Sam Claflin The star of new true-life drama Adrift tells Janice Butler about choosing the right roles and his Irish connections
As his new movie Adrift hits screens, Sam Claflin talks to Janice Butler about avoiding the heart- throb label, losing two stone for his new role and what he learned before he was 30
Sam Cla in’s rise to screen idol has been an interesting one. Initially he seemed in danger of being pigeon-holed as a ‘heart-throb’ category, but that was before he took a step back from his career a few years ago and changed direction. Just six months a er leaving drama school, Sam, originally from Norwich, was cast in the franchises Pirates of the Caribbean, Snow White and the Huntsman and then e Hunger Games. While that may read like a dream to many young actors, for Sam, who is now starring in the true-life drama Adri opposite Shailene Woodley, it was too much, too soon.
“When I look at the early parts of my career like the Pirates, Snow White and Hunger Games, in all honesty I don’t think I was ready for them, mentally”, he says.
“I thought I was at the time, but I was a rabbit in the headlights, I hit the ground running and actually spent most of the time on those experiences playing catch up. I hadn’t worked out what kind of actor I wanted to be and I wasn’t feeling very creative or ful lled with those roles. So I took a step away and actively chose to focus on more intricate character pieces that challenged me as an actor and I think that’s what I’ve done. So for me now, I enjoy my work a lot more, I enjoy my life more and the process of lm-making; it’s not just about the acting, it’s about the whole thing.”
For someone who has rubbed shoulders with the elite of Hollywood, Cla in, 31, is very grounded, preferring to spend time with his family at home in west London (wife Laura Haddock and two children) ,watching football rather than attending glitzy parties. He had dreams of playing football professionally as a child but an injury put an end to that and now he’s getting his x through the World Cup. “I’ve been watching as much of the football as I can with two kids – cartoons tend to be on the television a lot in our house,” he says, adding, “I’m not under any illusions about the English team.”
In recent years, he’s been a bit of a chameleon on screen, going from a First World War soldier in Journey’s End, to a paralysed banker wishing to end his life in Me Before You and now Richard Sharp in Adri . is lm is based on the true story of Tami Oldham (played by Shailene Woodley), who in 1983, attempted to sail from Tahiti to San Diego with her ancé, Richard. Less than three weeks into their journey, the couple ended up in the path of a hurricane and found themselves ghting for their lives. e fact that it was a true story made the role all the more compelling for Sam: “ e other big draw was that Balthazar [Kormákur, director] was involved and talking to him and hearing about his obsession with authenticity and making this movie as real as possible. I knew we would be feeling it for real and I would be pushed to my limits.”
e movie indeed proved to be a challenge both physically and emotionally, with Sam and Shailene having to learn to sail in ten days while shooting in Fiji. ey both shed a lot of weight for even more authenticity.
“I had come o a job on e Nightingale where I had put on two and a half stone, so I had been eating and drinking what I wanted,” he laughs.
“But the morning I arrived in Fiji, the director told me pretty much that I was fat and the weight had to go. So I was on a diet the second I was there and I lost over two stone over three months. Shailene and I found comfort in one another with our strict diet – there was a lot of talk about cake and things we couldn’t eat. But in all honesty, we were in Fiji on a boat – there’s worse places you could be!”
e real Tami came and met them in Fiji and Sam admits that having her there added an extra pressure to do her memories of Richard justice. “When we met her rst, we were having lunch and I was telling a joke or a story and she started welling up and someone said later that it was because she couldn’t believe how similar I was to Richard in my mannerisms and gestures. at was really powerful.”
Next up for Sam is a project called e Corrupted with Irish actor, Charlie Murphy [ Love/Hate, Happy Valley], which he says is another departure for him. “I’m really excited about that. It’s a very small English thriller. I play a working-class boxer that comes out of prison and it’s a side of me people haven’t seen before. I keep getting roles with posh accents, which I de nitely wasn’t brought up with.” He also has a friend’s stag party in Dublin and a possible job here soon. “I apologise in advance to the people of Dublin, for the stag, that is.”