Outlander’s Caitriona Balfe had an awkward first encounter with Rocky legend Sylvester Stallone.
Irish actress Balfe shot to worldwide fame when she began starring in Starz’s romantic time travelling drama Outlander as Second World War nurse Claire Fraser.
Prior to her time opposite Jamie Fraser actor Sam Heughan, Balfe had also worked as a model for big brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Victoria’s Secret with the actress standing at 5ft 7in.
Not long after putting her modelling career on hold, she did have a minor role in the action thriller film Escape Plan with mega stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Little did she expect, however, the weird interaction she had with Stallone upon their first meeting.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, the host asked if it was difficult, as a model, working with actors of shorter stature.
To this, Balfe replied: “I did a film with Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzeneggar and the first day on set, I was nervous obviously it’s very surreal and they’re huge.
“I was sitting down and Sly walks in and I stand up to shake his hand and he’s like: ‘Who ordered the giraffe?’
“And I was like: ‘Um, alright.’ Like I guess my shoes are coming off”.
Conan then continued to joke: “And they’re going to dig a trench for you to stand in”.
Stallone is reportedly 1.77m which is equivalent to 5ft 8in, making him just about taller than Balfe.
His leading co-star Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, is just over 6ft 1in tall.
Escape Plan came out the year before Outlander began on Starz and was one of the handful of films she featured in before embodying Claire Fraser.
Some of the other projects she’s worked on include Now You See Me, Los Angeles, The Beauty Inside and Super 8.
She doesn’t have an official credit for it but according to the star, she was also in Devil Wears Prada.
During a game with New York Magazine, it came up that Balfe had previously worked with Meryle Streep, stating: “I mean, I worked on it for two days from here down -”, gesturing towards her waist. “Your legs were in it?”, Heughan queried.
Balfe then elaborated: “I was a clacker, I was officially a ‘clacker’, one of the girls who works at ‘Vogue’ and wears high heels.
“I don’t think you see me but I was in it”.