Is there an Outlander thread?

[OstentatiousBreastfeeder]

Started watching it on Amazon Prime last night, I'm hooked already.

Haven't read the books it's based off, which makes a nice change for me!

Anyone else?

SPOILER if you haven't read all the books.

William is described as looking exactly like Jamie except for the hair, as I recall.

SPOILER if you haven't read DIA

I think it highly possible that they aren't using the flashback from the beginning of the book. They are filming as we speak, supposedly the first episode of season two and we have no Brianna or Roger. Of course, it's possible that they are filming out of sequence or that they will insert the flashback later. I think it would be a bit of a shock, and a bit of a narrative nightmare from a scripting standpoint to open season two with Claire nearly 50, wearing a 1960s trouser suit.

Spoilers too...

I do think William can easily be played by an actor who is tall and can ape Jamie's mannerisms. His colouring is different and a lot of William's physicality and mannerisms is what recalls Jamie. All you really need is a flashback which shows how William is completely unlike the Earl and couple that with some obvious parallels with Jamie. With the Randalls you've got situations where one is mistaken for the other (Jack for Frank and Alex for Jack) and Alex absolutely has to look more like Frank than Jack does in terms of narrative.

I don't think Karen Gillan's height is a bar to her playing Brianna. She's much taller than average, certainly taller than Balfe and Balfe is shorter than Claire is supposed to be, just as Heughan is a bit shorter than Jamie should be. It could possibly work. Her annoying, shouty acting however would fail to express how fiery and smart Brianna is. Balfe does it with Claire too. She occasionally seems sulky and petulant when she should be determined and courageous.

Catriona Balfe is 5'10 (she was a runway model); book Claire is 5'6".

I picture Brianna's face as much more angular than Karen Gillan's. I think they'll cast an American actress.

SPOILER possibility again.

The accent thing is interesting to think about. If they are going to be authentic, she will need a Boston accent; I think that may be hard even for most American actresses.

Sorry, I did mean Cait is taller than Claire is supposed to be (looooong day) and it doesn't matter, just as Sam is shorter than Jamie. There's a big thing made of the fact that she is tiny compared to him by Gabaldon but this isn't true on screen.

My point was that Gillan is taller than Balfe (1.8m to 1.77m) so visually it should work in terms of suggesting stature even though she isn't as tall as the original character. She's still no Brianna though.

Casting call for Brianna requested a 'general American accent', not Bostonian. Presumably, they can argue that she's raised by two English people so has a milder accent. Boston has quite a distinctive accent hasn't it?

It is a distinctive accent, but it actually has more in common with many English accents than any other American accent, which makes it hard to do well. Her being raised by two English people would likely make her accent more Bostonian, not less. It just occurred to me because they have been trying to make the Scottish accents fairly authentic, even though it was originally made for an American audience, most of whom would not be able to differentiate an Edinburgh accent from a Highland one. But I think most Americans will think it odd if Brianna sounds like she came from Cleveland.

The casting call for Brianna:

"BRIANNA RANDALL (Female) 20 years old. (20-25) General American accent. Looking for an actress who is OVER 5ft 7?. This tall, striking, redhead (we can dye hair) is the daughter of Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) So actress must have BLUE EYES and ideally resemble the actor and actress playing her mother and father. Strong-minded, intelligent beyond her years with an effortless charm and sparkling sense of humor (traits inherited from both her mother and father), Brianna also has a scholastic mind-set, with a healthy dose of American strength, having been born and bred in Boston under the watchful eye of historian Frank Randall. The ease of a natural beauty, Brianna has the ability to turn heads wherever she goes. She also has a practical, analytical brain so she should be played earthy and grounded and not girly."

My friend is from Boston but has English parents. Her accent is absolutely beautiful. She can turn on the Bostonian really well when she wants to but it isn't immediately obvious where she hails from. To me anyway. I think that's because she's lived here for a few years though. Her little brother sounds pure Bostonian though. We did linguistics together at university and I don't remember an awful lot about it (we focussed on European literature and language) but I do know she was non-rhotic and used vowels in a very similar way to our received pronunciation.

Yes, it's the non-rhoticity that is especially distinctive. It's one of the few American accents that is non-rhotic. There are a few Southern US accents that have some non-rhotic features, and they are hard for actors to get right as well.

Isn't it a shame that Rose Leslie (Ygritte from GOT) isn't tall enough? She'd do facially. She's a rl descendent of Lord Lovat too.

Yes, despite her most famous roles so far being a maid and a wildling, she is incredibly posh in real life!

Bit of a time lag since last post but senecafalls if you check back could you explain about rhotic accents? Interested.

I can't wait to see who they cast as Lord John, I love him.

Jane A linguist (which I am not) can explain it better than I can, but just as a start, there is this wikipedia article.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhoticity_in_English

Most American and Canadian accents are rhotic; all r's are pronounced. Most English accents are non-rhotic in that r's after vowels are not usually pronounced so that "farther" and "father" rhyme. Most Scottish and Irish accents are non-rhotic.

The Boston accent is very distinctive for being one of the few mostly non-rhotic accents in the US.

I am from the southern US where there are a few non-rhotic accents left, but they are dying out as a result of television, etc. My mother has a partially non-rhotic accent, but mine is all rhotic.

Jeeeez - episode 10

Yes, you have sex, a lot of sex, please can we go to the story line........

There's a lot of sex in the book though

Season 2 trailer here and they have cast the part of Roger.

What have they done to his hair

F

Jamie's hair bugged me all the way through season one. The books talk about it being tied back and clubbed but it wasn't long enough.

It bothered me purely in the interests of accuracy, you understand. Nothing to do with my fantasies of untying it and running my fingers through it. No way, not at all.

I know it's supposed to be longer but, as far as the actor goes, I liked his hair when he first met Claire - the shorter messy look as opposed to the neither here nor there longer curls/waves that he had for most of the series, which I found very distracting (and not in a good way) from his lovely face.

Just waiting for Brianna now.

Love the choice for Roger!

Outlander & cast have some nominations at the Globes tonight

I came here to see whether there was a thread on Outlander. I've never read it but o just finished season one on Amazon and I'm not yet ready to say goodbye

Me too, lemon - I posted on the other Outlander thread but can't find anyone to obsess with!