Interview with Graham McTavish

On November 24, 2024 I had the opportunity to interview actor Graham McTavish. He was present at the Heroes Dutch Comic Con in Utrecht. I took my chance and asked him all about it.Interview was done by Conanmiller

Graham McTavish is a well-known Scottish actor with a surprisingly versatile CV. He has left his mark in the theater and on the silver screen, on TV and on the bookcase. Due to his work as a voice actor, he is also no stranger to the animation and gaming world.

In the MySeries database we find him, for example, in the wonderfully crazy space comedy Red Dwarf (1998), the nail-bitingly exciting 24 (2009) and more recently in Preacher (2016) and House of the Dragon (2022).



But that is only a fraction of his work. His most famous role is probably that of Dougal McKenzie in Outlander, as the uncle of Highlander Jamie Fraser (played by heartthrob Sam Heughan).

This interview is his last of the weekend and he is clearly tired. My questions are mainly about the person behind the actor. He likes this more personal approach.

CM: Many actors have a stage name and a hidden private life, but you are quite open about that.
GM: Yes, I'm really proud of my own name, although people often think my name is made up. I'm actually very relaxed about it. I involve my children as little as possible in my work and my wife is already very active on the internet and social media. I think people tend to become more pushy if you try to shield everything.

I try to be polite and respectful to the people I speak to and I hope they act the same way. I've never had any problems with it. Hopefully it stays that way.

CM: Your daughter (Honor) had a role in The Hobbit. Does she have plans to enter the film world later?
Graham sits up, his eyes shining. Yes! She was only four years old at the time. She was having a great time. I think she is interested in the profession, but sees more in a career behind the camera than in front of it. And that's very wise of her!

CM: I understood that you also want to direct yourself, right?
GM: Yes, we have plans for a movie called “This Guest of Summer,” a comedy horror film. The script is from a friend (Paul Kavanagh) and I can hopefully be one of the directors. I already have some experience. Together with a friend I wrote a play about Vincent van Gogh and we also directed it together.

We still have to raise the money to make the film. That's hard work. However, we are determined because the script is fantastic. I'm really looking forward to it.

CM: You seem like the right person to play the rough, Scottish type. Aren't you afraid of typecasting?
GM: No, not really. Next year I'll even be in two films, in which I won't be a rough Scotsman. It's like, people see you doing something they like and then they want to see you in that kind of role more often. That's understandable and I don't mind. I enjoy all my roles and for different reasons. After all, they are always connected by one thing, and that is pretending to be someone else. And we all remember that from when we were young. Actors are the lucky ones who can still do that later in life. And they get paid for it too!

CM: You were just talking about your wife Garance. I was very impressed by her energy, all the things she does. Has she changed you, the way you approach life as a person or as an actor?
Graham is surprised by this question. Oh! Um, no, not really as an actor. She is a fantastic support and inspiration in everything I do, through her own independent life. I have never been in a relationship with someone so full of energy and zest for life. She is working very hard at the moment and it seems like that gives her even more energy. Very inspiring! I am extremely proud of her.



CM: Do you have a ritual or special way of preparing for a role? And has it changed over the years?
GM: Hmm, that's always an interesting question. I originally come from the theater. There you don't have the luxury of 'getting into character'; you just don't get the time for that. Emma Thompson made a good comparison between American and British actors. On the whole, she was right. American actors are either stage actors or film and TV actors. There is little connection between those two fields.

British actors often do both. Then they are in the theater and then they play in a film again. In the theater you learn to turn yourself 'on' and 'off'. So, on stage you are 'on' and in the wings you are 'off'. That can happen in a second: we're standing in the wings chatting about everything and then I hear my cue and I'm immediately 'on' for my scene. Then I go off again and stand 'off' again. Finished!

It's not like a switch or anything, but you don't have to go through a whole process in your head to climb into your character. After the play about Vincent van Gogh we held a Q&A. I was asked how I dealt with my emotions after an intense scene. After all, it was about a man with depressive feelings and death and all that. And I said: Nothing, I'll just get a drink and we'll just have fun together!

That's how it really is. Apparently people want you to suffer or something. They want to see you working hard before and after to show that emotion. For some people, simply portraying your role well isn't enough. They want to feel that you first have to recharge enormously and then completely relax afterwards. And most actors I know don't do that.

A good example: This year I played a role in Spartacus with an intelligent young actor. I won't mention his name because it's a bit sensitive. We had a great bond. In that scene we played each other's enemies. So he had to pretend he hated me. I arrive on set for that scene and I greet him. And he did not return the greeting; he just kept glaring at me. Ah, I thought, you're charging up for your character. Fine, fine. When you're done, let me know so we can talk again. But all I got was that stare, so I let it go. I think it's a bit nonsense.

CM: He thought 'method acting' was necessary?
GM: Yeah, exactly. Look, I didn't go to Theater School, so I'm not completely familiar with the Stanislavski method, but I'm pretty sure it's not the same as how some actors go about it. Sometimes I think that method is purely for their own self-indulgence. But, hey, if they need it to play their part. If it makes sense for you to first live in the forest so you can play a lumberjack in a TV series, then go for it! I don't need that.

CM: Wasn't it Laurence Olivier who said something like that to an actor?
GM: Yeah, he told Dustin Hoffman not to be so difficult. “Try acting, dear boy.”
CM: I thought that was brilliant, like: come back to earth for a moment.
GM: Yeah, exactly that.

It's time for the last question. After all, I was only given fifteen minutes.
CM: I saw a funny scene from Men in Kilts where you travel through Scotland in a camper van with Sam Heughan. He was quite bothered by the midgies (Scottish mosquitoes), and you were not.
GM: Hahaha, those bugs are tiny and they really crawl into everything. But it doesn't bother me at all. They don't like me, very strange. Sam was completely eaten. He hit himself in the face and once in the groin to get those animals away. It still makes me laugh when I think about it. He deserved that too, because he annoys me so often.

Graham laughs with tears in his eyes when he thinks about it. I'm glad he also had fun at the end of an exhausting weekend. Graham McTavish turns out to be a surprisingly nice man who is easy to talk to.