Tony Curran on how his new TV shows, Mary and George and Outlander, take him back to his Scottish roots
You can take the man out of Scotland but you can’t take Scotland out of the man and LA-based Glaswegian actor Tony Curran is back on home turf with two new roles.
The first is King James VI of Scotland and I of England in Mary & George, a six-part miniseries available on Sky Atlantic from this week, where Curran stars alongside a cast that includes Julianne Moore, Nicholas Galitzine and Nicola Walker.
The second is Outlander: Blood of My Blood, the Starz prequel series, which Curran is currently filming in Scotland and in which he plays Lord Lovat, the grandfather of Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan).
It’s a busy time, as ever for Curran, who has worked solidly since he left Glasgow’s then Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and amassed a long CV with roles in the UK and US across stage, TV and film, with the 54-year-old being best known for Outlaw King, Calibre, Deadwood: The Movie, Underworld: Evolution, Doctor Who, Roots, the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: The Dark World, Daredevil, Red Road and This Life.
Based in LA, where he lives with his wife Mai and their daughter, he’s been on our screens most recently in Mayflies, the adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s novel in which he starred alongside Martin Compston and Ashley Jensen. His performance saw him nominated for Best TV Actor at the Scottish BAFTA Awards and winning Best Male Actor at the Scottish Television Awards.
When we speak we start with Mary & George, which I tell him I found a ‘lively’ watch.
He laughs and says, “Lively’s a great way to put it. It starts with dropping a baby on its head, and you’re thinking ‘what’s going on with this lot?”
There’s a lot going on with Mary and George, the true story of a mother and son who will do anything to social climb their way out of penury and into the king’s bed in a bid to advance their family fortunes. Mary Villiers [Moore] is happy to use her handsome son George to attract the attentions of the king, sending him to France to learn how to be a courtier then dangling him in front of the king and telling him to “give the king whatever he wants”. What he wants is George.
Capable but capricious, King James is a complex character that Curran spent a lot of time researching, including talking to Benjamin Woolley, the author of the novel The King’s Assassin on which the series, directed by Oliver Hermanus, Alex Winckler and Florian Cossen, is based.
“You’ve got Queen Elizabeth who’s been 40 years on the throne, with no heirs, so who is going to succeed? They get this Scottish king and put him on the English throne, can you imagine what that was like in 1600? It was obviously a very contentious decision and they tried to blow him up with the Gunpowder Plot [in 1605].
“Also his father Lord Darnley was blown up himself, and his mother [Mary, Queen of Scots] exiled then beheaded by Elizabeth so it was a traumatic start for the boy. He became king of Scotland at 13 months old and was raised by Calvinistic Protestant regents - it was the time of John Knox, who I’ve also played,” he says, referring to his role in the 2013 movie Mary Queen of Scots, “another charmer”.
“He was ‘nourished in fear’ and always under threat. It was bad enough in Scotland, being kidnapped, but then it was ‘OK, come to England and become king’. If you look at the portraits he doesn’t look like he wants to be there, and maybe a lot of his distractions, sexually or hunting or whatever, were part of that. They called him the wisest fool in Christendom - he spoke French, Latin, Greek - and sexually, politically, culturally, he was fascinating. But he must have been paranoid and wary of who he was going to let into his court. And then the Villiers show up.”
They do, right from the start, and that’s where the fun begins, because there’s nothing dry or academic about Mary & George, which has a light comedic touch and a contemporary soundtrack, including Iggy Pop and The Stooge’s I’ll be Your Dog.
“I thought the screenplay, bits of the vernacular and dialogue, are so present and current,” says Curran. “It doesn’t feel like it’s from an older time. Yes we’re dressed up in our finery, but the dialogue slips off the page, and there’s a little bit of sensuality, some flesh, but it’s not sensationalism, I think it just seems natural.”
“It’s what this man wanted to do with regards to his sensual nature and I think people will relate to that. Some maybe abhor it, but that’s their problem. When Heath Ledger was being interviewed about Brokeback Mountain he said it’s about two men that fall in love, and this guy got up and said ‘I think this film is disgusting’. Heath Ledger said ‘it’s unfortunate you think heterosexual love has any more value than homosexual love, and I don’t think that’s the case. Love is love and if you’re a parent and have a child you want them to be whatever they are, we don’t choose.
“Like I didn’t choose to have red hair,” says Curran. “I wasn’t sitting in my mother’s womb going ‘I’m going to be a ginger, and get bullied at school and get shit for it and it’s going to be the making of me’. My point is whatever your sexual preference, if you love somebody, you love them, whether it’s a man or woman. Love is love, to me, and I think love was love to James. He lived in fear and was trying to find meaning in his distraction by having lovers like Lord Lennox and George Villiers.
While talking Curran has dipped into various accents beside his own Glaswegian, speaking in RP and a transatlantic American drawl, and mimicking Heath Ledger and his Scouse dresser from Mary and George, demonstrating the verbal dexterity that marks him out as a versatile actor whose long CV ranges across theatre, TV and film.
“I was very fortunate to be offered this role,” he says. “Oliver Hermanas, our director, I guess he just thought I’ve got that look. My wife has said to me, if she’s watching some historical drama, ‘you’ve got that look, honey, that face’ and I’ll be like ‘oh aye, what do you mean by that?’” he laughs. “But I know exactly what she meant, I’ve just got one of those faces. What, I look like a peasant?’”
Or a king.
“Or a king, there you go, thank you.” He laughs.
While King James was educated and liberal in some areas, he also had his prejudices, including an obsession with witchcraft that saw him write 'Daemonologie', and persecute women regarded as witches. As Curren points out: “More plays were written by Shakespeare under James’s rule than Elizabeth’s and for the Scottish play [Macbeth], the three witches were based on the three women he had burned after blaming them for storms stopping his new wife Anne sailing over from Denmark.
“He also railed against tobacco, which he wasn’t a fan of, writing ‘smoking is hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain and dangerous to the lungs’. He wanted nothing to do with it until he realised how much money it was going to make the economy - Jamestown in Virginia, was the first British colony in the Americas - because King James was fond of shopping. He liked the finer things; jewels - his dog was even called ‘Jewel - and finery. There are lots of hats I wear in the show, one with an absolute replica of this gargantuan diamond surrounded by rubies.”
In terms of costumes and setting, Mary & George goes full flamboyance, with Curran donning a series of fabulous outfits, wigs and hats. Did he enjoy all the lace, velvet and pearls?
“There was a lot of chafing,” he says. “Me and Nick and Julianne would be standing there before a take, and I’m like ‘Julie, are you all right’ and she’d say ‘this bloody thing’. I’d be itching my collar, or stockings, or something a bit tight or not tight enough. There were times the costumes were pretty uncomfortable, and the wig - I called it Margaret - but it was like ‘ shut up, you look great, action!’. But the costume department were incredible and put up with my shit, and the costumes are stunning.
Shooting scenes in places where the royals lived and died, such as Stirling and Edinburgh Castle adds a verisimilitude to the series and Curran found it helped get into character.
“We shot in Hatfield House, where they shot The Favourite, and it was actually built for King James. Julianne and Nick and the whole cast and 100 extras are there, and I come in as James, walk across the chequered black and white floor and look up and there is this 20 foot by 10 foot original painting of my mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, classic, holding her beads, and I think ‘oh there’s Mary, Queen of Scots, that’s amazing’, and I look to the right and there’s a picture of King James and I go ‘oh f***, it’s me, oh my god,’ and then I think to myself, ‘get back in the scene’, and it’s moments like that that I’m kind of blown away. It was built in 1595 and we’re shooting a TV show about these people’s lives that actually ate, socialised, danced in this room, which kind of bakes my noodle.
“We also filmed in Stirling Castle and there’s a room you can go into where James scratched his name, and I visited Edinburgh Castle with my family last summer and went to the room where Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to him. This poky little closet room and I was thinking ‘wow, that’s kind of amazing, what happened after she had that son. I’ve played Lord Darnley too, and always felt an affinity with Mary, Queen of Scots - the history, the legends, the iconic figures… James Stuart, Jackie Stewart, Rod Stewart, it’s a great line…” he laughs.
Speaking of dynasties, Curran is amused to discover that the real life character he plays in Outlander, Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat has recently been identified by fellow actor Russell Crowe as one of his ancestors.
“Obviously I had a little moment en passant trying to assassinate Maximus in Gladiator with Russell, and now he has said he is actually a descendant of Lord Lovat which is kind of interesting. He’s a Fraser.”
Not only that, but Curran himself is a Fraser, through his maternal grandmother Margaret.
“Before she married my grandpa Edward Curran, she was a Fraser, so there you go, it’s in the blood. So that’s kind of cool. Does that mean I can wear the tartan? I think it does,” he says.
Over ten episodes Outlander: Blood of My Blood will explore the lives and relationships of the parents of Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitríona Balfe), centring on their parallel love stories in two time periods, Jamie’s parents in early 18th century Scotland and Claire’s in WWI England.
“It’s very exciting to be part of the Outlander family. It’s a huge franchise and has a real global following. I was shooting this week and it’s been a lot of fun. Also Simon Fraser is a really interesting character. There are the Frasers, the Mackenzies, the clans, the Jacobites, the Redcoats… historically there’s a lot going on here so I’m excited to be part of it.”
Period dramas are all part of the variety that Curran enjoys about his job and a contrast to 2022’s Mayflies, a project close to his heart.
“I loved doing Mayflies,” he says. “It was a great experience, the whole ensemble cast and crew, working with Andrew O’Hagan who wrote the story, Andrea Gibb who wrote the screenplay, director Peter Mackie Burns, Tracy [Ifeachor] Ashley [Jensen], Martin [Compston] and the young cast who were so great. It was the whole experience, just working back in Scotland it was such a fun time.
“And also getting the opportunity to play a character like Tully. Tully’s real name’s Keith and Jimmy, that Martin played, was Andrew O’Hagan; it was obviously based on a true story, they were great friends, and it was just a real honour and challenge to play him. The casting of it was important because we only had just over a month to shoot and Martin and I had worked on Red Road [2006] and were already great friends so hopefully that came over on screen.
“Also working with the Maggie’s Centre in Glasgow was a great humbling experience. The Maggies Centres are so compassionate and empathetic and it was a great help with the character, really got me into just feeling Tully.”
Did it change his views on assisted dying?
“You never know what that’s like do you? It’s all relative, but if someone had a debilitating disease and was in some sort of unfortunate, ill state, then maybe it’s definitely an option you could choose, so I think it’s important for people to have that option. Tully wanted to take control of his life and he did, which was very brave of him, but whether or not I’d do that… you don’t know what you’d do if you were put in that position.”
Curran is pleased to be back in Scotland once more, admitting there are various things that he misses about his homeland: “The family, the cholesterol, the sense of humour and I miss going to see Celtic. And the golf. I’ve got the golf clubs with me, so I’m hopefully going to get out and swing a few clubs.“
As well as Outlander, Curran is also about to appear in a career first music video, for Scottish band, The Snuts, on track Circles, taken from their new third album Millennials. What can he tell us about that?
“I love The Snuts, and it’s a video for one of their songs from the new album. I play a cab driver who’s suffered some loss and the song and video deal with how he processes that, with two passengers in the back of his cab.
“I’ve never done anything like this before. It’s going to be interesting because music videos these days are like little films and I saw one the director did already, and it was really moving and hit me quite hard, and I thought this would be great to do. It’s a beautiful song and a really interesting story, so I’m looking forward to doing that. And obviously it’s going to go straight in at number one…”
Mary & George is available on Sky Atlantic from 5 March.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood is produced by Sony Pictures Television and will be available across all Starz platforms in the US and Canada.