The Spy Who Dumped Me actor Sam Heughan discusses the action comedy and working with Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon. Heughan is perhaps most well known for his role as Jamie Fraser in the Starz drama Outlander, in which he co-stars with Caitriona Balfe. Based on the novels by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander follows the sprawling love story between Jamie and Claire (Balfe), which survives time travel, war and other tests. Now, though, Heughan stars in a modern day spy comedy, The Spy Who Dumped Me.
Directed and co-written by Susanna Fogel, The Spy Who Dumped Me follows Audrey (Kunis), a 30-something woman dumped by her boyfriend Drew (Justin Theroux), only for her to discover he was actually a spy. Along with her best friend Morgan (McKinnon), Audrey must go to Europe and complete a mission - all without being killed by those who want her dead. To make matters more difficult, Audrey is approached by another spy, Sebastian (Heughan), and it's unclear whether he or his associate, Duffer (Hasan Minaj), can be trusted.
Related: Screen Rant's Review Of The Spy Who Dumped Me
Now, Screen Rant sat down with Heughan to talk about The Spy Who Dumped Me and the actor discussed his character, working with Kunis and McKinnon, and whether he enjoys working more on modern fare or period pieces.
Screen Rant: Fans know you mostly from Outlander, of course, as Jamie Fraser. So I’m very curious, how would you say that your character in this movie differs from Jamie?
Sam Heughan: He never wears a kilt, he’s British - he’s English, and he’s not a ginger. Yeah, obviously Jamie Fraser is in the 1700s, it’s very much a period piece, kind of straight drama, though he has a humorous side. But this is a very different project for me. It was fun to do something contemporary and play a spy.
Screen Rant: So is that what drew you to the project, doing something different?
Sam Heughan: Of course, but actually the script was the thing that really drew me to it. I read it and was laughing out loud within the first few pages. It’s a great script, very funny. Susanna [Fogel] and David [Iserson] co-wrote this. That, plus the opportunity to work with Mila [Kunis] and Kate [McKinnon] was far, far too good to pass up.
Screen Rant: How was it working with Mila and Kate?
Sam Heughan: Awful. Yep, it was pretty bad… They are just amazing. They’re at the top of their game. They’re so funny. The first day on set was pretty intimidating, to be sitting opposite Mila, who’s just, like, so at ease on set and knows exactly what she’s doing and ad-libbing all over the place. And Kate, obviously as well, just making stuff up. I come from this drama world where it’s very tight and we’re very scripted so it really was a learning experience, but great fun.
Screen Rant: And you get to do some action in the movie, did you get to do any of your own stunts, and if so, what was your favorite?
Sam Heughan: Yeah we have a great stunt team: Gary Powell, who was the stunt coordinator on all the Bond films and Bourne films. You can really see it in our movie. We have a great, great stunt team in Budapest who worked really hard. Yeah we were rehearsing the stunts every day. I got to do all of the fight sequences, obviously there are certain things I just couldn't do, like the parkour stuff, which was just insane. But they did such a great job and I enjoyed every moment of it.
Screen Rant: And which was your favorite?
Sam Heughan: Oh, and my favorite, I mean I loved the gymnasium sequence, but actually Café Sacher was what we first started shooting and it was quite a few days of shooting but I loved it. Sebastian really basically takes on about 15 people and it’s just chaos, and by the end of it he’s completely destroyed the place.
Screen Rant: And what was it like working with director Susanna Fogel?
Sam Heughan: Susanna was so fun to work with, she really nurtured and cared for everyone. She brought a great sort of calmness and humor to every day and really gave the space for everyone to experiment and try new things. And I think she succeeded in the movie.
Screen Rant: I heard a rumor that you’ve been cast in Vin Diesel’s Bloodshot movie.
Sam Heughan: Yeah, it’s no rumor.
Screen Rant: OK, can you tease me anything about your character.
Sam Heughan: I can tell you that it’s based on the Valiant Comics, which are the Bloodshot series. It’s within that world, my character - I can’t give away too much, but I’m really excited. We’re off to South Africa to start shooting next month. It’s got a great cast and the director, Dave Wilson, is superb.
Screen Rant: You’ve done a couple different genres now, so what is your favorite genre to film in?
Sam Heughan: That’s a good question, actually, y’know I really love period stuff in the 1700s - obviously riding horses and swords and all of that stuff. But it was nice to be in present day where you just get to put on a T-shirt and get in and out of car, it was kind of fun. But for me, I guess, I like the period stuff.
