Friday 6 May 2011

Keely Hawes As Claire Fraser?

One of the good things about being English is that I possibly have an advantage over a lot of Outlander fans as I get to see more "real" English actresses. It isn't that I have a problem with an American playing Claire as such because many Amerian actresses are pretty good at doing a decent English accent but more that a lot of Amerian actresses look too American. I'm not really sure what that means myself if I'm honest but there is a difference that I can't quite put my finger on.


Many of you probably haven't heard of Keeley Hawes but she is a 35 year old actress and the wife of fellow actor Matthew Macfadyen. She is probably best known for her role as time travelling (Yup she's used to it already) Alex Drake in the excellent show Ashes to Ashes where she plays a confident and modern woman in a world where women are still supposed to be tied to the kitchen sink.

The thing I like about Keeley Hawes is that she has a typically "English Rose" look about her but her personality and quirkiness shines through.

It wasn't until quite recently that I realised that she had also been in a few period dramas and whilst I haven't actually seen any of them I can see from the clips that she would be great at expressing Claire's sense of humour. The other thing that goes in her favour is that at 35 she is young enough to play the 28 year old Claire but old enough to be convincing as an older woman for the later books.  She isn't a typical "stick insect" and has curves in all the right places if you know what I mean.

Here she is in action:






 

3 comments:

Juliazun said...

Good choice - I think you may have found an ideal Claire!

Julie at Outlandish Dreaming said...

I think she's perfect! I haven't seen anything with her in it, but I think I remember hearing her name come up for someone to play Lizbeth Salander in the Hollywood version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

LeslieUnfinished said...

I'm not familar with her at all, but, hmmm... I think she could be really great!