Riley Keough Is Living Her Rock Star Dreams, Thanks to Lisa Marie Presley

Reese Witherspoon has stepped into the world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Her latest project as executive producer is Daisy Jones & the Six, a wild musical drama that details the rise and fall of a fictional ’70s rock band. Adapted from the best-selling 2019 novel of the same name by Taylor Jenkins Reid, the story centers on the titular band—inspired by Stevie Nicks and her time with Fleetwood Mac—and unfolds docudrama-style, with the band’s members discussing their successes, drug-fueled love affairs, betrayal, and heartache.

“I love that the story reads like a VH1 Behind the Music documentary. It feels so real, and so particular in a time and place,” Witherspoon told Vanity Fair at the Amazon Prime Video series’ world premiere in Hollywood on Thursday night. “Anything was possible in that time—the connection between artists was totally different. It’s really beautiful. And the music is bananas! The music really drives the story, and the chemistry between Riley and Sam is just the best.”

That would be Riley Keough—daughter of the late Lisa Marie Presley and the granddaughter of Elvis Presley—and British actor Sam Claflin, best known as Finnick Odair from the Hunger Games franchise. Keough stars as Daisy, the fiery lead singer who has a complicated relationship with her bandmate, Claflin’s Billy Dunne. Considering Keough’s rock-and-roll pedigree, it’s hard to believe that she had no musical experience or training prior to taking this role.

“I don’t consider myself a singer. My previous experience was singing in the shower. That’s pretty much it,” said Keough on the arrivals carpet prior to the screening. “Everyone keeps on asking me if I was born to play this role because of my family, and honestly, I was born to play every role that I’ve played so far. I took this role because I’ve been wanting to sing, since I had never sung before. I worked really hard and put in a lot of hours for a year and a half. It wasn’t an overnight kind of thing.”

Before her sudden death on January 12, Lisa Marie Presley was proud that her daughter had taken on a musical role. “She was so excited. I was worried, and she really supported me,” said Keough. “There were some really challenging songs, and she helped me focus and believe in myself.”

“She’s very quiet and soft-spoken in real life, and she really transformed herself and brought such rock star energy” to the series, said Witherspoon. “She utterly transforms when she gets on the stage. It’s like watching a butterfly emerge from a chrysalis.”

Claflin, who plays the band’s charismatic singer and lead guitarist, also came to the role without much musical experience. He practiced guitar until his fingers bled, he says—though he had a bit of extra time due to COVID delays, which transformed a rigorous five weeks of musical training into a year and a half.

“This was the most daunting role I have ever played. There was so much to take on musically. I had to play the guitar while singing and learning the stage movement. I also had to speak with an American accent, and lose weight—it was all a challenge, honestly,” said Claflin, who based his stage persona on Bruce Springsteen. “There were many moments I thought, What the hell did I get myself into? It’s still very daunting that people will be judging what I did not only actingwise, but vocally as well.”

Previously, Claflin auditioned for the film adaptations of both Les Misérables and Cats—and never got a callback. “It was a disaster, really. I failed miserably,” he said. But Billy Dunne, who struggles with drug addiction and unexpected fatherhood, is a role that he connected with personally.

“I felt like I really understood my character. We went through a lot of the same issues—not through the addiction side, but the struggle of juggling work and family life. His fear of failure is something that I can relate to,” said Claflin, the father of two children. “He’s human, and I just want to make sure that people understand him.”

Executive producer Lauren Neustadter and her executive producer husband, Scott Neustadter, immediately saw Daisy Jones’s adaptive potential.

“I think the women in this show are remarkably multidimensional, and the relationships are so complex. Even though there’s conflict, there’s always conversation, there’s always thoughtfulness and sensitivity,” said Lauren, who is also the head of film and TV at Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company. “I hope viewers will savor the way women treat one another. We often don’t see this on television, and I really hope they love the music.”

The music in the show is original, featuring songwriting contributions from Blake Mills, Phoebe Bridgers, and Marcus Mumford. Each member of the band—the cast includes Suki Waterhouse, Josh Whitehouse, Will Harrison, and Sebastian Chacon—attended a months-long band camp that consisted of one-on-one instruction and group rehearsal. During the pandemic, the actors even practiced performing together over Zoom.

“If you’re a musician and if you had anything to do with instruments, ’70s music had an influence on your life—whether you know it or not,” said Mumford at the premiere. “They made seven-minute songs in the ’70s. It felt less algorithm-based. Getting to access some of that spirit musically and recreating it for modern audiences was really fun.” 

Mumford was also blown away by Claflin and Keough’s singing. “Actually, I was a bit pissed off, because this is my fucking job. They come in with what seems like no experience and absolutely smashed it out of the park. I’m a bit pissed off about it.”