The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Long journey to ‘End’ ‘Hunger Games’ alum Sam Claflin has long, emotional bond with World War I story
British actor Sam Claflin pops on the phone from London during what is, at least of late, a typically busy day. ¶ He is on set shooting a thriller called “Corrupted,” a stressful-sounding thriller in which he plays an ex-con trying to keep his brother out of prison. ¶ And then during his hours at home, he’s helping his actress wife, Laura Haddock (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”), take care of their two children, the second of whom is a daughter born very early this year. • “I’m feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders at the moment, in a good way,” he says, in his oh-so-English accent. “It’s just sort of at that point where things have been turned up a notch.”
However, he’s on the phone to promote another venture, World War I drama “Journey’s End,” which debuted last year at the Toronto International Film Festival and slated to be released April 20 in select Northeast Ohio theaters.
The film — which tells a story that takes place over a few tension-filled days in a British bunker in Northern France a short distance from German forces — is based on a 90-year-old play by R. C. Sherriff.
To hear the 31-year-old Claflin tell it, he was destined to be involved with sharing the tale with an audience in some way at some point.
“(It is) a play I saw while I was studying at drama school. I was in my first year or in my second year,” he says. “I quite literally wept in the aisle. A part of me knew that somehow, sometime, somewhere … I would be part of that production in anyway possible.”
In fact, he did perform in it as part of his final year at school, but that wasn’t the end with him and “Journey’s End.”
“The man who approached me to do the film originally approached me to do it on stage, around the time that I started ‘The Hunger Games,’ so things were a little hectic, and I never managed to make it work on stage,” he says.
“But he then approached me a few years later again — ‘We’re going to make a film of this. Would you be interested?’ — and I said yes.”
Claflin portrays Captain Stanhope, a war-weary leader of a unit ordered to stay in a bunker as an inevitable Germain offensive draws nearer by the day — by the hour, even. Stanhope has grown dependent on the bottle, and he can be quite hard on the men. He also depends greatly on his second-in-command, Paul Bettany’s Osborne, who keeps him in check and even cares for him at his most-drunken moments.
Stanhope’s already problematic existence is complicated when Raleigh, a soldier fresh from training, arrives and is put under his command. An acquaintance of Stanhope, Raleigh is the brother of a young woman waiting for Stanhope back home, and the officer does not want her to fully grasp what this time in the war has done to him.
Eventually, however, he will have to execute an order that proves to be more of a challenge than hiding his true self from what he believes to be Raleigh’s very watchful eye.
Other recognizable actors portraying men under Stanhope’s command include Stephen Graham (“Boardwalk Empire,” “Taboo”) and Tobey Jones (“The Hunger Games,” “Atomic Blonde”), whose character has the unenviable task of cooking for the men — and the officers — with ingredients than are far from the freshest or even sometimes unrecognizable.
Claflin says Sherriff’s is a beautiful and characterdriven tale.
“Despite being a war film, it’s not about war,” he says. “It’s about the relationships between men under a very stressful situation, and I think that really appealed to me. It was meaty and emotional and told a side of war I don’t think that’s been shared before.”
The character also can be described as meaty and emotional, to be sure, and a departure for him, at least on the screen.
“As an actor, you can’t help but think that a role like Captain Stanhope is the dream role, really,” Claflin says. “It’s a man who’s not only complex, but he’s a broken hero. He is literally a hero — he has saved countless lives. At the same time, he is sending men to their deaths, and he’s struggling to do that.
“You can’t help but be drawn to a character that has seen what he has seen,” he continues. “And, of course, there’s no way I’ll ever be able to fully relate to something like that, but I think I enjoyed the challenge of trying to get to know a man like that — a man so far detached from who I am as a person.”
Claflin’s portrayal of another character with whom he could not realistically relate was a source of controversy a couple of years ago. In the 2016 romantic tear-jerker “Me Before You,” he plays a man left with paraplegia following a car accident. Much to the chagrin of the caretaker who falls in love with him (Emilia Clarke of “Game of Thrones”), the man decides he would rather end his life than go on living.
That plot concept enraged many in the disabled community.
“That is not at all what I think the movie is about,” he says, after nothing that filming the movie was a challenging but terrific experience. “I think everyone is entitled to their own perception and views on the film, and everyone will think differently. For me, it was about hope and one particular man’s journey — a fictional man, it’s worth noting.
“And in regard to me being non-disabled playing a disabled person — because there was a bit of controversy (with) that — I’m an actor, and I pretend to be things I’m not. I’m not a champion sailor for (the upcoming) ‘Adrift. I’m not a pirate or a priest (‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’). There are a lot of things I’m not.”
It sounds like nothing but good memories from portraying Finnick Odair in the final three of the four “Hunger Games,” at least partially due to having series star Jennifer Lawrence around. (If you ever see largely unguarded Lawrence on a late-night talk show, you get the impression it would be a blast just to be around her.)
“She is who she is, you know?” he says. “There’s no Marilyn Monroe persona put on for the sake of other people. She is just Jennifer Lawrence. I think you can’t help but admire someone like that.”
He also sings the praises of his two main “Journey’s End” co-stars, starting with Bettany, whose memorable film turns including “A Beautiful Mind” and “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.”
“Paul I’ve grown up being a huge admirer of,” he says. “Being able to work with your heroes is always a dream come true.
“He fully owns that role and this story and just made me feel at ease. He made everyone feel at ease. He was the one always first to crack a joke. Just watching him, I was spellbound completely.”
He calls Butterfield (“Hugo,” “Ender’s Game,” “The Space Between Us”) one of the “young talents of our generation” and “the most professional young human being I’ve ever had the honor of working with” who showed up with all his lines learned.
“It was very reflective of our characters across the board,” Claflin says. “You have Paul, who’s very at ease with everything, very in-control and comfortable; me, who’s very up-tight and sensitive and stressed out; and Asa, who’s very eager and very on top of everything and excited.
“Of course, we all got to know each other very well, and it was a very tight-knit group,” he adds. “And you couldn’t have made a film like that if there was one ego in the room, and I think we were very fortunate that wasn’t the case.
Asked if director Saul Bibb (“Bullet Boy”) tried to maintain the feel of the play — “Journey’s End” boasts only a few sets and feels purposely claustrophobic at times — Claflin says that wasn’t the case.
“Truthfully, the director had never seen or read or heard of the play either prior to coming onboard,” he says, “and I think that was actually a positive for him.”
Claflin emphasizes that “Journey’s End” doesn’t have the violence and gore that may keep some from war movies.
“It’s a beautiful take on a war film.”
— Sam Claflin, on the star of “The Hunger Games” franchise, of which he also was a key player “She is who she is, you know?” here’s no Marilyn Monroe persona put on for the sake of other people. She is just Jennifer Lawrence. I think you can’t help but admire someone like that.”