In 1977, Daisy Jones & The Six – the eponymous fictional rock band at the heart of Prime Video’s new series based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s award-winning novel – were at the height of their fame.
After a sold-out show in Chicago at the top of their game, Daisy Jones & The Six called it quits – much to fans’ shock. This hotly anticipated Prime Video adaptation – which has echoes of Fleetwood Mac’s storied history – has a cast full of famous faces and talented newcomers.
The titular Daisy Jones – a starlet born into privilege but ignored by her selfish parents – is played by 33-year-old Riley Keough, known for roles in 2010’s The Runaways and 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road. Surprisingly, Keough had no singing background and “had never sung before”, and says that the first time she tried to belt out her vocals she burst into tears.
“I was in a car and I had my phone and I just tried to sing something loud and I sounded so bad. I started crying and I sat there in my car and I was like, there’s no way I’m ever going to be able to belt, and I just need to give it up now!” she says.
Not one to give up, Keough persisted, and now says she is “the proudest of our music sequences”.
“We worked really hard to get it right. We rehearsed for months and months as a band,” says the star.
“A few of us had never done music at all before – myself and Sam (Claflin), most specifically.
“So, to go from not being able to play an instrument or sing to being able to function in a band in a way that feels authentic… yeah, I feel most proud of that.”
Claflin plays Billy Dunne, the band-leader who has a complicated relationship with Daisy, while his girlfriend and eventual wife Camila, played by model and actress Camila Morrone, remains the band’s central force as she discovers her own potential while helping Billy follow his dreams.
“I think Daisy and Billy have, just like most love stories, a complicated love story,” says Keough.
“Either they met each other at the wrong time, they were never meant to be together, or they are meant to be together in the future…There are a lot of variables, which makes it interesting.
“And there’s a lot working against them. We meet Billy and he’s in a relationship, and it becomes this really complicated story between Billy, Camila and Daisy.”
Daisy Jones & The Six, streaming on Prime Video
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