'Not expected!' Sam Heughan shares reaction being called ‘grotesque’ by Outlander creator

express.co.uk:

Sam Heughan will be back starring as Jamie Fraser in the highly-anticipated return of Outlander later this week.The actor will be appearing in season six of the Starz hit show but has now opened up about his first interaction with the writer of the books.The series was written by American author Diana Gabaldon who wasn’t convinced by Sam at first.She reportedly first called him “grotesque” when she was shown a picture of him ahead of his audition.Sam opened up about this in a new interview, admitting he wasn’t what “she expected.”Asked about being called grotesque, he said: “She did say that.“She saw a photo of younger me when I was a juvenile lead in Second World War stuff and not a Highland warrior from the 1700s.“I wasn’t the Jamie she expected, but when she saw my audition, she thought I transformed into him.”He added to the Radio Times: “You rarely get a chance to play a character like Jamie.“Those kinds of roles don’t come along all the time.”Diana opened up about her first thoughts of Sam when she appeared on the podcast Outcasts.Speaking to actors David Berry and Tim Downie in June 2020, she opened up about this.She said: “Well, you know what he’s like, he’s a total chameleon.

He changes with each show for each character.“I was thinking, ‘Well, he doesn’t look like Jamie Fraser except for a little bit around the edges.’“On the other hand, [I thought] he looks really different, so maybe he’ll be fine and of course, he was.“But that was my first reaction.