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Interview: Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Camila Morrone, and Suki Waterhouse on 'Daisy Jones & The Six'.

Interview: Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Camila Morrone, and Suki Waterhouse on 'Daisy Jones & The Six'.

They say that behind every great man there's a great woman, and in the case of Billy Dunne (played by Sam Claflin in Prime Video's TV-adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid's beloved book, 'Daisy Jones & The Six'), it's rather more complicated than that, with Daisy Jones and Camila Dunne (played by Riley Keough and Camila Morrone respectively) entangled with Billy in a complex web of obligation, half-truths, and passion.

Following the story of a 1970s band fronted by the feuding Daisy and Billy, the series unfolds in a documentary format - revealing why the band suddenly broke up after catapulting from obscurity to unbelievable fame.

Pondering some age-old questions, Coup De Main recently discussed your new favourite show with Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Camila Morrone, and Suki Waterhouse (who plays The Six band-member, Karen Sirko)...

COUP DE MAIN: In their different ways, all of the show's characters are obsessed with music and their love for it and belief in it. What do you each feel that strongly about in your own lives?
RILEY KEOUGH:
Definitely film. Movies, certainly. <laughs>
SAM CLAFLIN: For me, it's kids. I love my kids and I love being as active with my children as possible. I always grew up wanting to be a dad more than I wanted to be anything else, so I'm very much loving 'Bluey' and loving Peppa Pig and that kind of life. At the minute, I watch more of that than I do films and TV that I should be watching. And as soon as your children start being able to communicate back, even from the age of a year-and-a-half when they start doing that baby talk, there's still a level of communication and understanding between parent and child. I think it just opens up so many doors, and in fact, it's like living your life through a child's eyes - the questions they ask so innocently, and then you realising you don't have all the answers, it's terrifying as a parent, but equally, really exciting. Seeing the world through different eyes is really enjoyable, and it sort of gives me life, and a reason to do what I do, I suppose.
CAMILA MORRONE: I really like acting, which is kind of corny to say because I'm an actor, but I like watching films.
SUKI WATERHOUSE: You love people's stories as well. I think we both do.
CAMILA: But what am I passionate about in life?
SUKI: People's stories!
CAMILA: Yeah, which is films - they tell me a story.
SUKI: Yeah! But in our own lives?
CAMILA: We like the tea.
SUKI: We like the tea! <laughs>
CAMILA: What music is to you in the show, is what film and TV and theatre is to me in my personal life. And you love music. You're a musician. You're an epic rockstar IRL.
SUKI: This show got to join two of my biggest passions in my life - acting and music. That was such an unusual thing to happen in a project, where acting and music both get to join. But in our own lives: Cami, you're so passionate about family, about friends, and about love.
CAMILA: This is true. I'm a Latin girl. I'm passionate!
SUKI: Exactly.
CAMILA: I'm a real passionate Latin gal. A lot of emotions.
SUKI: Which plays into your acting.
CAMILA: Yes! Thank you for bringing that back for me.
SUKI: And your character.

CDM: Daisy is constantly underestimated by most people in her life and even told she makes a better muse than artist - something a lot of young women can relate to; that difficulty of being taken seriously by others. Is this something that also spoke to you?
RILEY:
That is actually the main thing that spoke to me. Being a woman and a young woman in my life, that was something I experienced often - especially in the workspace, or in my art, where I was constantly feeling a sense of not being taken seriously and feeling like you're constantly having to prove yourself or prove that you deserve the seat at the table. I think that's something that certainly was more extreme in the 70s, but it's very much still an issue now, and that was one of the main things that spoke to me about her that I could identify with.
SUKI: When you're a young woman in your 20s, it's the trenches.
CAMILA: As Julia Fox would say.
SUKI: You're trying to discover... you're testing boundaries, you're trying to find out what boundaries are, you're constantly in flux of knowing whether or not this is what you're meant to be doing... Or is it too much? Do you have too many boundaries? Or too little? Or is this just the way that they do it in the adult world? Or are you actually being taken advantage of? When you're young it's just so much easier to be taken advantage of, and it's so much more difficult to be able to have a voice. It's 100% like, everyone, right?
CAMILA: You're always underestimated. There's never a time that women are not constantly pushing the boundaries of what we think is capable for them. And in my own experience, transitioning from another career into acting and having modelled when I was younger, it was such an uphill battle for people to even consider me for jobs. It was so hard because there's this constant needing to prove yourself, and prove it to yourself, and prove it for others. I think that maybe dissipates a little bit with age. You find that feeling of knowing it within yourself.
SUKI: Yeah, when actually all you were doing from a young age is just getting up and going to work and making--
CAMILA: You know it very well.
SUKI: You're like: Actually, I've been running my life as a young woman--
CAMILA: And supporting myself.
SUKI: And other people.
CAMILA: It's very hard for people to see you, when you want to change boxes and be known in your community as something else. It's still very small-minded and it's still a struggle, I think, for anyone making a career change.
SUKI: But that's what makes it so fun. When it actually does happen.
CAMILA: And then you get it, and you're like...
SUKI: "YEAH!"
CAMILA: That's the fun part of it: when you prove them all wrong!

CDM: What advice would you give to someone who's also going through it?
RILEY:
It's so hard. I think there's a line, actually, in the show where Daisy says (I'm paraphrasing, but): "When enough people tell you you're shit, you start to believe them." And I really think there's truth in that. And it's a really difficult thing to overcome. The only thing you can do is believe in yourself and develop some kind of shell to [protect yourself from] the world and whatever is being projected on you.
CAMILA: I struggled. I was sad for a long time. That's the truth. Just feeling rejection, rejection, and relentless rejection, which I know is something that comes with this industry and we're all warned about it and prepared for and actors/musicians talk about it, but there's nothing that protects you from the feeling of rejection - you just have to go through it. And then you see little glimmers of hope in the distance where you almost get a job, or a director likes you, and then it gives you the adrenaline and the fuel.
SUKI: That's something that gets really exacerbated when you're in this industry - having to deal with the way that you're messed up and the emotional toll that it takes. But if you can survive it and learn how to separate, and have worth that isn't dependent entirely on booking a job? Then it can actually make you an incredibly strong person.

CDM: Billy says: "It's not enough to meet the right person, you have to meet them at the right time too." Do you believe in fate/destiny? Or do we make our own luck/future?
RILEY:
I think that's the question everybody wants to know [the answer to].
SAM: So, what's the answer?  <laughs>
RILEY: I think it's a combination: that we have free will and there are things that are sort of fated as well. Maybe the way it works could be too complicated for us to understand, but I do think that maybe it's those two things simultaneously, somehow.
SAM: I fully believe in fate, but we all have our own fate, so our fate may not correspond with the other person's - they might think that you are soulmates, but that might not be your view. We all grow; we all evolve. Sometimes we grow together, and sometimes we grow apart, and that's okay. Timing is everything. I think you do meet the right people, and sometimes it is the wrong time. That's not to say it's the wrong time for you, but it just means that it didn't work, and the only reason it didn't work is because it just didn't connect in that moment. But there's a reason for that. I feel like we learn from every relationship we ever have, be it in a romantic sense, or with our family, whatever it is, we take something and we grow. Even if it's growing in a downward way, it's still a growth of sorts.
RILEY: Growing down. That's what I've been doing. <laughs>
SAM: That's my thoughts on... love.
CDM: I love the idea that you're the sum total of everyone that you've ever met in your life.
SAM:
Yeah, and for me, the way that I approach work is similar. I never come into a job thinking: 'Right, I know everything, and this is it.' I'd like to think of myself as going: 'Okay, well, this is a team effort; I draw from other people, and that's what gives me more life.' Like, to think that I know better than everyone is just a really negative way of approaching life and work, or anything. I love the idea of being able to learn from other people and draw from other people.
RILEY: I think every moment matters in your life... every little moment. And so, certainly, the people you love and the moments you have with them are going to change the course of your life. It all matters, and it probably is all happening the way it should be.

'Daisy Jones & The Six' is available to stream on Prime Video now - with new episodes released every Friday through March 24th.

Watch the trailer below...

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