Sam Claflin became a globally renowned name with films like Pirates Of The Carribean: On Stranger Tides (2011), Me Before You (2016) and The Hunger Games series. As he gears up for the release of his mystery thriller series Lazarus, the British actor talks about the impact of this global fandom.
“I don’t think about it too much because that puts more pressure on things. I have a tendency to put everything into the world that’s in front of me on my mind. I feel lucky that there are people that watch the things that I’ve done. I try my best to sort of honour them as much as myself, but I feel the best way of honouring them is by honouring myself,” he says, adding, “I don’t want to harbour the responsibility of making other people happy anymore, but equally, I’m so grateful for everyone who’s got me to where I am and supported me through some really rough years. The better years are yet to come and I feel really lucky to be in this position.”
Watch the full video interview with Sam Claflin here:
Sharing his experience of working with legends like actor Bill Nighy and author-creator Harlan Coben, Sam Claflin calls it a “dream come true”. He adds, “I’ve been fortunate enough to have actually worked with Bill before, but we didn’t have many scenes together. So, having the opportunity to really go head-to-head with him during filming this was like a gift for an actor. He’s a very generous, giving and also a challenging actor to work with in a way that he just pushes you. He really forced me to be professional. As for Harlan, he is obviously an incredibly gifted writer. I’ve been a huge fan of the books and the adaptations that he has previously done. So it was a real no-brainer for me to get involved with this.”
His character Joel Lazarus goes through some intense situations in the series, and Sam admits that it did take a toll on him: “I had my own mini breakdown after filming. Without realizing it, the weight of the mental strain of playing Joe Lazarus, I did sort of carry over into my own life. I was just physically, emotionally and mentally tortured through the process of filming, but not in a bad way. I was also coming off the back of shooting something else, which again was very demanding. So, I put everything into it, everything that I had left in the tank anyway. It was an incredibly demanding and challenging role, but one that I was so eager to do and to do well. I was fortunately blessed with an incredible support network of great actors, filmmakers, and producers. I felt looked after but it definitely broke me in a great way.”
Glad about the love he receives from his Indian fans, Sam shares he hopes to visit the country soon. “I’ve never been to India and it’s on my list of places I’ve always been desperate to go. As an actor, I’ve been so blessed and fortunate to visit a few different places. And my hope is that India is going to be on that list one day and that there’s a project that will take me out there. But if not, I definitely have to go because I even have a friend who lives in Goa. So it’s on the list,” he ends.
