Here is some news about the possible casting of Katherin Heigl as Claire. If this information is correct, the OL movie will be released in 2012, a year before Book 8.

Holy Moly! I just saw the tweet from MYOUTLANDERPURG re this article. Can this be happening? What is with Katherine Heigl these days? She landed Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum role, and I couldn't believe that. They dyed her hair dark brown, put in some wavy extensions and that was that. After sixteen wildly successful Plum novels, Heigl just seemed a weird choice - guess she must be the most sought after actress around these days.

What does everyone think?

Just read the entire article. I mentions Randall Wallace as the writer. DG said last Thursday that the writer had been fired and now they had narrowed it down to two female writers. So at least that part was wrong.

I am a big fan of Heigl though I think she is a bit young for this role, imo.

She's 32, so the age thing doesn't concern me. I don't watch 'Grey's' because I have a hard time with any medical shows. I think her movie work in romantic comedy is quite good, but to take on the complex role of Claire, I would have serious doubts. Geeezz!

Thanks for posting the article.
She could do a good Gillies, I think.

I'm a huge fan of Heigl's but I don't see her as Claire, at least not in a physical way.
She is very good at highly emotional scenes and I loved her on 'Grey's', but I just don't know about this choice. I wonder if she can do accents well.
I must say again that I would much rather see a mini series made because I just think a movie is going to be disappointing with all that it will have to leave out because of time constraints.
Oh well, I hope Herself will retain lots of creative influence as SM did/does for Twilight Saga.

http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=68796.17&nav=messages&webtag=ws-books#a17 Scroll down, Diana's reply is somewhere down on that page. I don't know how to work this kind of link...
Interesting info though.

Now, I really have to ask...
What do you think of Allan Scott-Douglas as Jamie?

PS. unfortunately Diana had deleted her post. I should have copied and pasted

Weeeel! I'm really, really surprised by how much Herself is so in favor of Allan. I've searched youtube for any samples of his acting abilities. There are a few vids that he's posted over the years, but they don't really show much. I wrote a comment that I posted on Karen's blog, Outlandish Observations. Everybody needs to read what Karen wrote to introduce the topic and then read the comments. Karen had made mention of the tweets back and forth between Herself and Allan - went back and looked for myself. A bit puzzling IMO.

Just my two cents worth - please forgive the rambling. Also, I know Gerard Butler would never be cast, but I was mainly using him as numero uno in reference to sex appeal. After reading what Diana wrote in the link that RSP just posted, it seems as if they're looking for an unknown? Why? If Claire has to be a bankable actress, why not the actor to portray Jamie?

Elenna in Scotland, thanks so much for your concise and knowledgeable observations and opinions. Really appreciated them!

I watched that snippet of Allan in the video, and then I viewed everything he had posted on youtube. Was especially interested in how he moved his body - was that certain beauty of male athletic grace present? Sadly, I didn't find it so. Allan does have lovely eyes, a nice tone to his speaking voice, and he probably is quite a competent actor. But! Jamie Fraser has a commanding presence, an extraordinary man among men, if you will. The actor who takes on the role of JAMMF will absolutely need to project that same quality on the screen. It's that old X or the It factor, that indefinable something that makes one take notice instantly.

Gerard Butler certainly has it in spades, aye? I think that's why so many Outlander fans have taken Mr. Butler as their own 'dream' Jamie. I realize that he is 41, and Herself has said he's too old for the role. Weeel, on paper he certainly is, but it could depend alot on how much of the movie, TV series, would concentrate on the extremely young Jamie, don't you think? There are extremely clever and excellent make-up artists in the business who could maybe work magic around that wee problem, who knows? Besides being the consummate actor, he just 'has IT'! There are certainly other actors on the scene who have those necessary and outstandig qualifications, but I can think of none who are still in their twenties.

I verra, verra much doubt if all the Butler fans will get 'their' Jamie, but I definitely don't see a very young, unseasoned actor being able to pull off such a complex and challenging role. Of course all of the above is strictly my own wee opinion.

September 30, 2010 2:12 PM

The direct link to Diana's comments about the movie, and Katherine Heigl, and Allan Scott-Douglas, is here:

http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=68796.17&nav=messages&webtag=ws-books#a17

And if you want to add to the discussion on my blog about Allan Scott-Douglas, feel free! Here's the link:

http://outlandishobservations.blogspot.com/2010/09/allan-scott-douglas-as-possible-jamie.html

Karen

I did find a few examples of Allan Scott-Douglas's work on youtube. And while Diana might like him, I don't think he has the physical presence to carry off Jamie. And it is more than just height & musculature. Diana writes that people notice Jamie in a crowd, and I'm not sure I am seeing that in the examples I've seen.

He could hire whoever trained Gerard Butler for 300 to get in shape, and maybe something would emerge from that, but I am still just not seeing it in him. He's tall, red headed, Scots, blue eyed, but when you look at the artwork DG approved for the Exile even, that hint of both strength and humor, still not seeing it in Alan.

I think its all Katherine Heigl trying to give herself work. Her movies are awful.. and she was off Greys after she pissed off the writers... and who knows how many other writers/ producers/ casting directors with her bratty behavior.

ITA. I couldn't see her as Claire at all.

Thank you for adding these links Karen.
I am going to add my opinion on your blog once that I am clear with all that has developed (gossips mainly) lately on the OL movie topic.


About Katherine Heigl, from physical POV, she might an OK fit. She is tall enough, she is beautiful (cant say otherwise), she is somehow overly confident, sometimes annoyingly so(things that wont sit bad with Claire character).
The thing is I have seen her only on bad movie productions, I do not watch Grey's Anatomy though, but I watched recently this stupid, cheap, made for TV movie "Love comes softly" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0345591/) and it made me think that maybe deep down, hidden somewhere there is some talent in there. She just didnt get her change to grab a proper script and be part of a good movie production.
I mean thats Hollywood, and I think pretty much everyone knows that is not a matter of talent to make it there .
Now, knowing that she is somehow seen as a B list actress i wonder who are these people that support her, and how much influence actually they have....money wise.
They could as well be some B list producers...and that doesnt sit well, at least with me...
I have seen the latest book adaptations ( Pillras of the earth, twilight series, Time traveler wife, Lovely bones...etc ) they all stunck more or less.
Personally all i want is just a well made movie, in which nobody will spear money on locations, costumes, accent caochs and so on.
But this is an ideal situations, and so far only small production companies has aproach this book series for apossible movie adaptation (or TV series).
From here it is still long way to go, so many projects of this kind just die at this stage.

IMH(umble)O, from what I've seen and heard of Allan Scott-Douglas, I like! If Herself, after all these years of the question "Who do you see playing Jamie" has been unable to answer, and now has the answer in Allan, speaks volumes-but that is just my 2 cents.