How I met your Heughan. A spaniard at the 'Emulsion' scottish premiere.

So… Inverness. January 24th. Many Outlanders invaded the place for a memorable little gathering: the showing of Emulsion, a film by Suki Singh, starring our very own Sam Heughan. Among these Outlanders, there was me, thinking "what the..." and flying all the way from Madrid to Scotland. So worth it! And so many things to tell! So let's go step by step, aye? ;)

EMULSION

A movie filmed back in 2010, it tells the story of a man searching desperately for his wife. Now, in hopes that you all get to see it at some point, I will only say a few things that won't spoil anything:

I liked the pace. It was linear and steady and more than enough to keep you hooked. The close ups and the background music really help to keep you there. The main character (played by Sam) is a confused man, which makes you feel confused in return. Since he doubts himself, how are you not going to do the same? And everybody around him seems to know more about his own life than he does. Yes, he's clearly being kept in the dark, but by who and why? Dreams, memories or wishes? Our brain is a powerful machine, which rules our lives. It's all about perception. Right? Or not? "Last night I dreamed somebody loved me"

Sam Heugan plays Ronny. Photo Credit.

About Sam's acting. I got to say, the whole weight of the movie is on his shoulders. I have seen already many of his different roles ('A princess for Christmas', 'First Light', brief role in 'Billy the Kid', some scenes here and there in You Tube, the Tennent commercials, a brief role in 'Small moments'... you can watch them here or here) And what hooked me was how he seemed to be a very expressive and chameleonic actor. He can make you laugh (Tennent commercials), and he can also be pretty intense. In 'Emulsion' there is no room for humor, but for intense emotions (the character is desperate, lost, searching for the truth) and a lot of close-ups to show them. Ronny goes from confusion, to excitement, uncertainty, anger ... Sam can convey any emotion he wants. I think that was what drew Suki's attention. In a film in which there's not much dialogue, it was essential to have an actor who could 'speak to the audience without words'. I really think that Sam is called to do great things. And that his "Jamie" (as he said in L.A.) will captivate our hearts as much as Diana's on paper. I would kill to see him acting on a stage, though. Nothing like theater!

Great photography, and music in the movie, too. I specially loved the last song. Go see it if you have the chance!

SUKI SINGH

Not that I’m an expert, but I like his style. In my opinion, he did a great job directing the movie. And he also did a great job with the whole group of us! Milling around, taking pictures, making videos, chatting away with everybody. I was surprised when he spotted me and greeted me with a "¡Hola!", knowing who I was. What clearly shows how he pays attention to details. And yes, that was also clear during the Q&A, haha.

Q&A AFTER EMULSION.

Well, setting up the camera for that took quite a while, huh?

Foto Jackie MacPherson

Sam didn't know what else to say until Suki finally decided that the focus was all right and took a seat beside him and the moderator! (yes, as far as I know the whole Q&A is recorded). They both played off one another well and made us laugh a few times. As when Suki described the first time he met Sam (which I'm quoting from memory and these are not his exact words):

"So he comes in and I thought he was going to be a posh British lad, but he turned out a Scottish gentleman. He was shaking hands and smiling and asking how are you doing to everybody". They both laughed at that and Sam said that since then he has learned that's not something you need to do when you're going to a casting.

Another tidbit shared was that Sam tried for a smaller role, not the main character, actually. But once he made the audition, Suki spoke to the casting people about him being the main actor. Which he did.

They talked about how important is to bring the right energy to a casting. You don't have to try and be the character or act as the character yourself, pretending or faking. It helps that you go, for instance, dressed in a similar fashion, as Suki said this really helps the director’s imagination to see the actor in the role, but that's the key: you have to act in a way that they can see the character in you, but the final shape will be given to you by the director (that’s part of his job, after all. Although Suki said he likes to be questioned by the actors and crew, as that makes you need to justify yourself and improve). So you don't have to BE the character in the audition, but give out the vibes that you can be him.

This led to Sam mentioning (as I think he did in L.A) that you put in the character as much of yourself as you can.

Oh, by the time Emulsion was filmed, Sam had no driving license. So *that* is something he was totally faking. In one of the takes, where he had to pretend to be driving for about two hours, he joked he decided to try different approaches besides the "normal" one, like mad driver, for example.

Yeah, there were many more things said, and 'I'm not even sure my summary is accurate. But hopefully the whole event will be uploaded, maybe? (please!)

SAM HEUGHAN

Hardest part to write, since I don't want to come across as a lovesick fan girl, but well... I think almost all of us felt a little like that on Friday!

OK, so we all had met before the showing to have some pizza and then a drink in a place nearby. We were going to give Suki and Sam a wee present, as a souvenir of the evening, and the sheet attached had to be signed by everybody. Once that was done, around 19:20, we moved to Eden's Court. And yes, someone had already spotted Sam! So about half past seven, he and Suki appeared right beside us in the hall! Needless to say, he got immediately cornered and asked for pics ;)

I saw his face when he spotted us (we were about 40 people, in a relatively small place) and I'm sure we all turned to him with eagerness, haha. He looked a little astonished, maybe? I don't know, but I seem to remember his eyes opened a little wide :p I have to say, there was no screaming or anything, so we hopefully didn't scare him much ;)

And here comes my first (but not last) thank you. As many fans surrounded him (mostly because there wasn’t any other place to stand, since we were all placed right in front of the doors to see the movie) many others stepped back and just watched. So I was just there, looking, when Emma came by and grabbed my hand. "Come on". What?? "You've come all the way from Spain. Come on". And that's how I was dragged (literally, LOL) in front of him and introduced. He smiled big and shook my hand. Let's stop here for a moment. I loved how he doesn't squeeze your hand or really shake it. He just holds it. That was so nice. I found that to be tender :) He asked me when I had arrived, and little things like that before Suki asked us to pose for a picture (dying to see it, btw!) And after that, I decided to keep the karma flowing and asked Marie Louise (who had flew in from Germany) to come over and I introduced her to Sam. Yay me!

Shortly after that, we moved in to see the movie. Second thanks of the post: Thank you Sinéad for the tickets!! (and for having me as a guest in your house!!) Thanks to her, I was able to sit in the front row, right were Sam stood for a good while chatting with the fans while the camera and everything was set up. I didn’t get to talk to him much, I was busy just absorbing every moment and listening to his voice (love his voice) but it was funny because we were all sitting there and he came down the stairs to look for a seat. Elaine had left hers to go for a drink, and when he saw it empty, he asked if it was free (or it was offered to him, can’t remember) so when he learnt it was, he just sat there and started a conversation asking what was we were going to see and said something like “I heard there’s this dude on it, don’t know who he is” and that he might snore through the whole time. He was joking all the time! The funniest part was when Elaine came to her seat and saw him there, best line ever, haha. So after a moment and some more joking, Sam stood up and stayed in the corner, on his feet, waiting and chatting. Just being cute and such. 

Sam chatting with the public at the 'Emulsion' showing. Pic by Sinéad.

Cue to the end of the Q&A. And yet another person I have to thank. But let’s go back to the beginning. When we knew about the ‘Emulsion’ showing, Angela Sasso created a FB event for it so everybody attending could be in touch, and in there we all decided it would be nice to give Suki and Sam a souvenir to remember the evening. So Angela and I started working on it and made a design together that turned out quite good, I think :) and was decided to be given to the two of them after the Q&A. And Angela was nice enough to ask me to be one of the persons to give it to him. And Sinéad (who was the one who made the petition to Eden Court to hold the showing and I don’t think any of us can thank her enough) would be the other person. Instead of just putting herself there because she had already met Sam and it might be the obvious choice, she handed us the ‘spotlight’. Thank you!! 

So… that’s how I got myself up in the little ‘stage’ to give him one of the frames. Sam was smiling the whole time and actually, he was the one who asked for pics to be taken. I remember I went to stand by his left side but he placed me on the right, between him and Suki. And now, confession time. I had no idea where Sam’s hand was placed (many people has commented on it, that’s why I’m mentioning. BTW, I think it was the right spot XD) because I was too busy feeling where MY hand was. No, guys, chill. It was on his waist. And all I could think about was: “I could move it and rub his side just a little. Should I?” Haha. I think I didn’t, by the way. But ugh! After that, I only remember the word kiss. I reckon he might have said something else, even if just the A before KISS. But all I can remember is hearing "kiss" and the next second he was kissing my cheek. I’m dying (and hoping) to see a pic from that moment, but at the same time, afraid of what my face might look like, since I have a little of Claire’s shortcoming: everything shows in my face if I’m not careful! I’m torn between looking silly with a goofy smile on my face, or looking silly with wide eyes open. Or plain silly. Ummm… 

EDIT: found a pic after I wrote this. Thankfully, you can't see my face. Ha!

Pic by Julie Mutch on Flickr. Thank you!

Anyway, the Q&A ended and after a good while (people kept stopping him for pics and signatures), Sam managed to get out of the theater into the hall. He was of course surrounded, and pics were taken, shirts signed, and more jokes and heartbreaking smiles thrown our way. He’s a charmer, and was so attentive and nice and patient. 

I snapped a few pics here and there, but I wanted a little greeting from Sam to all the Spanish speaking fans. So finally I gathered the courage (I mean, this was like a good one hour after the Q&A had finished and he was still around posing for pictures and signing and just being a great guy) to come closer again and ask him to do a little video. He said that of course and had me cracking up for the 12 seconds it took to tape it!

And well… so many more things could be said! But to sum it up, I’ll just say that I am grateful I decided to go (even though it was crazy and I really shouldn't have done it for quite a few reasons) but as I always say: to keep yourself sane, you have to make something crazy from time to time :) So thank you all, beautiful Outlanders, for the great memories!! (the pizzas, being so generous with one anothers at the showing, for the dancing at the ceilidh) thank you Suki for making ‘Emulsion’ and being ‘one of us’, and thank you Sam for coming along and just being you. Don’t you ever change!

PS: in case this wasn't enough, you can see all of my pics here and videos in here.