‘Daisy Jones and the Six’

The new miniseries adaptation draws praise

STELLA SCHNEIDER / ASST. A&C EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

Originally published in 2019 by well-known author Taylor Jenkins Reid, “Daisy Jones and the Six” quickly rose to popularity, receiving the Goodreads Choice Awards’ Best Historical Fiction the same year. Reid sold her manuscript for “Daisy Jones and the Six” a year before the book was published, and Hello Sunshine (Reese Witherspoon’s production company) was set to adapt the book into a television miniseries. Lauren Neustadter, who runs the organization’s film and TV division, got early access to the book through Reid’s agent. Neustadter saw the potential for the book, which has now been in the New York Times bestseller list for more than 100 weeks.“Daisy Jones and the Six” was inspired by the vibe and style of Fleetwood Mac, a popular rock band from the 1970s; it follows the Dunne Brothers, a small band in Pittsburgh, that come together with Daisy Jones, a young singer-songwriter, and pave their path to success in the music scene from the 70s. 

Riley Keough, Elvis Presely’s granddaughter, stars in the series as Daisy Jones. Alongside her is Sam Clafin, who plays Billy Dunne, the other lead of the series. Other cast members include Suki Waterhouse, Camila Morrone, Will Harrison, Josh Whitehouse, Sebastian Chacon and Timothy Olyphant. The cast’s chemistry on and off screen aided the filming of the series and the creative vision of the writers of the series and Reid.

In order to prepare for the show the actors in the band learned how to play their respective instruments. COVID-19 disrupted their initial plan to begin filming in August 2020, but it allowed the actors 18 months to master their instruments and vocals for the show. In an effort to bring the band together and help their performance, Executive Producer Neustadter had the idea to have the fictional band, Daisy Jones and the Six, perform in front of a large group of crew and executives at a studio in Los Angeles. 

With Zoom recordings, band camps and long practices, the group and the music came together during that time. 

The comradery of the cast is quite noticeable and many people working on crew, or meeting them on their press tour could agree.

Katie Huff worked as a production assistant on the set of “Daisy Jones and the Six” for episode six. In this role, she was interacting with the cast during the days she was on set. 

“They all seemed to be very close friends. It was a fun environment,” Huff explained. “At one point between takes the whole tent blew over but Will [Harrison]  and Sebastian [Chacon]  ran out, and we all worked together to hold down the tent. Any actor could’ve been pissed about that, but they were all really kind and trying to solve the problem.”

The cast’s connection seemed to add to the chemistry and passion on set. 

“It seemed like a very loving set. There’s a moment where Daisy and Billy are yelling at each other in the desert, and it was super windy and freezing and they’re wearing next to nothing, but they had to get multiple takes. It was incredible to watch how they would scream like you see in the show and the second they would cut, Sam Clafin would pull Riley Keough into a hug because it was so freezing,” Huff said. “They kept going in and out of this embrace into yelling, and it showed how close they were, and also how fantastic they were at acting.” 

The cast isn’t the only thing fans of the show appreciate; the soundtrack also stood out to a lot of viewers. USD junior Sophie Brands had a great experience watching the series and listening to the soundtrack.

“The soundtrack is unreal — it was my favorite part of the show and I’ve been listening to their songs on repeat,” Brands explained. “I actually listened to ‘Look at Us Now (Honeycomb)’ before seeing the show, and it’s one of the reasons I really wanted to watch it.”

Since the release of the show, the Spotify page for the fictional band “Daisy Jones and the Six” has amassed over 3 million monthly listeners and is still climbing. The positive reaction of their music from fans reflects the popularity of the band and the television series as a whole. 

Author Taylor Jenkins Reid came to USD last fall after the publication of her most recent book, “Carrie Soto is Back,” where she talked about her writing process and her passion for writing historical fiction. “Daisy Jones and the Six” isn’t her only book to be adapted to the screen. “One True Loves” was published in 2016, and the story was adapted into a film released on April 7, 2023. “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” also gained a lot of attention on the popular social media app, Tiktok, and will be adapted as a feature film for Netflix. Reid will be executive producing “Malibu Rising”’ for its television series adaptation coming to Hulu. Her most recent publication, “Carrie Soto is Back,” was picked up by Picture Start to be adapted onto the screen. 

All 10 episodes of “Daisy Jones and the Six” are available on Amazon Prime Video with a subscription.