Warning this post is mostly just fan girl gushing. On most of the rest of the site I’ve tried to be at least relatively restrained in presenting information and links, so I’m reserving this page to get all (or at least some) of the blatant adoration out of my system.

I wasn’t expecting this at all. I was cautiously excited when I heard about the Starz series. And I was happy to hear that they’d cast Jamie, so I followed along with everyone else to find out who our Jamie would be. First, I’d like to note that while I love Jamie, he’s not my favorite character in the books (sacrilege, I know). And secondly, it is very rare for me to be interested in a celebrity outside the role I know them best in.  The last celebrity crushes I had were Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor more than a decade ago. And I don’t remember the last male celebrity crush I had. I say this only to explain how off-guard this caught me, and that, while I started paying attention to him because of the Jamie casting, my reactions are as much, if not more, about him than Jamie. (Luckily, neither my husband nor my girlfriend are prone to jealousy.)

So, here’s a list of reasons, in no particular order, that Sam Heughan has acquired me as his web-minion (whether he wanted to or not):

• Joy– All that I’ve read and watched show Sam as someone with an ability to take joy in everything he does. The fact that his Instagram page has gorgeous nature pictures and that he tweeted to everyone about the wildlife he saw in Norway made me think he is someone who really notices and appreciates the world around him. I’m listening to Outlander again and two phrases that Diana uses to describe Jamie’s approach to making love bring to mind Sam in everything we’ve seen from him: “unflagging joy” and that he gave “all of himself without reservation.” Those pretty much sum up how I see him.
• Dedication– Reading about the preparations that he’s made for some of his roles in the past and having some hints about what he’s doing to get ready to play Jamie, shows a man who takes his craft seriously and will do the best he possibly can. And this shows in all of the parts we’ve seen him in so far.
• Sincerity– When being interviewed, he radiates a level of genuine engagement that is a pleasure to watch. When talking about his projects and interests he gives the impression of really caring about them and believing in them, rather than spouting well-practiced sound bites. (Especially when talking about the Batmobile. *grin* I get the impression he might miss that car.)
• Generosity– I really appreciate his time and efforts on behalf of various charities.
• Gratitude– Despite his obvious talent and hard work, he always sounds humbly grateful for the opportunities he has gotten and anything anyone does for him. (If he’d expected us to fawn over him, we probably wouldn’t have, but he seemed so appreciative of our interest that he’s a joy to interact with.)
• Intensity– In all the roles I’ve seen him play, he’s lost himself completely in them. He brings an energy to every scene he’s in that is completely mesmerizing.
• Mutability– Related to the intensity of losing himself in the roles, is the ability to change so completely from role to role. If I hadn’t known going in, I would not have realized that it was the same person portraying the various people he’s played. Even just looking at the pictures in the banner on the top of the page, I wouldn’t have realized they were all the same person if I hadn’t known already.
• Physicality– I love his ability to act with his whole body. His emotions show in his posture and gestures and stance and subtle movements as well as his voice, face and eyes.(Example: There were a couple moments in Midsomer Murders where his words and tone of voice were saying one thing, but you could tell clearly through other subtle cues that the character was lying.)
• Passion– I confess to having watched the clip from A Plague Over England a few more times than is probably sane. And it may have taken a dozen or so times before I got all the words. But, in my defense, it is amazing. They demonstrate a passion and hunger that is generally lacking in most more explicit displays. The choreography of the scene is clever and inspired. My favorite moment is at the end when Sam’s character is holding the other man’s hand to his chest. In that brief moment they manage to convey so much without speech, that I’m eager to see what happens with Diana’s love scenes.
• Kindness– In just the brief amount of time we’ve gotten to interact with him, he’s shown such incredible kindness to the fans, to his fellow cast and crew and to his friends.
• Humor– His sense of humor was apparent as soon as he started to interact with the fans. Many people would have run away or been stand-offish at the very least, and we’d have understood. But instead he jumped right in and joked around with us immediately.
• Playfulness– I love it when a man is not afraid to play around and be silly. He seems to not be prone to taking himself too seriously and he knows how to have fun. His willingness to play and be silly are infectious. He seems to have a real joy in life that is a pleasure to watch.
• Oh, yeah and there’s the superficial stuff too- But it’s pretty obvious that he’s drop-dead gorgeous with eyes you can get lost in, a deliciously expressive mouth, and the body of a superhero, (Batman to be precise *g*), so there’s no point in even mentioning that, right?