Connie here-for-Outlander Sandlin · @Yr_Obt_Svt
14th May 2015 from TwitLonger
post that Diana Gabaldon shared on her FB page re: Wentworth
From Diana:
Many thanks to Kristen, who posted this very insightful piece just now. I'll add a couple of other things addressing the subject of Wentworth later today, but was very touched by her thoughtfulness in sharing her experience and insights.
Kristen Elizabeth
Diana, I have heard from many of my group members that there have been some rather negative discussions over the Wentworth episode. Please allow me to send a message to your fans.
As an actress I have filmed many sexual scenes and I have survived some not so pleasant things both on camera and on the set. Filming a love scene, a rape scene, or a sadistic torture scene, are some of the scariest things an actor has to do. Seriously, I think it's even scarier than stunt work! I'm going to give you some of my thoughts on this based on my own personal experience and nothing more.
Although this portion of the book is horrific, especially if you love Jamie, it is like everything in this story, quite intimate. It's an intimacy created by sadism, but between the actors filming these scenes it is incredibly intimate! Tobias and Sam had to put a kind of trust in each other that no one else can possibly understand. Unless you have lived through it, and even if you have, it is next to impossible to fully comprehend what an actor must go through for this. They had to privately discuss things like how their bodies might react to the intensity of the scene, even though it is awful on every level. This is not only embarrassing it is often times humiliating, especially given these circumstances. I mention this because the scenes we are about to watch are going to be discussed for a very long time, all over the world by millions of people. I want you to PLEASE remember the actors and keep them separate from the characters. PLEASE remember that this is one of the most difficult things they have ever personally done in their careers and they will be ripped to shreds by many people who don't understand either the narrative or the craft of acting it out. PLEASE if you see people on other boards posting unintelligent or unkind remarks, feel free to gently put them in their place and stand up for these two brave men!!!
I have been through horrible things on movie sets, and I can only imagine how difficult this was to film. I was not there and I will never know what they actually went through. But I do know that no matter how it went, no matter how awful it was to create, they deserve our utmost respect!
Sincerely,
A fellow actor