Woody Allen? I always ask this of Woody Allen fans, like, what's your favorite in terms of comedy or drama or the the mix of the two? What's your high water mark?

• 35:46Speaker 04

  Interiors is probably one of my favorite.

• 35:48Josh Horowitz?

  In terms of the comedy, it's super fun.

• 35:49Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah, it's really fun. No, but I just the female roles in that.

• 35:53Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 35:53Speaker 04

  Diane Diane Keaton, she does that one scene in the chair where she's talking to her therapist. And it's just like a masterclass in acting. And then Geraldine Page, like, oh, my God, she's so incredible in it. And just because it looks so beautiful. But also Manhattan, I watch over and over and over and over again. I mean, I, that's probably my, like, when I'm not feeling the greatest and I want to, like, fall asleep to something that's beautiful and makes me feel good, that's.

• 36:21Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, it's kind of a sad ending, though, in a way. But the Gershwin comes up and all is right in the world, you're okay.

• 36:26Speaker 04

  That surge of music. But it's also like the the intro to that, like, as soon as I put that film on, I'm just like a little kid again. I'm like,

• 36:35Speaker 04

  we're gonna go with this, you know?

• 36:37Josh Horowitz?

  Nice. Um, before I I let you out, I do have this weird Indiana Jones fedora with some random silly stupid questions.

• 36:42Speaker 04

  Oh, let's go.

• 36:43Josh Horowitz?

  Grab a couple?

• 36:44Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 36:44Josh Horowitz?

  Dig your hand in, see what see what fate has in store for you.

• 36:48Speaker 04

  If I get asked where I want to go to back in time.

• 36:51Josh Horowitz?

  They're not Outlander themed, at least I hope not.

• 36:53Speaker 04

  Oh, cool.

• 36:55Speaker 04

  Best vacation you've ever taken? Ooh. Um.

• 37:02Speaker 04

  You know, years and years ago, and this is sad that I'm saying that that was my best vacation, because we're literally going back about fifteen, sixteen years ago. But I went trekking in Nepal. And that was probably, it's stayed with me for a very, very long time. I love that place. Yeah.

• 37:17Josh Horowitz?

  Amazing.

• 37:18Speaker 04

  I'm gonna say that one.

• 37:18Josh Horowitz?

  Want to try one or two more?

• 37:19Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 37:22Speaker 04

  Like, making such a mess here.

• 37:24Josh Horowitz?

  No, it's good. It's sound effects. You're our own, you're our own foley artist.

• 37:28Speaker 04

  What can you eat a ton of? Uh, sushi, I probably have many times. Um, yeah, or, or, you know, the sweet and salty popcorn.

• 37:40Josh Horowitz?

  Nice.

• 37:41Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 37:42Josh Horowitz?

  What's, what's the, uh, what's the thing on the craft service table that you cannot resist? You look there and you're like, oh, no, they put that out.

• 37:48Speaker 04

  What's craft services? We shoot in Scotland.

• 37:51Josh Horowitz?

  Sorry, I forgot. Star says some money, no?

• 37:53Speaker 04

  Oh, God, we need to, we need to, like, talk to them about it. Um, we have, like, okay, so craft service in the US. What I love about craft service in the US is the breakfast. Those Mexican breakfasts, like Mexican burritos, breakfast burritos. Oh, so good.

• 38:07Josh Horowitz?

  You need a nap after. Need like a nap after a morning breakfast burrito, though, I feel like.

• 38:11Speaker 04

  I don't know. I was, I was doing film down in, uh, New Orleans, I think it was like Escape Plan. And, uh, they had the best, like, morning catering. It was like breakfast burritos and then fresh juices that you would make yourself. And it was just like.

• 38:25Josh Horowitz?

  Well, that's because also Stallone probably needs like six thousand calories every morning just to keep the metabolism going. That man.

• 38:31Speaker 04

  I know, I know.

• 38:32Josh Horowitz?

  I once saw him, I mean, you have more experience, but like I was on set of one of his films and in between takes, he was just like flexing like, they were like bowling pins just to keep like the blood flowing into his massive arms.

• 38:43Speaker 04

  When we were working, it's funny, because it was like, we spent a day on the beach with, I spent a day on the beach with him and Arnold Schwarzenegger, which was probably one of the most surreal days of my life. But they were, the funny thing was they kept doing this joke about, you know that documentary Aristocrats?

• 39:01Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 39:02Speaker 04

  Uh, so, but they kept going, aristocrat. And it was just like, I, just all day, this was their joke and they would like do the click fingers and the two of them, it was just like the weirdest thing, but so funny.

• 39:15Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, that's the debut of, um, your Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger hybrid imitation.

• 39:21Josh Horowitz?

  Next time we'll get you to do the Margaret Thatcher one act show, the one woman show. It's been great to catch up with you today. Good luck on Money Monster. I can't wait to check it out. And you don't need good luck on Outlander. It's already getting a gajillion people watching every week.

• 39:33Speaker 04

  We'll take it though.

• 39:34Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, there you go. Good luck on that. Thanks for stopping by today.

• 39:37Speaker 04

  Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

• 39:39Speaker 02

  And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh.

• 39:59Speaker 06

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