1 of 5 | Sam Heughan stars in “The Couple Next Door,” premiering Friday, the same night that his other TV show, “Outlander,” wraps up its seventh season. Photo courtesy of Starz
NEW YORK, Jan. 17 (UPI) — Outlander icon Sam Heughan says he was happy to trade his 18th-century breeches and waistcoats for some more casual 21st-century attire in the new romantic thriller The Couple Next Door.
“It’s so nice to be in a T-shirt and shorts,” Heughan told UPI in a Zoom interview Tuesday. “It was a joy, yes, and not as long a call time [for hair and makeup], which is great.”
“Yoga gear! Just wearing athleisure wear for a few months was a delight, actually. You could bend, sit, take a nap,” added his Couple Next Door co-star Jessica De Gouw, who recently starred in the period pieces Underground, Pennyworth and The Artful Dodger.
In The Couple Next Door, Heughan and De Gouw play Danny and Becka, married suburban swingers intrigued by their buttoned-up new neighbors Evie (Eleanor Tomlinson) and Pete (Alfred Enoch).
The Starz series premieres Friday.
“For me, the most important thing was sitting with with Jessica and working out where these characters were, how they have got to this situation in their lives,” Heughan said.
“What is the protocol and what are the rules that Danny is so desperate to fight for? But, also, the ones that he keeps breaking,” he added, referencing his character’s relationship with Becka. “So, I think working with our fellow actors was definitely the best way into this.”
De Gouw credited David Allison’s writing for giving them glimpses into the heads and hearts of their characters.
“The script is a good place to start. A lot of it is already there on the page for you in terms of foundation, in the ways they interact in their relationships,” she said.
“But, also, having the opportunity to briefly sit down and work through it all as a cast and with Dries [Vos], the director, we really got into the nitty-gritty of these characters and sort of the nuances of who they are and what they’re going through.”
De Gouw said she tried to understand where Danny and Becka were coming from, rather than hold them to any specific moral code.
“If we judge these characters, then it doesn’t work because they are actively choosing a lifestyle and they’re making choices that feel right for them,” she added.
“Obviously, they get themselves in a tricky situation, but there’s a lot of thought and history between these two