Picture this: it’s October 4th, 1977, and you are watching the biggest band in the world perform a sold out show at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Without even knowing it, this is the last time you will ever see them perform together.
The band in question is Daisy Jones & The Six and they are coming to screens worldwide. Based on the best-selling historical fiction novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six tells the story of the rise and fall of one of the most famous bands in the world in the 1970s. Nobody knew why the band broke up, until 20 years later, when members of the band sat down with an interviewer to speak up about what happened. The show is told in mockumentary format with the band 20 years later talking about their story, and the events that occurred are shown through various flashbacks throughout the episodes.
On February 27th, I had the pleasure of attending an early screening of the first two episodes at the 92nd Street Y, followed by a Q&A with the cast and creative team afterwards. Daisy Jones & The Six is one of my favorite books of all time, so seeing it come to life right in front of me was surreal. I can safely say that fans of the book will be very satisfied with how it was adapted to televison. There are minor changes from the book, but they either add more to the story or don’t really affect anything at all.
The first two minutes of episode one starts off with the band 20 years later settling down to give their interviews. They are all in separate places, and there are a variety of emotions on all of the band members' faces. While half of the band looks anxious and distressed, the other half of the band seem excited to finally be able to say what happened. Before the band formed into Daisy Jones & The Six, Daisy was working as a solo artist, and the rest of the five band members had a band that was called The Six. After the band settles into their seats to give their interviews, episode one begins with the backstories of Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne, the lead singer of The Six before Daisy comes along to join him as a lead singer. Daisy’s backstory is just as heartbreaking in the show as it is in the book. At 15 years old, Daisy was sneaking into rock shows on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, where she fell in love with music. Unfortunately, she got mixed in with the wrong crowd and became addicted to drugs. At the same time we are learning about Daisy’s introduction into the music industry, we are also learning about Billy’s. Billy has been playing guitar for as long as he can remember, but he had no real interest being in a band. It wasn’t until his brother, Graham, formed a band and asked Billy to play with them that he got serious about music. Episode one was just an introduction to the characters, and how Daisy and Billy got into their music careers, but nevertheless, it was a very strong start to the series that still held the essence and heart of the book. It just made me more excited as a fan of the book to know how Daisy and Billy meeting in a future episode will eventually change everything.
The main cast of Daisy Jones & The Six consists of Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Camila Morrone, Suki Waterhouse, Will Harrison, Joshua Whitehouse, Sebastian Chacon, Nabiyah Be, Tom Wright, and Timothy Olyphant. All of them except for Tom and Timothy were at the 92NY screening, as well as executive producers Scott Neustadter, Lauren Neustadter, and Will Graham. The whole cast was ridiculously charming, and it was very obvious that they are all really close friends. It was so entertaining hearing them talk about what it was like filming the show and how they got casted as their respective characters.
They told several stories of what it was like auditioning for the show, and how they had to go to band camp for three months before filming to solidify them being a band. Sam and Riley, who play Billy and Daisy respectively, kept insisting they were terrible singers when they first started rehearsals, but the executive producers argued that they were always incredible singers and they were cast for a reason. The Q&A was such a fun experience. As an actor myself, it was inspiring hearing about how much hard work was put into this show.
Daisy Jones & The Six premieres this Friday, March 3rd, on Prime Video. The first three episodes premiere this Friday, followed by the next three episodes airing on March 10th, the next two episodes air on March 17th, and the final two episodes will be out March 24th. Aurora, the album that Daisy Jones & The Six create in the show, will be out on Amazon Prime Video on March 3rd.
Written by Emily Savona
Screening Photo from Emily Savona