You have to have a for the sea

Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin fight for survival in Adrift, a movie about a couple who sail into one of the worst hurricanes in recorded history. They tell about filming at sea, learning how to handle a boat and their bizarre first meeting

SHAILENE WOODLEY and Sam Claflin had actually once met before they made a movie together – it’s just a shame she has no recollection of it. “Sam loves to point out that we met before and had a beautiful long conversation years and years ago that I don’t remember,” she laughs.

“It’s OK, I’ve forgiven you now,” Sam replies benevolently.

It’s unlikely Shailene, 26, will ever forget him now, after the duo spent weeks together at sea making their new film, Adrift.

They star in the true-life story of couple Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp, who inadvertently sailed directly into one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded histor, on a journey from Tahiti to San Diego.

In the aftermath of the storm, Tami wakes up to find Richard badly injured and their boat in ruins, and she must find the strength to save them both.

“I was so captivated by it,” says Big Little Lies star Shailene, “by who Tami is and the love story.

“I really felt the energy of the divine soulmate connection between Tami and her fiancé.”

But her path to the role was not entirely a smooth one. She didn’t immediately sign on for the film because she was under arrest for participating in a protest at the Dakota Access Pipeline when it was sent to her.

“I got the script via email the day I was arrested and it got lost in my inbox.

“Then, a month later, my agents called me and asked me if I’d read it, and that’s when I realised I had completely missed it!”

Having grown up on the water, the role felt perfect for the California native, but it still pushed her to her limits.

“I grew up a lot on lakes, so am very comfortable in the water, but lakes are obviously very different than the ocean.

“When I was 18, I moved to Hawaii, so that was my introduction to the ocean, and it is just a different beast. You have to have a respect for the sea because you can go from having fun to being in a very dangerous situation within a matter of seconds.

“I think this movie just affirmed that respect and that constant awareness of watching the ocean and listening to the little message that tell you maybe it’s time to vacate.”

The first time British star Sam, now 32, and Shailene met, they were taking part in a photoshoot.

Shailene had just finished making The Descendants, her breakout film from 2011 starring George Clooney, while Sam was filming the second Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire.

“I had literally just broken my finger on the film set on the Friday,” he recalls. “Then I had to fly to LA to do this photoshoot and they put me in a plaster cast.

“I had just watched The Descendants, so we were initially talking about that and I think that is how we initiated the conversation.

“It was a photoshoot with about 150 young actors, all the rising stars of whatever, and I remember we were in this house and there were loads of dead animals all over the wall and we were talking about how tacky it was.

“There was a baby giraffe that was stuffed in the corner of this room and elephants and we were just talking and that.”

Somehow this still doesn’t ring a bell for Shailene.

“I haven’t forgiven myself for forgetting,” she says remorsefully.

“Mostly because I’m jealous that you have a memory that I don’t have.”

Fortunately, they hit if off straight away when they rehearsed together for two weeks in Fiji before they started filming.

“We immediately felt a fondness for each other,” Shailene says. “We really clicked.

“It was great to get to know him outside the work environment, to go over the script and he is hands down, the hardest-working, most generous, compassionate, kind, loving, enthusiastic, beautiful individual that I have ever worked with, male or female.

“The elements that we were working in were not easy, shooting on a boat in open water for 14 hours. Never once did he complain. Never once did that man get tired.

“Not only is he incredibly professional, but so creative and so fun to be around.”

Putting them through their gruelling paces was Icelandic director and keen outdoorsman Baltasar Kormakur, who has helmed films including Everest and The Deep.

The team filmed for 49 days, most of it out on the open water in Fiji,