When Wil Johnson, as Joe Abernathy, was preparing to tell Claire (Caitriona Balfe) that her husband Frank died in a car crash, Outlander director Brendan Maher gave the English actor a much-appreciated bit of advice: Don’t rush the news. Play it in “real time, not actor time,” Johnson told Outlander Live! on EW Radio.
I was so nervous doing it because of the magnitude. There are only a few lines to express so much.
~ Wil Johnson
When we were rehearsing it, the director [Brendan Maher] said, ‘Wil, take all the time, take all the time you need. I want to play this in real time. Not in acting time, real time. It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 seconds before you say the line.’ That was really cool.”
Once on the page, make sure you listen to the interview. Excellent, Lynnette! Thanks for doing it.
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