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Sam Claflin says his audition for “Daisy Jones & The Six” couldn’t have gone worse.
Speaking with Variety about the upcoming series, the actor, who plays lead singer Billy Dunne, says he landed the role despite his “terrible” song performance.
Based on the book of the same name, it follows the rise and fall of a Fleetwood Mac-like band the Six.
As Claflin was preparing for the audition, he learned he would have to a sing a ’70s rock song. The U.K. native admitted he wasn’t a big music fan and chose something from the Apple Music app.
“I went into a recording studio for the first time in my life, confronted with a microphone and people watching me in a fishbowl,” Claflin recalled. “I sang Elton John’s ‘Your Song.’ Terribly.”
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“Daisy Jones & the Six” showrunner Scott Neustadter even went as far as to call it a “train wreck”.
“It was the train wreck of all train wrecks.” he admitted, but was willing to overlook it due to Claflin’s impressive portfolio. “We’ve seen him be a chameleon in so many other projects that he’d done — the range really made us feel like this guy can do anything.”
The actor has taken on everything from big movie franchises with “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” and “Hunger Games” to more grounded roles like Will Traynor in “Me Before You” and the villainous Oswald Mosley in “Peaky Blinders”.
For his second audition, he took on The Beatles.
“They started playing ‘Come Together’ by the Beatles,” Claflin said, though he thought it was a Michael Jackson track. “Well, now I know it’s the Beatles.”
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The role of Billy required the actor to portray a troubled husband and father who struggled with a drug addiction and infidelity. It was unlike any role he had played before, which was exactly the point.
“I wanted to prove to myself that I could do things that are different and out of the box. I hoped that a few people would watch and think, ‘Oh, wow. Actually, he’s not just this guy,’” he explained. “Now, especially — I’m not 23 with a six-pack and on the up-and-coming list anymore. I’m the older guy.”
While he was enthusiastic about the chance to flex his skills, he was also intimidated by the more musical aspects.
“I was f–king petrified,” said the 36-year-old. “Right from the f–king beginning, s–t scared. I remember my first guitar lesson, going, ‘What the hell? How am I going to be singing whilst doing this, whilst also moving around?’”
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In the end, Claflin was thankful for the role. He couldn’t relate to the struggle with substance abuse, but he was also a family man and found the role of Billy to be a cathartic one in the end.
“I think my relationship with myself is a lot better than it was,” he said. “Before, I didn’t like who I was or what I had to say. Whereas now, after going through the journey of Billy Dunne, I realize how therapeutic or cathartic it was to tell a story that feels really authentic to me. It allowed me the opportunity to approach life differently.”
“Daisy Jones & The Six” premieres on Prime Video on Mar. 3.