Caitriona Balfe (2016)

0:00Sierra has all the best active and outdoor brands you need. From athletic stuff, like a full-court pickup game, swish, to athletic-ish stuff, like a half-mile stroll. Get those steps in! And for morning hikes up the mountain trail, good pace, to nighttime ghost stories from the camping chair. What a twist! Whatever level of active, Sierra loves it all. Head to Sierra or Sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all. From athletic to athletic-ish, Sierra's got it. Your body isn't a problem to fix. It's a system to support. From PMS to pregnancy to menopause. OLLI's Women's Wellness Line is built on real science for every stage.

0:42No guilt. No stigmas. Just science-backed supplements that work with you, not against you. Choose science over shame. Find support at a retailer near you or on OLLI.com. That's O-L-L-Y dot com. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now.

1:05Hey 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 Fuse conversation with Sam Heughan. Today, it is Claire Fraser herself, Katrina Balfe, in a flashback episode. Again, the first extended conversation I had with Katrina back in 2016.

1:49So 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, confused.

2:24Especially, 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 guest or two coming up, too. Whatever. Any big franchise, any big movie, any big TV show is covered on Happy, Say, Confused. 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, sad, confused. So yeah, Katrina Balfe. What can I say about Katrina Balfe? She's a gem.

3:01She'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 and the entire cast earlier this week. I hosted the Outlander Season 8 red carpet for 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, Outlander Stars. It's also on my account. We collabed with them. And it was great to catch up with everybody.

3:36Everybody was in a great kind of slightly melancholy, but mostly positive, excited mood because the last season is still coming. Ten 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 Jodie Foster directed it, if I'm remembering correctly.

4:16But 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.

4:50That's about it. I think you guys are going to dig this. Ten years ago. What is time? I don't get it. Without any further ado, enjoy this flashback conversation. 2016, me and Katrina Balfe. Yeah, you got some cool shit. A lot of arrested development in this office. That is, we're off and rolling, and I'll explain to you, Kat, that that is a painting that Danny McBride did of me a few years ago. That is amazing. My 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 um thank you so much for stopping by today thank you for having me i appreciate it you uh got a lot going on obviously the the second season is uh is more than up and running people are loving it and um i'm very excited about money monster i haven't seen it yet i apologize i haven't shown it too much yet but um i mean come on jodie foster directing that's enough to get me in the door yeah it's very Very exciting.

6:02It 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. and what are the consequences and what are the consequences for the everyday man. I loved that world. I have such an interest in economics, not such a massive knowledge. I won't pretend to be an expert either, but it's smart and cool in that it's, you know, I was going to say we see plenty of thrillers.

6:44We 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 Jodie 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 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.

7:24Sure. 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 been fed through a video monitor into the TV screens.

8:03Right. 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 to them in their brain and they're just insane. You actually had a justified... 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...

8:33I 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, okay, hi. 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.

9:06Is 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 theater 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 Dury-Rio, Dublin, you're like, yeah, I'll do that. and then you know there's 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 you just I moved to LA 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 it was a series of lucky events and a lot of hard work and somehow brought me here so what was the um to 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 um so what were you what were your imitations what What were the voices you were doing?

10:30What was the first? What was your repertoire? I'm not asking. I did used to do a Margaret Thatcher when I was about five or six. I don't know why. That killed? It was just amazing? I don't know. Probably not. No. I mean, it was probably awful, but that was one that I remember doing. 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.

11:04I'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 LA, I mean I think it was more just that thing of being like I'm not a maw as we call 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.

11:58But yeah, it worked out. At least it wasn't hot girl number 10. You started the hot girl number two. So you didn't have that far to go up. You know, in the beginning, you take what you can get as well. Exactly. We'll be right back with more Happy, Sad, Confused.

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13:58That's Rula, R-U-L-A dot com slash happy. You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against your budget. Sierra has all the best active and outdoor brands you need. From athletic stuff, like a full court pickup game, swish, to athletic stuff, like a half mile stroll. Get those steps in. And for morning hikes up the mountain trail, good pace, to nighttime ghost stories from the camping chair. What a twist. Whatever level of active, Sierra loves it all. Head to Sierra or Sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all. From athletic to athletic-ish, Sierra's got it.

14:40My 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 the plan. 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.

15:11You 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? Well, it depends where you go. I mean, I used to always spend most of my summers in Donegal, 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 taken a wrong detour somewhere. but so what is what's 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 that's where he's from oh stony grey 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 this So does that explain to a degree, again, the opportunity at whatever age it was when Paris came calling it?

16:17It 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 I'd been to London before. You've done that. So you're super worldly. I've gone to London once. Yeah. I mean, we didn't I 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 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? Is Tuesday good? I think it was, a week later and it's weird, you know, because when you're a model they just give you this piece of paper and directions and I mean, I was 18, but I hadn't a clue and they were like so take a bus from uh paris airport go to this address and so i you know 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 go across to the metro station get your carte d 'orange which is your metro ticket right and go to these three appointments and be back here by six o 'clock.

17:37And 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 and doing that. Yeah. 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 it was definitely a good education. Did that mature you in an aggressive sort of way? Like, did you like once you were in it, then did you find that you caught up quickly and kind of?

18:09Yeah, you have to. I think if you don't, bad things happen. But 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. 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?

18:42You 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 the acting world is a perfect example of how it's done well. You know, 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?

19:15So, OK, so prior even to modeling, give me a sense again. You had 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 theater. I think I 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. Is there video? Is there photographic evidence of this? No, my God, I don't think there is.

19:51You've burned it all. But like, you know, growing up in Ireland, there is kind of a rich local theater culture there. So, you know, I did the pantomimes and all of those things and school plays. And my dad, he was a guard a 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 odd. But she played the accordion and I could play the accordion.

20:31So I would do this. You have all these hidden talents. Margaret Thatcher imitations, accordion. You could start a variety show. I mean, accordion screams cool. Accordion and Margaret Thatcher. What a girl. Friends very early on. Hey, come on over. I'll play the accordion for you. Why was I 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? Well, my very first job was Super 8. Right. And I played dead mom. Dead mom, number one, at least. Yeah. Hey, the whole movie hangs on your character.

21:08Yeah, well, you know, it was a really great opportunity. I'd met with, I'd auditioned for it and JJ, you know, was, he was like, yeah, you know, you've got the role 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 where they were filming and I was there for about a week. But I, you know, 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 +, which was, it was a really cool project.

21:46It was a Bryan Singer produced thing, right? Bryan 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, you know, 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 New Girl and Amir Arison is on it who's now on the blacklist. So we had like a cool little crew there. We'll be right back with more Happy Sad Confused. Sierra has all the best active and outdoor brands you need from athletic stuff like a full court pickup game swish to athletic stuff like a half mile stroll.

22:34Get those steps in and for morning hikes up the mountain trail Good pace. It's a nighttime ghost choice from the camping chair. What a twist. Whatever level of active, Sierra loves it all. Head to Sierra or Sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all. From athletic to athletic-ish, Sierra's got it. At Ollie, we've got wellness down to a science. From PMS to pregnancy to menopause, our women's wellness line offers science-backed support for every stage. No judgment, no shame, none of the stigma. Just supplements designed to meet you wherever you're at. Ollie. Choose science over shame.

23:12Find support at a retailer near you or on ollie.com. That's O-L-L-Y dot com.

23:23Did 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 +, I learned so much on that job.

23:56And 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.

24:30I 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? 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.

25:15So 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. And then we had two weeks once I got there of, well, there was no clothes for me. So the costume department were just, I was in fittings every day and they were like sewing up. Just reams of yarn flying in the air. 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 that I could horse ride.

25:53Classic, classic. See, that means you're a true actor. if you're lying about your resume. If I have the classic, I can horse ride and also fence. But so it was also just so busy, but we had John Dahl, who's this amazing director. Sure, yeah, yeah. He was our director for the first two blocks. 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? Like, uh-huh, sure.