Katherine Heigl as a possible Claire?

Some of you may have seen the NY Times article where Katherine Heigl is mentioned as a possible candidate to play Claire in an OUTLANDER movie.

If all goes well, Ms. Heigl will then turn toward sharply dramatic work, starring as a Scottish heroine in an adaptation of "Outlander", the novel by Diana Gabaldon. “Scotland? 2012? What do you think?” she said.

This news broke last night and has, quite understandably, caused an uproar among OUTLANDER fans online. (You can see my own initial reaction here.)

UPDATE 10/2/2010 8:31 am: Diana has posted her reaction on her blog. Her initial comments have been deleted from Compuserve -- and before you ask, no, I didn't do it, she did.

I won't attempt to repeat most of what she said here. But I will say this:

• I suppose we can discount the "Scottish heroine" reference above as sheer ignorance on the part of the person who wrote that NY Times article. <shrug>
• OK, so Heigl's mom is a huge fan of the series, and Heigl herself is also a fan. That doesn't mean she is the best choice to play Claire. (In my opinion, of course.)
• On the question of an American actress playing Claire, Diana said, "They assured me that Claire _is_ English and stays English." (I'm personally relieved to hear that, but still very skeptical that Heigl can pull it off.)
• For those of you who doubted what I said the other day about Diana's opinion of Allan Scott-Douglas, look at item #6 in Diana's post. [UPDATE 10/2/2010 8:31 am: This part of Diana's post has since been deleted. Let's just say she had some positive things to say about him, and leave it at that.]

Opinions? What do you all think of this latest development, and/or Diana's comments?