Why it was absolute torture for Sam Claflin on the set of Daisy Jones & The Six

Hunger Games Sam Claflin channels his reluctant rock star for long-waited series Daisy Jones & The Six.

Sam Claflin as Billy Dunne is the epitome of a ’70s rock star, oozing sex appeal and confidence in spades.

His stage presence is electric, yet effortless, capturing the crowds – and likely viewers too – with his smooth sound and moves.

He embodies the aesthetic, swagger and arrogance of the fictional lead man of Daisy Jones & The Six.

So it’s somewhat of a surprise when the 36-year-old confesses he felt anything but that. Turns out petrified is a more apt description.

“I’ve never been that musically gifted,” Claflin explains over Zoom from Los Angeles as the publicity machine amps up for the long-awaited series.

“I never grew up wanting to be a rock star musician. And while I definitely went through a phase early on in my acting life where I sang in musicals and tried my best – I have to say anytime I’ve ever sung in my life is the most nervous I’ve ever got.”

Sam Claflin as the lead man Billy Dunne in Daisy Jones and the Six on Amazon Prime.

Claflin says he was never musically gifted.

Even singing along in a car to his favourite songs is a stress. If there’s a passenger with him, Claflin laughs, he’ll deliberately do a bad voice because he fears the very idea of someone judging him for his sound.

“Honestly, there was so much self-doubt and feeling like I was crap,” he says, adding it was absolute torture listening to his voice stripped back.

“I’ll never forget being in the recording studio with (music producer) Tony Berg and playing my songs back without music, so it’s just my voice.

“Tony asked if there was anything I thought I could improve on. I was like ‘the whole thing or get someone else to sing’.

“And I’m just grateful to Tony and (songwriter) Blake Mills, and all the music people who just really gave me enough self-belief that I could get through it.”

Claflin is warm, generous and completely candid from the get go. And also oh-so profusely apologetic for the awful timing of our chat – 4am in Australia to be precise.

While nervous for the reviews of his voice (and he shouldn’t be, he’s a truly fabulous singer, people will be saying “more please”), he’s excited that after years of delays in the making and the releasing, the 10-episode series based on the New York Times best-selling novel of the same name premieres with a double episode this week.

The band before Daisy Jones – Sam Claflin (Billy), Josh Whitehouse (Eddie), Will Harrison (Graham), Sebastian Chacon (Warren), Suki Waterhouse (Karen).

It’s filmed in a documentary style and follows the story of the iconic 1970s band, fronted by two feuding yet charismatic lead singers, the aforementioned Daisy Jones (Riley Keogh) and Billy Dunne (Claflin). Drawn together by personal and artistic chemistry, their complicated musical partnership catapulted the band from obscurity to unbelievable fame. And then, after a sold-out show at Chicago’s Soldier Field, they suddenly called it quits. Now, decades later, the band members finally agree to reveal the truth.

Claflin landed his first film role in 2011 with Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and has built up an impressive resume, as Will Traynor in another book adaptation – the tear-jerker Me Before You, and Oswald Mosley in Peaky Blinders.

He’s possibly most recognisable from his role Finnick Odair from the Hunger Games franchise. So he’s already experienced the passion that comes from fans when beloved books are adapted for this screen.

Claflin jokes it’s becoming his calling card, while confessing he doesn’t read.

“I think that’s a positive because it means I have no preconceptions about how something should be, and I haven’t lived with that role or imagined the role going to anyone else,” Claflin explains.

“So I kind of walk in completely naively – just saying ‘what do you want me to do. and ‘How can I help?’.

“I suppose I didn’t feel the pressure that was weighing on everyone else, you know, potentially auditioning for it.

“The same went for Finnick. I remember the pressure that everyone was under and then obviously everyone started commenting on my casting. I don’t feel that’s happened so much this time.”

Sam Claflin and Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Picture: Murray Close

While Claflin seems polar opposites to the often self-centred Billy, he still found plenty of common ground.

“It all stems from his early years, and his dad abandoning him, which caused a real insecurity and a poor understanding of his own mental health issues, which obviously is where the addiction side of it comes from. He has control issues purely because of his abandonment.

“I think having gone on my own mental health journey through Covid was where I was blessed with an opportunity to spend a lot of time in self reflection and what have you, I really understood him and the way he acts that way.

“And having an opportunity to explore the complicated struggles he has being a parent and a musician, and a good husband and brother and band frontman – I think we can all relate to that in some aspects of our life.

“I personally envy people who can be the same person with whomever they’re with, that’s a real rarity.”

Camila Morrone, Riley Keough, head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke and Sam Claflin at the Los Angeles Premiere of Daisy Jones & The Six. Picture: Getty Images

There’s a moment where Daisy says to Billy “You write songs about the person you want to be”. Claflin says that’s true of his career, saying he grew up wanting to play roles that were not at all like him.

“So I could lose myself or challenge myself, you know. And I spent so long doing that, I think I kind of lost authenticity in a lot of my performances. This is just my opinion. Watching things back, I would go ‘I don’t really believe what I’m saying’.

“I suppose when you’ve never lived there, you’ve never breathed like that – how could you ever know what that feels like? You can pretend and guess, but I think with this particular role, so many of the twists and turns that he goes through, I’ve been through that. Even if not first-hand, but through a friend or whatever.

“I think now I’m 36, I’ve lived through a little more. So when I’m doing a scene, I’m like ‘no, I don’t need a tear stick to assist me to make tears at this moment, these tears are real’. In fact it’s going to be real struggle to stop.

“This is what feels like to leave your heart there.”

Sebastian Chacon, Josh Whitehouse, Camila Morrone, Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Suki Waterhouse, Nabiyah Be, Timothy Olyphant, and Tom Wright. Picture: Getty Images

In tandem with the show, a full album, Aurora, by the fictional Daisy Jones & the Six will be released. The lead track, Regret Me, a duet performed by Daisy and Billy (and sung by Keough and Claflin) is already out. While Claflin’s mind is blown that he will have his own album, his son Pip and daughter Margot (with ex-wife Laura Haddock) aren’t really interested. He jokes that if you want to be humble, just have kids.

“They actually came on the set once or twice – they had an opportunity on the drums and to play with the guitars,” Claflin says.

“It was a real magic moment – my little boy’s seven and my girl’s five – they are just starting to understand that I’m an actor and that I get to film and do things that aren’t real. So it’s quiet enjoyable now bringing them to set and them figuring out how things work is quite cool.”

It’s also been cool getting the “band” back together for publicity, the now tight-knit cast formed strong bonds throughout their Covid separation.

The cast – which also includes UK model and singer Suki Waterhouse, US model and actor Camila Morrone, Will Harrison and Josh Whitehouse – met and basically got to go out dinner on the Thursday before the whole world shut down.

Riley Keough (Daisy) and Sam Claflin (Billy) in a rare moment of their characters getting along.

“We were so excited – it was like ‘nice to meet you, and you. What? Oh apparently we’re all leaving’,” he shares. “We all started to connect around that table and that real ease carried on through the whole of Covid separation.

“We’d all be Zooming and all on a group WhatsApp and we’d be sharing stories and supporting each other in whatever capacity.

“And then when we came back to LA and start full band rehearsals and filming properly, I’ll never forget seeing Riley and I just gave her the biggest hug.”

Claflin laughs as he says it sounds like a cliche but he hopes people enjoy it as much as they enjoyed making it – petrified feelings aside.

“Every morning I woke up to go to work, I was just smiling. I came home smiling,” he says.

“I feel really, really lucky to have been surrounded by those sorts of people with that sort of atmosphere daily.

“We saw each other every day, all day for, like, nine months. And then you sadly all part ways and go in your opposite directions.

“There’s a real bond there and a real sense of family.

“So yeah, long may it last and bring on series two.”

Daisy Jones & The Six, Friday, Amazon Prime Video

Originally published as Why it was absolute torture for Sam Claflin on the set of Daisy Jones & The Six