Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, I'm Katie Curic here to share a bonus
Speaker 1: episode of Next Question, Like a Lot of You. I
Speaker 1: first came to know Daisy Edgar Jones when she played
Speaker 1: Mary Anne and the hit BBC adaptation of the Sadly
Speaker 1: Rooney novel Normal People. You look really well. I know.
Speaker 1: It's classic Me came to college and got pretty. You're
Speaker 1: always pretty, very pretty. The series was released in the
Speaker 1: early days of the pandemic, and for a moment, it
Speaker 1: seemed like everyone was watching and talking about Daisy. That
Speaker 1: role earned her a Golden Globe nomination, and she's been
Speaker 1: working non stop ever since. Already this year, she's appeared
Speaker 1: in the f X mini series under the banner of
Speaker 1: Heaven with Andrew Garfield I'm Going to Put an End
Speaker 1: to This Wickedness it Is, and the black comedy thriller
Speaker 1: Fresh opposite Sebastian Stand What's going on? Step, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell you what You're going to freak out. Her most
Speaker 1: recent project is another adaptation. She plays Kaya Clark a
Speaker 1: k A. The marsh Girl in the film version of
Speaker 1: Delia Owens mega bestselling novel where the Crawdads sing your girlfriend,
Speaker 1: Now do you want to be Annam Feathers, but the
Speaker 1: other girls don't know Feathers. All right there. We talked
Speaker 1: about how she prepared for that role, but also about
Speaker 1: her life growing up in London as an only child,
Speaker 1: her acting debut as a very feisty seven year old
Speaker 1: Am Boleyn, and what she's planning next. So enjoy everyone, Daisy,
Speaker 1: I am so excited to meet you. First of all,
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed with you. I loved you in Normal People,
Speaker 1: I loved you in Under the Banner of Heaven and
Speaker 1: now where the Crawdads sing, I loved you, And that
Speaker 1: is well, you are having a moment, to say the least.
Speaker 1: How is it feeling right now too? Honestly, have so
Speaker 1: many exciting roles and to be so in demand. Oh
Speaker 1: that's so kind. First of all, thank you. I think
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, I feel so luckier. You know, I've
Speaker 1: been acting now since I was about seventeen, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's like to be able to play some of the
Speaker 1: roles I've played is like such a dream come true.
Speaker 1: And to work with the people I've been able to
Speaker 1: work with, like, I don't know, I still I still
Speaker 1: can't really believe I'm I'm I'm able to do that.
Speaker 1: So I just feel very very lucky. Really. So I
Speaker 1: know that your parents are both or were in the business.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if they still are. But tell us
Speaker 1: how you caught the acting bug in the first place, Daisy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I you know, my mom, my mom, before I
Speaker 1: was born, was a film editor and then for many
Speaker 1: years and so and then she she stopped to bring
Speaker 1: me up. Um And my dad, yeah, he does work
Speaker 1: in TV. He's slightly different, um uh, sort of realm.
Speaker 1: But I guess I definitely grew up in a nati
Speaker 1: family who also knew what it was to be self employed,
Speaker 1: which I think is the scariest part of an actor really.
Speaker 1: But for me, like I, you know, I joined the
Speaker 1: show a company called the National Youth Theater when I
Speaker 1: was fifteen, because before that I had no idea sort
Speaker 1: of how you became an actor. I didn't know what
Speaker 1: an agent was, I didn't really know about drama school
Speaker 1: or any of those things. Um, And I was really
Speaker 1: lucky I got into that company and I had an
Speaker 1: open casting. They did these open castings for a for
Speaker 1: a film called The Little Moment. They were going to
Speaker 1: do a live action version of the Little Mermaid, which
Speaker 1: never ended up happening, but the auditioned for that, and
Speaker 1: the woman who who cast was casting it knew my
Speaker 1: agent was looking for somebody my age, and I met
Speaker 1: with Chris, who I've now been with a very long time,
Speaker 1: and really then I got to start auditioning. So it's
Speaker 1: just really lucky that I went to that audition. You
Speaker 1: also played Ample in when you were seven years old
Speaker 1: and the school play. At that moment, did you think
Speaker 1: I'm pretty good at this? I'd like to pursue it.
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed that. Yeah, we were doing so we
Speaker 1: were learning about King Henry the Eighth and all his vibes,
Speaker 1: and we were doing a sort of chat show where
Speaker 1: Henry the Eighth was on and all of his wives
Speaker 1: came on to burate him. And I played Amblen, who
Speaker 1: was one of the most pissed off because she had
Speaker 1: her head chopped off. And I was always quite like
Speaker 1: quiet and quite like a good girl, I guess, and
Speaker 1: it was really fun to come in and be like
Speaker 1: really angry and sassy, and I think I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is fun. I can get away with saying things
Speaker 1: I can't get away with saying as myself. So I
Speaker 1: think that's when I sort of caught the bug and
Speaker 1: I and I really, I really loved it. You are
Speaker 1: an only child, You spent a lot of time when
Speaker 1: you were growing up alone. Do you think that's somehow
Speaker 1: fed into your imagination and creativity and desire to be
Speaker 1: in the arts. I think you definitely probably had a
Speaker 1: real effect. And I think also, you know, as an
Speaker 1: only child, I because I did spend a lot of
Speaker 1: time on my own, I also spent a lot of
Speaker 1: time trying to make friends. Because you know, if I
Speaker 1: was on HO a day and those two siblings playing,
Speaker 1: I would, you know, have to ask to join in.
Speaker 1: And and I think, I I love I love that
Speaker 1: aspect of what I do is that you get to
Speaker 1: meet such a multitude of people and and you know
Speaker 1: and play with them basically and create with them. And
Speaker 1: so I think, um, perhaps that kind of helped me
Speaker 1: in you know, being more able to make friends quite quickly.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, I guess I would spend a lot
Speaker 1: of time, you know, imagining these worlds which we all
Speaker 1: do as children, and you know, I feel lucky as
Speaker 1: an adult that I get to kind of continue doing that.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about your latest role in as Kaya and
Speaker 1: Where the craw Dads saying, how did you get involved
Speaker 1: in this project? And of course this film is going
Speaker 1: to be so highly anticipated because it was such a
Speaker 1: hugely popular book by Delia Owens. Yeah, so I I UM.
Speaker 1: I got the audition through UM I think the summer
Speaker 1: of and and I met with Livy who directed it
Speaker 1: and UM and we spoke about Kaya and the part.
Speaker 1: And then I got the book and I read it
Speaker 1: in like two days, and so I was I really
Speaker 1: read it, you know, imagining how I would go about
Speaker 1: bringing KaiA to life, and I I just really found her,
Speaker 1: which I think everyone did a very enigmatic character in
Speaker 1: UM and I really wanted to be, you know, to
Speaker 1: get that part. So so then I auditioned over Zoom,
Speaker 1: which was a strange experience. I've never auditioned over Zoom before.
Speaker 1: UM And yeah, and and then I got the part.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of wild. Why do you think, and
Speaker 1: I can't wait to hear how you prepare for the role,
Speaker 1: because obviously Kaya has a southern accent, is the swamp girl,
Speaker 1: et cetera. But why do you think this book captivated
Speaker 1: so many people? What about this story? Do you think
Speaker 1: Daisy made people just gravitate towards it? Yes, well, I
Speaker 1: think I think, you know, I think the story is
Speaker 1: is although you know, the the circumstance that KaiA finds
Speaker 1: herself under is quite unique. I guess, you know, she's
Speaker 1: abandoned in this marsh and she she she survives and
Speaker 1: grows up alone. There's so many aspects of her as
Speaker 1: a character that I think are incredibly relatable. She's a
Speaker 1: very resilient person. And I think we as humans are
Speaker 1: incredibly resilient. You know. We we suffer a lot of
Speaker 1: knocks through our life and we get back up again
Speaker 1: and we keep going. And I think that aspect of
Speaker 1: kai is one that I think we all see in ourselves.
Speaker 1: And also sort of the way that the environment is
Speaker 1: depicted in the Nature is so sort of all encompassing
Speaker 1: that you almost lose yourself in the book when you're
Speaker 1: reading it. It feels like you are in that environment.
Speaker 1: It's painted so vividly. And and then also this sort
Speaker 1: of murder mystery aspect of it means that there's always
Speaker 1: it's very you know, page turn and you can't really
Speaker 1: put it down. And so yeah, I think there's something
Speaker 1: in it for everyone. Really, there's love, there's there's loss,
Speaker 1: there's nature, there's there's sort of intrigue and mystery, so
Speaker 1: you know, there's just there's something for everyone. Really, we'll
Speaker 1: have more with Daisy after the break. Were you worried
Speaker 1: at all or intimidated at the prospect of taking on
Speaker 1: a role that was, you know, grew and people's imaginations.
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes when a book is so loved and
Speaker 1: it becomes so personal to each and every reader, it's
Speaker 1: hard to take on that that role. Um did that
Speaker 1: weigh on you at all? I think there's definitely a
Speaker 1: sense of responsibility and a sort of slight pressure when
Speaker 1: you know that the character has already been realized in
Speaker 1: so many people's minds, and you know, it's the second
Speaker 1: time I've taken on a literary character. And you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't feel that way when I did Normal People.
Speaker 1: But at the time I had no reference for the
Speaker 1: shows that are being watched in a wide way because
Speaker 1: I've never been in anything that was watched in a
Speaker 1: wide way, so I sort of didn't really know what
Speaker 1: that felt like. So definitely there was a pressure. But
Speaker 1: I think what's what's the magical thing is with filmmaker.
Speaker 1: It takes so many people's imagination to bring to life something,
Speaker 1: So you know, the performance is only a tiny aspect
Speaker 1: of It's also the edit and the music and the
Speaker 1: costume in the set, and it takes all of these
Speaker 1: people to kind of come together and and and have
Speaker 1: a sort of symbiotic realization of a of a of
Speaker 1: a book. And I think I think that's what's really fun,
Speaker 1: is leaning into enjoying being part of the creative team
Speaker 1: and you're all in it together and you can only
Speaker 1: do your best. You know, let me ask you about
Speaker 1: becoming Kaya, because obviously you were born and raised in London.
Speaker 1: How did you perfect this southern accent of Kaya's and
Speaker 1: you would never guess that you were, uh from London
Speaker 1: born and bread? Yeah, London. Well, I tend to work
Speaker 1: in accents. I I think I feel more comfortable acting
Speaker 1: and in accents because I think it's sort of access
Speaker 1: as a whole different type of physicality or characterization that
Speaker 1: you might necessary might not necessarily found. So you know,
Speaker 1: with that accent, it's so miracle and it's so gentle
Speaker 1: and and musical. I think that it really helped me
Speaker 1: to capture that kind of essence of kaya, it wouldn't
Speaker 1: have worked in my accent, which is naturally quite like
Speaker 1: self conscious and a bit awkward. I think, I think,
Speaker 1: you know. I work with an accent coach called Francie,
Speaker 1: and I'd worked with her on a film called Fresh
Speaker 1: the previous month, so it was great because for Fresh,
Speaker 1: I worked with her just before we started filming on Zoom,
Speaker 1: whereas with this I got to actually have her on
Speaker 1: set and she was great, so she would run in
Speaker 1: and say, we'll just tweet this will change this. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I find, you know, the more if I can just
Speaker 1: sort of listen and listen and listen, listen, soon I'll
Speaker 1: be able to kind of tune into the sound of it.
Speaker 1: But I grew up in a house full of accents,
Speaker 1: so I have a bit of an advantage there. How
Speaker 1: So your parents are yes, and my mom is Northern Irish,
Speaker 1: my dad's Scottish so and I'm from London, um, so
Speaker 1: there was definitely different, different sort of tuning and voices
Speaker 1: to listen to and and kind of get an ear
Speaker 1: for it. For I was gonna say, you must have
Speaker 1: an ear for accents, given the fact that you grew
Speaker 1: up in this sort of multicultural home, if you will.
Speaker 1: And what about actually shooting uh in the marsh of
Speaker 1: Louisiana a k a. North Carolina. What was that experience
Speaker 1: like because it looked very marshy, daisy it was very
Speaker 1: mr I have to say, it's funny when you when
Speaker 1: you watch the film, you can't also feel the intense
Speaker 1: humidity in the mosquito bites. But but no, it was.
Speaker 1: I wondered about that, I really did. I was like,
Speaker 1: I wonder four daisies being eaten alive by mosquitoes right now?
Speaker 1: Because I'm from I'm from Virginia and I spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time in the South in the summer um.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure when you filmed this, but I thought, oh,
Speaker 1: this must not be really a lot of fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no it was. We luckily we were marched till June, lie,
Speaker 1: so it wasn't. We were just before the like intense humidity,
Speaker 1: but getting there sweaty and definitely mosquitoes like larger miscues
Speaker 1: than I've ever seen. They were huge. But no, it was.
Speaker 1: It was a wonderful place to film, and you know,
Speaker 1: obviously it was. It was sort of we were in
Speaker 1: so the biou of Louisiana and it was kind of
Speaker 1: um it was you know, um moding for North Carolina,
Speaker 1: and it was really helpful to film in that environment
Speaker 1: because it really you could not ignore the nature and
Speaker 1: like it was everywhere you looked there was egrets and
Speaker 1: alligators and dragonflies and crazy thunder lightning and it was
Speaker 1: it was a beautiful place and it really helped me,
Speaker 1: I think, to get into Kaya's kind of head. Really
Speaker 1: it almost felt primordial, you know in a way to
Speaker 1: see the moss and and sort of the water and
Speaker 1: you could almost feel that the humidity when you were
Speaker 1: watching it. But also the beauty issue said with the
Speaker 1: beautiful birds and wildlife, and I read that you did
Speaker 1: did your own stunts and you even jumped into some
Speaker 1: alligator infested waters. Really, yes, although I don't think at
Speaker 1: the time I knew how alligator invested they were, which
Speaker 1: I think was a good thing. I think had I known,
Speaker 1: I always felt very safe and looked after. And we
Speaker 1: had people there, we had like wildlife experts who you know,
Speaker 1: made sure we were safe. But yes, there was there
Speaker 1: was alligators everywhere you looked, um, which I yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I'd be able to do that now actually,
Speaker 1: but at the time I was like, yeah, I be fine, Sure,
Speaker 1: I'll be fine. But and it was so you know,
Speaker 1: And what about the stunts. Were any of those particularly memorable? Well?
Speaker 1: I remember we had because you know, I had a
Speaker 1: lot of diving. There was one scene where at the
Speaker 1: start where Car is being chased, um and um. So
Speaker 1: it was a scene on the boat where had to
Speaker 1: go really fast around a cordiner and like more up
Speaker 1: and then leap out and run and it was like,
Speaker 1: you know, quite trucky because it was like I had
Speaker 1: to get through a goal post sort of of trees,
Speaker 1: um at a really sharp angle, and you know I
Speaker 1: was going quite quite you know, quite fast. So that
Speaker 1: was probably the most memorable where I was like, this
Speaker 1: is actually quite dangerous. Um, but really it sounds bad.
Speaker 1: I'm glad. I I also love the supporting cast. Well,
Speaker 1: actually they're more than that. The other stars. I should say.
Speaker 1: I love David Straythorne and always have, and I love
Speaker 1: the both men who play Chase and take two very
Speaker 1: different individuals um and kind of the the good and
Speaker 1: evil of relationships. Um. How was it working with all
Speaker 1: three of those characters? Yeah, Well it was really it
Speaker 1: was such a joy, you know, like you said that
Speaker 1: there's such a star star ensemble cast, and they're also
Speaker 1: brilliant and give such different flavors. And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: with Taylor, like his gentleness and kindness that sort of
Speaker 1: really shone through in that character. And actually Harris, who
Speaker 1: plays Chase, is one of the loveliest boys I know, um,
Speaker 1: and I think he did such an incredible job of
Speaker 1: like painting Chase with with nuance. You know, we we
Speaker 1: get a insight into why he acts the way he does,
Speaker 1: and you know, he's complicated. He isn't just straightforward evil,
Speaker 1: so you know that's true. But I did hate him, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, And that's again Harris is the Horrors being
Speaker 1: amazing because he's very hard to hate in real life really,
Speaker 1: And then I love working with David stra there, and
Speaker 1: like I spent a whole week of court room scenes
Speaker 1: just watching him act and and I didn't have anything
Speaker 1: to say, you know, because I was just sort of
Speaker 1: sets up looking quite sad. But watching him performer, you know,
Speaker 1: he's obviously done a lot of film and TV, but
Speaker 1: also it's like an incredible theater actor, and I just
Speaker 1: loved watching him, like take apart these big monologues and
Speaker 1: and and find light and shade and view them with
Speaker 1: so much. And he was such a kind person too,
Speaker 1: so I just yeah, those were some of my favorite days.
Speaker 1: Actually was filming with him. Of course Reese Witherspoon's company,
Speaker 1: Hello Sunshine, so one that option the book and produced
Speaker 1: the film, and I know Reese was on on the set.
Speaker 1: I saw a picture of her with you all. So
Speaker 1: is that the first time you had at her? And
Speaker 1: does she inspire you to kind of take greater control
Speaker 1: of your career instead of kind of waiting for roles
Speaker 1: to come to you actually seeking out and creating projects
Speaker 1: that you'd like to participate in. Yes, so we The
Speaker 1: first time I met her was when she came to
Speaker 1: visit a set, and that was really cool, very exciting
Speaker 1: because I grew up watching We you know, and have
Speaker 1: been a fan of hers for a very long time.
Speaker 1: So to meet her and then also to sort of
Speaker 1: see her take in the set the first for the
Speaker 1: first time the way I because I remember when I
Speaker 1: stepped on and it was kaya Shack on this beautiful lagoon.
Speaker 1: I was like, of course, this was lifted from my
Speaker 1: imagination really in the book so to see her see
Speaker 1: that set too, it's really cool. And yeah, I think
Speaker 1: she's incredibly inspiring and and you know her her kind
Speaker 1: of company are all about putting women in leadership roles
Speaker 1: and and and you know, complicated women at the forefront
Speaker 1: of stories and and I think it's really important. And
Speaker 1: I had so exciting as a young actor to see
Speaker 1: that and go, you know that is that, you know,
Speaker 1: that is the way to do it really is to
Speaker 1: seek how it roles. But also if they aren't there,
Speaker 1: if you create them yourself. You know that that really
Speaker 1: put women in and you know, in the forefront, because
Speaker 1: I think we need more of that, and and actors too,
Speaker 1: you know, giving them much more power and making them
Speaker 1: less at the you know, left sort of the whims
Speaker 1: of the quote unquote people in charge. To to take
Speaker 1: charge of your own career and your own destiny, uh,
Speaker 1: must be incredibly empowering and liberating for anyone in the business. Totally. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would really agree. Yeah, you have been doing so
Speaker 1: many interesting, exciting roles, and I'm curious what's next for you, Daisy. Well,
Speaker 1: I think, um, I think I just like to continue
Speaker 1: working with filmmakers. I really admire you know. I think
Speaker 1: what I love so much about film and TV is
Speaker 1: that you are part of such a kind of collaborate
Speaker 1: collaboration and such a team. Um, and it takes all
Speaker 1: of you, you know, to bring your best to kind
Speaker 1: of create something wonderful, and I just love that. So
Speaker 1: I think working with a filmmaker that I admire, you know,
Speaker 1: working with more filmmakers I admire something I'm interested in,
Speaker 1: but also playing characters that I have not played before
Speaker 1: and really sort of h yeah, making the unexpected choices,
Speaker 1: I guess would be cool. Have you signed up for anything?
Speaker 1: Are you working on anything now that we can look
Speaker 1: forward to? Yes, nothing that I can so say, but
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to tell me if you tell me, yeah,
Speaker 1: and you give us a hand or not really badly
Speaker 1: not but but things I'm very excited about. And one
Speaker 1: that is also a book adaptation, which is yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know why I keep doing this to myself, but yeah, well,
Speaker 1: Daisy After Jones, it's so wonderful actually to spend some
Speaker 1: time chatting with you. I'm really happy for your success.
Speaker 1: I think you're just enormously talented it and you just
Speaker 1: light up the screen and whatever you're in um. Thank
Speaker 1: you for for chatty with us about Where the Claw
Speaker 1: Dads Sing, and I look forward to seeing whatever you're
Speaker 1: doing next, even though you can't tell me. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for having me than Where the Crawdads Sing
Speaker 1: is playing in theaters now. Next Question with Katie Kurik
Speaker 1: is a production of My Heart Media and Katie Kurk Media.
Speaker 1: The executive producers Army, Katie Curic, and Courtney Litz. The
Speaker 1: supervising producer is Lauren Hansen. Associate producers Derek Clements and
Speaker 1: Adriana Fasio. The show is edited and mixed by Derrick Clements.
Speaker 1: For more information about today's episode, or to sign up
Speaker 1: for my morning newsletter, Wake Up Paul, go to Katie
Speaker 1: Currek dot com. You can also find me at Katie
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