Happy Sad Confused - Caitriona Balfe (2016)

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

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

Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. 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 second-fused

conversation with Sam Huyen. 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 going to enjoy this one. 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 got to 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 slash happy, say I confuse.

especially, by the way, if you love all things, Outlander, we've got some special treats for you over there on the way. You also get, whether you like Harry Potter or, by the way, there's a Harry Potter related guests or two coming up to. Whatever. Any big franchise, any big movie, any big TV show is covered on HappySac infuse. 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 slash happy sales. confused. So yeah, Katrina Balf, what can I say about Katrina Balf? 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 all right, whatever. No, but I got a chance to catch up with Katrina and Sam in the entire cast earlier this week. I hosted the Outlander season 8 Red Carpet, four stars 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 at Lander 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 two, I think, was running, up and running. I had met Katrina at Comic-Con with 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 Jody 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 going to 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 going to be able to 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 going to 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 both. Yeah, you got some cool shit. A lot of arrested development in this office.

That is, we're often rolling, and I'll explain to you, Kat, that that is a painting that Danny McBride did of me. No way. Seriously? Yes. That is amazing. favorite story related to that. I thought you were going to say your three-year-old son.

Well, that's exactly it. So to name drop for a second, I had Danny Boyle on the podcast a couple 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. I love it. Amazing, right? Thank you so much for stopping by today. Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. You got a lot going on. Obviously, the second season 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. I haven't shown it too much yet. But I mean, come on, Jody Foster directing. That's enough to get me in the door. 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? Right. 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, not such a massive knowledge, but... I won't pretend to be an expert either. But, I mean, it's smart and cool in that it's, you know, I was going to 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 set in contemporary times that has something to say that's dealing with some stuff that we're actually dealing with.

That has some weight to it too. Yeah, I mean, it's so timely right now, but also what Jody 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 brought on. And you see it, you know, you see it through the eyes 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.

Sure. You know, I think that this does that fantastically. 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? And 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. You know, it was so interesting filming it because it was such a different, type of beast technically. My first day, we did one of the scenes where I'm in the lobby, and I'm being, you know, it's the idea is that that's being fed through a video monitor into the TV screens. Right. So I had George and Jack in an earpiece in my ear, playing this whole scene that they were doing, you know, offset somewhere off site. And I'm reacting to that. So there was a lot of that. I kind of went around for about four weeks, five weeks with an earpiece in my ear, just listening to everyone chatting somewhere else.

Well, the good news is a lot of people day-to-day walk around with George Clooney talking in their brain, and they're just insane. Well, I had Julia Roberts. I had Tinkerbell in my ear, you know. And it was funny, there was a couple of days where I was in one of those, I was next door to them in a studio. And I was 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 everyone in your ear. And you're like, oh, okay.

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. Right. So, yeah. Is this where you imagined you would be? I mean, if I talked to you 10 years ago, was this the game plan or what?

Oh, God. 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 theatre 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 Durya, old Dublin, you're like, yeah, I'll do that. And then, you know, there was sort of this detour that I took for a decade. And, 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. So that was always the hope was that I was going to go back to it. But I had no, you know, you just, I moved to L.A. and you just kind of get into classes and you've no idea how you're going to get your fun in the door, first of all.

So it was a series of lucky events and a lot of hard work and somehow brought me here. So what was the, my weird little office in downtown New York. Sorry about that. There have been greater heights than today. This is perfect. Oh, this is it. This is what you wanted to get into the business for. So what were your invitations? What were the voices you were doing? What was the first? What was your repertoire? I'm not asking. I did used to do Margaret Thatcher when I was about five or six. I don't know why.

I killed. It was just amazing. I don't. I probably not. No. I mean, it was probably awful. But that was one that I remember Derek. So, I mean, you know, 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.

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 call ourselves the blue collar models because we were like, we worked well, but we, you know, we weren't known people. So by the time I went to L.A., I mean, I think it was more just that thing of being like, I'm not a maw, as we called them, you know, model actress, whatever. But I think it also fueled me to 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'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 yeah, it worked out. At least it wasn't hot girl number 10. You started the hot girl number two, so we didn't have that far to go up. You know, no, you know, in the beginning you take what you can get as well. Exactly. Exactly. We'll be right back with more HappySag Confused. All right, I want to talk to you guys today about Sali.

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Download the SAILE app in your app store today. use our code HSC at checkout to get 15% off your first purchase. Check it out. I'm Mandy. And I'm Melissa. And this is Moms and Mysteries. We're two Florida moms obsessed with true crime. From infamous cases like Ellen Greenberg to shocking Florida stories like the Dan Markell killing. With 55 million downloads, we bring you new deep dives every Tuesday and Thursday. Listen to Moms and Mysteries on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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? Probably cleanse your liver now in preparation. Fair enough. Okay, done. 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. Yeah, that's the plan.

Truthfully, that is a fan. We're going to be there. My wife and I are going for five days. and we're just starting in Dublin and then we're going off. Yeah, Dublin's fantastic. But 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.

So what's the hidden gem that I might not find in a guidebook that I should? What depends where you go? I mean, I used to always spend most of my summers in Duny Gaul, which is one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland. But anywhere, Kerry's beautiful cork. I mean, once you go coastlines, you can't go wrong. Yeah, you're spoiled. I mean, if you end up in my town, Monaghan, you might have. like taking a wrong detour somewhere, but...

So what is the hometown like? What's it known for? 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 Kavanaugh, great Irish writer. Okay, okay, okay.

That's where he's from. O' Stony Gray Soil of Monaghan. Nice. You burgle the Bank of My Youth. That will tell you a lot. That's what he said about it. What else are we? Yeah, that's about it.

So 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. I had been to London before. You've done that. So you're superworldly is what you're saying. I've gone to London once. Yeah, I mean, we didn't, 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 I think I was, I think it was a week later. Wow. 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'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 across to the metro station, get your cart duanche, which is your metro ticket. Right. And go to these three appointments and be back here by six. o'clock. And you're like, sorry, what? Who? I'm not a functional adult yet. I don't know who told you that I was a real person.

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 in doing that. 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 definitely a good education. Did that mature you in an aggressive sort of way? Like once you were in it, then did you find that you caught up quickly and kind of... Yeah, you have to. I think if you don't, bad things happen. 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. Sure, yeah. 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 an incredible experience to have gone through. 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, hey, you are the high priestess of modeling. You're the queen of modeling. You can change anything about the system.

I mean, 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, the acting world is a perfect example of how it's done well. You know, they're, I think SAG and I think everyone in the acting world, they look after people and there's safeguards in place. And that should be the way it is. Don't hand them a piece of paper and tell them where to go. Don't trust them.

Find your way. You'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen? So, okay, so prior even to modeling, give me a sense again, you alluded to this at first. But when did acting, when did performing even enter into your brain in a semi-serious way? I mean, from a very early age, I was always in youth theatre. I think it 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.

Why I was the guy, though, I still haven't figured out that part. I don't remember why I was. Is there video? Is there photographic evidence of this? No, my God. I don't think there is. You've burned it all. But like, you know, growing up in Ireland, there is kind of a rich local theater culture

there. And so, you know, I did the pantomimes and all of those things and school plays. And my dad, he was a guard of sergeant, which a police sergeant, but 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, really odd. But she played the accordion and I could play the accordion. So I would do this one of all these hidden talents. Margaret Thatcher imitations, accordion. You could start a variety show. I'm just so cool. I mean, accordion screams cool.

Accordian and Margaret Thatcher. What a girl. That's the one friends very early on. Hey, come on over. I'll play the accordion for you. I was hanging out with my dad and his friends. I just don't get it. So when you come back around, what's the first, what are the first jobs? What's the first time back on camera when you... Well, my very first job was Super 8. Right. And I played dead mom. Dead mom number one, at least. Yeah. No, but that's... Hey, the whole movie hangs on your character. Yeah, well, you know, it was a really great opportunity. I'd met with, um, I'd auditioned for it. And, uh, JJ, you know, was, 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 I went to West Virginia and where they were filming and I was there for about a week but I worked a lot with Kyle Chandler 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 Plus which was it was a really cool project. It was a Brian Singer produced that John Cabrera and he was the writer and it was a really cool project and we went down to Chile for a month

which for a web series is not bad 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 a new girl and Mir Arison is on it

who's now on the black list so we'd like a cool little crew there we'll be right back with more HappySaid Confused The war is over and both sides lost Kings, kingdoms were reduced to cinders, an armies scattered like bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken world, praying the darkness chooses someone

else tonight. But in the shadow dark, the darkness always wins. This is old-school adventuring at its most cruel. Your torch ticks down in real time, and when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job. This is a brutal rules-light nightmare with a story. that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make. This is what it felt like to play RPGs in the 80s, and man, it is so good to be back.

Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the Shadow Dark every Thursday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on YouTube.com slash the Glass Cannon with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark. The world of Sonic the Hedgehog has been thrust into a not-so-dust. dark, not-so-stormy, hard-boiled detective story that probably nobody saw coming. Follow Sonic and the Intrepid Chaotic's Detective Agency, as they take on their biggest case yet. This high-flying action-packed adventure will take them across the world, fighting for every clothing they can fight.

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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? Well, at this point, I've 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 is my little return to college. But, yeah, you know, I felt green and nervous. But, 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-plus, 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.

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. 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 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?

Yeah. 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, ergo I hoped that that meant that I could do it, you know? So once we got to Scotland, I mean, I got cast on, they announced my casting on a Tuesday and by Friday I was in Scotland. Crazy. So you didn't have time to kind of melt your brain about it. And then we had two weeks once I got there of, well, there were no clothes for me. So the poor costume department were just, I was in fittings every day and they were like sewing up. Right.

Right. Exactly. Between that and there was some dialect coaching because obviously I was playing someone from England and it was quite an RP. And then there was, you know, some horse riding lessons because I also fudged at that that I could horse ride. Classic, classic. See, that means you're a true actor if you're lying about your resume.

If I have the, yeah, the classic, I can horse ride. Of course like a... Also fence. But so it was also just so busy, but we had John Dal, who's this amazing director. Sure, yeah, yeah. And so, you know, we had a couple of 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.

Right. Which I was internally going, really? You're like, uh-huh, sure. So John's style is very laid back and just let you do what you want to do, 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. Yeah, because you don't want a director who's putting you on edge on the first day being like proved to me that you can do this because ostensibly you've proven it by getting cast. Yeah, I mean, I think stars and Sony probably were a little nervous. I mean, they did get a acting coach for me, but she lasted. about two days. What happened?

Well, she was very micromanage. 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. Was she like line readings, like adjusting, like, minutia? 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, you know, unless there's something really wrong, like, don't make me aware. I'm in the scene.

You're killing any spontaneity that I could possibly get. So that had to go. Such a free Madonna. Hey, it's for the process. It all worked out. So I just had salmon here a couple of weeks ago. A really disgusting man inside and out. Not a good person.

So rude. People don't talk about it. Such a huge ego. 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 work across. Having that sounding board and being able to be there for each other as friends and, 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 way. And I think we were both like, right, well, let's just make sure that we always check in with each other. And we got each other's back.

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? Right. Is this not? Like, what do we think about this? And it's important, you know. I asked him the same question.

The second go-around on the second season, new things that you've discovered. working with him a year plus in that you didn't realize at first? You know, I just think the whole experience has deepened. You know, character-wise, also our responsibility has gotten larger in a way. Are you talking about outside of the show itself in terms of just like carrying the name of the show out? 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. Or you didn't know better that they cared, yeah. And so 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, you know, fight for certain things? It's just, you know, you also realize where you have a little bit of power, where you don't, what those negotiations are. And that's everything from, you know, fighting for writer, 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. Well, and in a way, I would think you're almost trying to replicate that bubble in a way and throw all the other stuff away. It's pretty easy to replicate a bubble when you're out in the highlands. It becomes its own bubble. But, yeah, you know, we're totally immersed in it, which is nice.

You know, it's like you don't have too many distractions in the middle of nowhere in Scotland. Do the fans come out in the most remote of regions? Can you still spot them? I mean, it's crazy. I don't know how they find us. We're all like, we're convinced that there's some tracking device on some of the like 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, sorry. As devoted fans go, this, you could, do a lot worse. I mean, how bad is that? I mean, you know, people have crazy fans. We're like, yes, stop baking us goods. It'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 town or whatever, you know, there's a lot of people who come around. But they're really respectful and polite. And it's quite nice. It's nice to know that people care. Yeah, yeah. The alternative is not what you want. When I, when I tweeted that about you coming on today, Sam weighed in in terms of what we should talk about. Oh, what did he say? One simple word, he just said Eddie. 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. So you're not a crazy cat lady. I mean, I have a cat. Is the Twitter account run by you or anybody you know? No. I mean, this is the thing. And I'm like, stop talking to this person. Perpetuating this insanity.

I think she has two Twitter handles, by the way. There was three. I think somebody's stepped away. With not insignificant followings, by the way. We were actually joking about it over dinner last night, me and my friends, and we looked at it. And one of my friends, Donal, 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. So is the cat always close by? Is the cat within a block of us right now? No, she didn't come to New York this time. She's been here. She originated from here. I thought her in a deli. in a deli in Brooklyn.

Do they sell cats and deli's in Brooklyn? No, she was giving, she was given 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 it was a foreigner, they wouldn't give me a cat, which, you know. Xenophobia, run ramp and tear in New York. I apologize on behalf of Petco.

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.

Sounds like an elaborate scam. You're lucky you're alive. It was like the deli on the corner of my block. Okay. So I know. So I went into the deli and I'm like, hey, I hear you have some cats. And they took me in the back room, and there was, lo and behold, there was four kittens running around.

Have you were 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 the cat. I know. Yeah, naivity. It's stupidity more like. But not a crazy cat lady.

Just simply there's affection for. She started in Brooklyn, and she moved to L.A. with me. Now she's in Glasgow. Okay. But she did come to New York, how she got to Glasgow, she came to New York when I was filming Muddy Monster for a week. I had to share a hotel with her, and that was a disaster. She ran the place.

It was her hotel room? Well, they don't, they're, you know, they're very attached to their surroundings. 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. So let's just end at the time. So where is home now? Obviously, you're shooting a great portion of the year,

but what do you consider home? I have a beautiful suitcase. Can you fit into it? I probably could. I don't know, actually. You know, I guess L.A. still sort of feels a little bit like home, but I sort of bounce between L.A. and New York and London when I'm not in Scotland. And is that relatively comfortable? Again, I guess given the background, the modeling lifestyle, you probably were on the road a lot anyway.

Still would be nice to have a place to... Yeah, it's weird. You know, I bounced around for so long for about 10 years. And then when I moved to L.A., I was so sedentary for about five years before, I suppose, four years. And that, 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 itching to, you know, to grow some roots somewhere.

Well, come back to New York. You're welcome here anytime. Does theater, for instance, like, entry you at all? 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

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 would love to. So what is the, I mean, you're limited in respect to the commitment 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 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? I mean, for me, 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. Nice. You know, 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, obviously, I want a long career.

So for me, it's more about choosing roles that 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. So since you mentioned what? and I'm the cliched version of a born in Bread New Yorker. I mean, like, it's in my DNA. And he was actually on the podcast,

which was like 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 mix of the two? What's your high water more? I mean, interiors is probably one of my favorite.

In terms of the comedy is super fun. Oh, yeah, it's really fun. No, but I just, the female roles in that. 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, that's probably my, like, when I'm not feeling the greatest and I want to, like, fall asleep to something that's beautiful. It makes me feel good. That's kind of a sad ending, though, in a way. But the Gershwin comes up and all was right in the world. You're okay. That surge of music. It's also like the intro to that. Like as soon as I put that film on, I'm just like a little kid again.

I'm like, oh, we're going to go with this, you know? Nice. Before I let you out, I do have this weird Indiana Jones Fedora with some random, silly, stupid questions. Would you care to grab a couple? Yeah. Dig your hand in, see what fate has in store for you. If I get asked where I want to go to back in time. They're not Outwander themed, at least I hope not.

Oh, cool. best vacation you've ever taken Ooh You know years and years ago And this is sad But I'm saying that that was my best vacation Because we're literally going back about 15 16 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 Amazing I'm going to say that one or two more Yeah

I'm like making such a mess here No it's good It's sound effects. You're our own fully artist. What can you eat a ton of? Sushi. I probably have many times. Yeah, or, you know, the sweet and salty popcorn.

Nice. Yeah. 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. What's craft services? We shoot in Scotland. Sorry, I forgot. Starz has some money, no?

Oh, God. We need to like talk to them about it. We have like, okay, so craft service in the U.S. What I love about craft service in the U.S. are the breakfast. Those Mexican breakfasts, like Mexican burritos, sure. Breakfast burritos.

Oh, so you need a nap after a morning breakfast burrito though, I feel like. I don't know. I was doing a film down in New Orleans. I think it was like escape plan. And they had the best like morning catering. It was like breakfast burritos and then fresh juices that you would make yourself. It was just like...

Well, that's because also Stallone probably needs like 6,000 calories every morning just to keep the metabolism going, that man. I know, I know. I once saw him, I mean, you have more experienced, but 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. He wasn't doing that 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? Yeah. But they kept going, aristocrat. And it was just like, 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. That's so funny. That's the debut of your Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger hybrid imitation. 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 gazillion people watching every week. Well, we'll take it, though. Okay, there you go. Good luck on that. Thanks for stopping by today.

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. 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 pressure to do this by Josh. Hi, this is Rob Benedict.

And I am Richard Spate. We were both on a little show you might know called Supernatural. It had a pretty good run, 15 seasons, 327 episodes. And though we have seen, of course, every episode many times, we figured, hey, now that we're wrapped, let's watch it all again. And we can't do that alone. So we're inviting the cast and crew that made the show along for the ride. We've got writers, producers, composers, directors, and we'll, of course, have a lot of course

have some actors on as well, including some certain guys that played some certain pretty iconic brothers. It was kind of a little bit of a left field choice in the best way possible. The note from Kripke was, he's great, we love him, but we're looking for like a really intelligent Dukovny type. With 15 seasons to explore, it's going to be the road trip of several lifetimes, so please join us and subscribe to Supernatural then and now.