That Duncan Lacroix! On October 3, 2020 I joined a chat via Sasnak City’s magical portal, and preceded to ask the most difficult questions and embarrass myself silly. But really, we did have a wonderful conversation with our man that plays Murtagh, and we were gifted with a bit of insight to the mysterious Duncan Lacroix.

The following is a summary of the subjects that were covered.

Horses

Duncan was asked a question about how accomplished he was with riding before the Outlander series began. He explained that most actors put on their CV that they have ridden horses, but none of that is true. Unless you are really working on a productin with some heavy riding, you don’t get the experience. He had had some riding, or rather being placed on a horse sitting, brief scenes like in Vikings (Season 2). However he was very fortunate in being cast early for Outlander, he was part of the cast in bootcamp horse training. He got more training as they were doing the long riding treks like in the episode The Rent. He also watched some YouTube videos on communicating with horses and found that he wanted to take the time with the horse to get to know the animal, he would go and groom and handle the horse building up a relationship.

In contrast, when he was on the production The Outlaw King, the horse he was given was very green. Apparently at the time of production, Game of Thrones was in its last season and had hired all the horses trained to work in production. The horses they had hired for Outlaw King were from horse rescue and the one he was given had never been ridden. That was quite an experience. He then went on about how the horses all have their personality days. Oh yes, there was biting?

Message For Youth

Duncan was asked if he had any advice for youth. After thinking for a bit, advised they  get away from the social media. Being a group of teachers, we agreed!

Education

On the subject of his current educational endeavors, Duncan discussed his Philosophy studies and going back to university to pursue another degree. He expressed some frustration at university being mostly online, even before COVID issues, and missed the face to face classes we have all experienced. We all agreed and discussed how education had changed. Philosophy was discussed, how could it help acting, or just understanding phycology and people in general.

Travel Plans

Duncan was not able to travel for most of his life, stage acting in Ireland times were lean. He told us how fantastic it had been to have a month in New Zealand to himself, exploring. When COVID clears, he wants to travel to the Mongolian desert and travel using a 4×4 for about a month. It’s Murtagh Mobile Mach II.

Makeup and Costume

I asked a question about makeup and costume stories he  may have, and he was very gracious and supportive of the crew and how hard they work to make him and the other actors look good. They were there long hours. I asked about complexity and he talked about season 1 and the way they had Murtagh first looking, with the easiest of course being the muddied up and road dirt, to a slight prosthesis for pock marked cheeks and ruddiness. They dropped this in subsequent seasons, and of course the most recent change where he was aged to silver fox mode. He mentioned some of the gluing of beard parts, and the wig.

Production

I asked a question about the pictures that surfaced of him having a nap between filming shoots for season 1. Was it really a difficult shoot first season and tiring, do you rest in between? He mentioned that well, there were some long shoots for the blocks around the episodes The Rent, and also when they were filming the “Finding Jamie” episode, there was a lot of riding and being out of doors for long hours. Besides, if it was beautiful out, wouldn’t you rest in a field?

ACTING

Of course the most important was “Will we see you in anything soon?” Duncan explained that along with many other actors and productions being shut down due to COVID, there was nothing on at the moment. He had been in Los Angeles when the restrictions went in, meeting with a manager that he liked. The idea had been to get him trying for Broadway plays. He discussed how he really missed doing theatre, he had not been on stage since before Outlander started filming and really wanted to get back at it. It seems that even though doing another series would be great, his true passion is the stage and it would be a dream to get on Broadway. He’ll have to try again once productions get underway.

Thank you Duncan for putting up with the teachers and letting us catch a glimpse of your new directions in acting and life. It was a wonderful way to forget the world for a time and get some great insight to our favorite series and the man who played our favorite Godfather.