The name’s Heughan.Sam Heughan.
And it was almostJames Bond.
“It was quite an experience,” Heughan tells EW of the audition.
Sam Heughan/Daniel Craig in ‘No Time to Die’.Karwai Tang/WireImage; Nicola Dove/MGM
But first would he consider acquiring a license to kill now that Craig has hung up his tuxedo?
“Look, every British actor certainly has been talked about for the role,” he acknowledges.
“I would love to see a Scottish Bond.
Sam Heughan on the cover of his memoir. ‘Waypoints’.Voracious
Maybe I’m too old now.
I know that they’ve been talking about making him younger.
Heughan continues, “But he’s a great character.
He’s a dark character.SAS: Red Noticethat I did was very much my homage to the Bond world.
We worked very closely with Andy McNab, who is a highly decorated British Special Forces operator.
That was an incredible experience to study him and to learn about his experiences.
So, I feel like maybe I’ve had my taste of that world.”
The Bond audition is hardly the only surprising tidbit from Heughan’s memoir.
Read on for his thoughts on his memoir and an exclusive excerpt below.
But I wanted to set myself a challenge.
So it just fell into place.
I’ve always wanted to do the West Highland Way.
I was struck by how well the various points of your walk intersect with these periods of your life.
As I was doing the walk, I was recording a bunch of voice notes to myself.
I recorded over 300 of them at varying degrees of insanity along the way.
It equally reflected the trials and tribulations of my career as an actor.
You’ve done theClanlandsbooks and now this.
In the memoir, you talk about how you didn’t love school.
Do you find it strange that you’ve now become a writer at this stage of your life?
It’s something I never thought I would ever do.
I still wouldn’t consider myself a writer, but I do enjoy it.
On this, I was nervous because it’s essentially just me.
I’m still, even now, not happy with where it’s finished.
I knew I had to finish, but I guess writers are always like that.
They’ll never be fully content.
But it was interesting to try and find my voice.
Outlanderauthor Diana Gabaldon writes fiction, and this is nonfiction.
But did you ask her for any writing tips or advice?
We talk a lot, and she obviously is very prolific and a great mind.
She does a lot of research before she even puts pen to paper.
But with this, I jumped feet first and dived in and went for it.
And that’s how I approach a lot of things.
You know, not so much prep and just more like, let’s see what happens.
That’s when you learn the most when you’re acting, and it’s similar with the walk.
I knew I was going to have some sort of adventure.
I didn’t know what it would be.
And I’m pleased that I did actually did have this quite unique journey that really did affect me.
The book is so personal and revealing.
How challenging was it to open up about many of those things.
Were there things that you were wary of discussing?
It’s something that I still feel myself cringing over a little bit.
But it’s also very cathartic writing it.
But in doing so, I’m putting it to rest.
It is a part of who I am.
It’s made me the man I am today.
So, it’s important to acknowledge that, but it wasn’t easy.
And I wanted to include it.
Your roots are in the theater.
You talk about that in the book.
Is your goal to go back to the theater at some point?
It’s definitely where I started and where the real passion for becoming an actor was instilled in me.
My first professional job was in the theater, so I would love to go back.
It’s been a long time.
It’s been over a decade, so I have no idea if I can do it.
I tried to include as many as I could.
Do you have a dream role?
Whether it’s a Shakespearean character or a new Martin McDonagh play or something?
Oh my God, McDonagh would be incredible.
Every actor’s probably got a Hamlet in them, right?
I would love to do that.
How did you decide to be so honest about that?
And then how have you come back from that moment over the past several years?
The world is a very different space with our approach to content on TV, especially graphic content.
Even the Starz data pipe was a very different platform.
They hadSpartacus,and there was a great deal of graphic nudity and violence.
That’s what they hung their platform on.
They’ve been very careful to do that.
I met her at my old drama school.
I hadn’t thought about it and I didn’t think it was particularly explosive.
I feel like I’ve spoken about it before.
It would be done very differently now.
It was more just the way that things were operated on set.
But they kept rolling, and as a green actor, I didn’t know that I could stop.
It did feel as Jamie would have felt, very invasive and painful.
But this is all down to experience.
And I know that we would all probably do things slightly different now.
Was that a factor in writing this book?
Do you hope that helps some people who might have trouble with that?
But putting out my own narrative as well because it’s very difficult in this day and age.
People will write whatever they want about you or make assumptions about you.
I wanted to be the first to put out my version.
Characters are an extension of yourself, but they aren’t you.
This was a way for me to set the record straight, but give people insight as well.
At the time, I was working on the possibility of doing this movie about Everest and George Mallory.
I was reading his accounts of going to Everest; I was going to play the character.
Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.
But I was interested to read his stuff.
I was reading a bit of Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography, and what a fascinating man he was.
A memoir really is a time and a place.
It felt like a real turning point in my life getting this far.
I don’t know.
I really enjoy it.
I’m working on a newClanlandsfrom New Zealand.
And I’m thoroughly enjoying that.
Graham is a great writer.
Perhaps once I’ve finished this job onOutlander, I’ll have time to sit down.
I really enjoy the process.
Can you tease anything about the next season ofOutlander,which you’re currently filming?
What’s it like having Jamie interact with an adult William?
We’re on this extended season 16 episodes, the XL version but we’re getting there.
It’s flying by.
We’re more than halfway through.
William is a really interesting thing for Jamie.
It’s too dangerous, and he’s always there in the background.
You’ve got your Sassenach whisky and tequila.
You’re a Scotsman, so when are you giving us the gin?
I can’t tell you too much about it.
But we are working on a very Scottish gin.
Everything will be from Scotland.
I’m proud of it.
We haven’t quite finished the process yet, but we’re getting there.
And it’ll be out next summer I think.
As an actor, however, being nice isn’t always a quality that opens doors.
The whole thing was cloaked in so much secrecy I even felt like a real-life agent.
I loved Timothy Dalton inThe Living Daylights; he was darker than the other actors.
‘The names Bond, James Bond.’
I had to remind myself to relax and let them see what I could do with the character.
So I went along to the Bond HQ and tried out for the casting director.
A replica gold revolver served as a centerpiece in front of her.
The director ofCasino Royale, Martin Campbell, was also there.
We spoke a little about Scotland and about Bond, read the scene once, then I left.
It was all so quick, the sweat beneath my leather jacket just starting to form.
It was all just so cool and crowned by the fact that Barbara was charming and delightful.
When I left, I half wondered whether I was about to be tested with a car chase home.
I’m sure any actor will feel the same way.
It means I’m prone to punishing myself if I fail to achieve what I set out to accomplish.
I also won’t stop until I get what I want.
Perhaps that stubbornness and determination is also down to the Taurean in me.
It’s just not something people expect from that nice guy.
The people pleaser…
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