Interview: Riley Keough reflects on ‘Daisy Jones and the Six,’ putting in the work and winning the Caméra d’Or on her birthday

Much like her character Daisy Jones, Riley Keough is not the muse; she’s the somebody.

The Amazon television series Daisy Jones and the Six transported us back to Los Angeles in the 1970s to follow the fictional titular band as they traversed the music industry until their mysterious breakup at the height of their fame. The show also touches on issues of addiction and relationships falling apart and together. Adapted from the novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, who was inspired by Fleetwood Mac and the breakup of the band The Civil Wars, the series not only has great performances from Keough, Sam Claflin, Suki Waterhouse, and more but also features amazing original music written for the band. 

Riley Keough might come from a famous family, but she has more than proved her talent is genuine. She debuted in the musical biopic The Runaways and followed it up with roles in The Good Doctor, Magic Mike, and Mad Max: Fury Road. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in The Girlfriend Experience and also starred in films ranging from Logan Lucky to The Lodge. Most recently, she was seen in Zola, The Devil All the Time, and The Terminal List. Her directorial debut War Pony (which she co-directed with friend Gina Gammell) will be released in theaters this summer.

I spoke with Riley Keough about learning to sing and play music for the role of Daisy Jones, how it feels to have a vinyl album out in the world, and what it was like to win the Caméra d’Or for War Pony in the middle of filming.

Nicole Ackman: Thank you so much for chatting with me today. 

Riley Keough: Thank you for chatting with me.

NA: What was the deciding factor that made you want to take on the role of Daisy Jones?

RK: There wasn’t really one thing; it was that it sounded really fun. It was like the ’70s, playing a rock star, getting to be in Los Angeles in 1976. It’s kind of my dream life. It also was really entertaining, and I felt the need at the time to just do something that felt really entertaining and not heavy.

I’ve done a lot of very intense, heavy work, and I felt like I needed to have an experience that was joyful and fun. It just honestly sounded like a really fun and really challenging time. Because I’d never sung before, so I was also like, “This is crazy. If I can pull this off, I can do anything.” Because I wasn’t a singer.

NA: Well, I think you had everyone fooled. What was the process of prepping to play Daisy like?

RK: The singing process was really challenging. It was many, many months of sitting in music school, basically from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, and it was very hard work. I think that was really gratifying for me because I like working really hard and giving myself challenges that I’m not sure are attainable.

It was actually very tough for all of us, especially Sam [Claflin] and me, who had virtually no experience in music. I’d been in the world because of my family [Keough is Elvis’s granddaughter], but I’ve never picked up a guitar in my life. I actually had to learn all of the songs on guitar, but they never showed me playing any of them… or I didn’t end up having to play any of them. But I learned pretty much the whole record.

I play one song in the show, but in band camp, I learned pretty much every Daisy Jones song. We did guitar and singing and piano and band practice. I think for me the most enjoyable part was recording the record because it was just something I’d never done. I mean, I’d never done any of this before, but it was very cool to see. It was just an experience I never thought I would have. I never thought I would record a record. Especially being from a musical family, it’s something I’d thought about and thought I would never do. 

Learning to play live was really fun because we got to see how far we were able to come. It was also really exhausting and tiring and discouraging, and learning a skill set when you’re 30, which I’m sure a lot of people in COVID actually tried as well, is really frustrating. Because the stakes were a little bit high in the sense that if we were going to sing everything ourselves and have no help or no stunt vocalists, then we had to be able to sing. Not just carry a tune but feel like we’re leading, fronting a big band.

To me, I was like, “We have to be able to really do this and at least perform live for real together.” You know what I mean? There were days when I would finish rehearsal and sit in my car and cry or not be able to get a song right, or my fingers literally couldn’t do it, or it was too hard, or I didn’t understand. It was actually really challenging but so gratifying because we got to come so far.

At the beginning of the show, I couldn’t play anything. And then, by the end, we could play a full set live and sounded decent. It was a really crazy experience to be put into this fake band and extensive rehearsal for a year. 

NA: I think that one of the most impressive things is not only obviously did you learn to do all this music but how cohesive you all seem as a band that’s spent time together. How did you all go in about making sure that you had the right dynamic as a band to feel believable?

RK: Well, I think that that was just a natural progression because we were in band rehearsal every day for months and months and months and knew each other for a year before we started filming. And we’re actually playing music together, having lunch together, and rehearsing together for months, so that dynamic just was there. I think that was partially why they wanted us to go into rehearsal so that we could have this dynamic and learn to play together for real. So we were given that environment to rehearse in, and we were able to hang out and build relationships that way. I think that we got very close before we ever started shooting, and I think that only always helps the onscreen kind of chemistry too.

NA: Absolutely. And if you could perform one of these songs again, is there one in particular that you’d like to get to do again?

RK: I don’t really have one favorite song to perform. Maybe “Kill You to Try.” For some reason, it’s fun live. I mean, probably a song that the whole band’s playing in, so we’re all together. So, “Look at Us Now” or “The River” or “Aurora” or “Let Me Down Easy.” Those are songs we all play on and not something where it’s just me or just me and a guitar because it’s fun being together.

NA: As you said, one of the cool things about Daisy Jones is how it recreates this world of the 1970s with the sets and the costumes. Do you have a favorite outfit or piece that you got to wear in the show? 

RK: I had a really good time on this show in terms of costumes and how much they allowed me to collaborate. Denise [Wingate] did the costume design, and every look was really thought out. We discussed so much, and I would go in and go through the racks, and we did so many fittings. I swear to God, we fit every day.

I just loved how much she included me. We’d kind of pick what she wears in every episode and why she’s wearing it, and what color she’s wearing at that point in her story. In the beginning, it was sort of pastels and light, younger colors and sweeter colors and more sort of flowy stuff. Then as she gets a little bit older, it turns into this different palette. It’s more like oranges and reds and a little more fiery.

Episode seven is in Greece, so that’s very flowy, but eight, nine, and ten is more blacks and golds. The whole journey with Denise, our costume designer, was so much fun for me because she really included me, and we would really collaborate and come up with this whole story with her clothing and her character together. Actually, most of the pieces I feel connected to because I had a small part in them somehow.

NA: That’s amazing. Would you be interested in portraying another musician after Daisy Jones?

RK: I would certainly do it again. I really enjoy music. I would do a role where I had to sing again or some kind of musical. I would definitely be open to that for sure.

NA: I was going to ask, as a theater person myself, would you be interested in doing a movie musical? And if so, do you have a role that you’d like to play?

RK: Any good role. I think it’s more about the role and the writing and the director than the type of music for me. I would do any kind of music if I felt connected to the material. Whether that’s musical theater or a rock show, a band show or a pop movie. I think it’s really character and director-driven for me.

NA: Daisy Jones is based on the book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. When you read it the first time, what was your reaction? It’s a novel that I feel like a lot of people have really loved, and it’s quite a different format than people are used to seeing.

RK: I’d never read anything like it before, in an interview style like that. It’s so quick too, because of the way it’s written that you’re done with it so fast. Also, it really lends itself nicely to becoming a podcast and a show. It’s very adaptable because of the format. The book was an incredible read, but also the audiobook was great, and the show and the scripts were great. So, it was just a very smart way, a clever way, that she wrote that book, I think. And it feels super intimate, like you’re reading an interview in a Rolling Stone Magazine or something. 

NA: When I read it, I felt like I kept forgetting that it wasn’t about a real band. And now, with having the show and the album and everything, it feels even more like I sometimes am like, “Oh right, it is fictional.”

RK: It is fictional, but we are a real band now. I mean, I don’t know how good we sound right in this moment, but one at one point we sounded very good.

NA: Do you have the album on vinyl or anything? What’s it feel like to have that out in the world?

RK: I actually don’t have the album on vinyl. Personally, I want one. I don’t know where to get it. I’m probably just going to have to buy it online. But it’s very crazy to have the album out in the world, and just to have an album in general and to have people come up to me and say, “I’m listening to your record,” is very strange for all of us, I think, other than Suki [Waterhouse] and Josh [Whitehouse] who are actual musicians. But for me and Sam, it’s been very crazy.

NA: I know that War Pony is coming out later this year. What’s it like to finally have that coming out to audiences? 

RK: I mean, that’s such a special project to me. We obviously showed it at Cannes last year, and the whole thing was very surreal. It happened while we were shooting Daisy Jones. We got into Cannes, and I was about to go to Greece to shoot episode seven, and then Cannes happened to be happening at the same time as the Greece episode. So, I was very close to Cannes, so I was able to go.

NA: That’s awesome.

RK: Then I landed back in Greece to shoot the wedding scene with Nicky. And it was my birthday that night, and then I found out we won the Caméra d’Or.

NA: Oh my god.

RK: It was like the craziest night. Yeah, it was my birthday, it was 12:00, and I was watching the live stream on the beach because I couldn’t be there because I was filming, but my co-director was over there, and we won the Caméra d’Or. So, it was a very surreal experience, and I felt like I was dreaming a little bit. But it’s coming out, and I am very honored that people are even putting it out. I’m just very thankful and grateful for that.

NA: I can’t wait to see it. Do you feel like having that experience as a director has influenced your acting at all, going from one position to another?

RK: No, it hasn’t influenced my acting, but it’s influenced my respect for the AD department and directors and scheduling and budgets and all these things that I didn’t have to deal with day-to-day. And just the amount of work that actors don’t always get to see from the crew. We do see the crew working so hard, but I think when you’re directing, you get to see it inside a little bit more of the operations. My respect just went up for all departments. 

NA: And is that something that you’d like to do again? Are you sort of wanting to do that double path of doing the directing and the acting?

RK: I mean, that was my goal, but I can’t write unless I’m feeling inspired. I’m not somebody that can sit down and force myself to write. I am writing a film at the moment, our second film, we’re trying to write, but I’m not moving quickly on it, and I’m not really pressuring myself to. But yes, eventually we will make another film.

NA: Exciting! I wanted to end by asking, you were working on Daisy Jones for a long time with band camp and then the actual filming of everything. What is the thing that you miss the most from playing the character of Daisy Jones?

RK: I think my castmates and just going to work every day knowing that everybody was going to be in a good mood and it was going to be fun and exciting and getting to live in that world and be challenged every day.

It was really hard work, and I miss that. The schedule was kind of brutal at moments, and having to perform was really hard and rigorous for me. The performance stuff was really challenging, but I miss that aspect of every day at work, feeling like it was going to be a little bit challenging. And the crew and the environment were just very fun and joyful.

NA: That’s so great to hear. Well, thank you so much; I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me.

RK: Thank you. Thanks so much.

Daisy Jones and the Six is currently available to stream on Prime Video. Riley Keough is Emmy eligible in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.