The 'Me Before You' actor describes his villainous role in 'The Nightingale' as a 'turning point' in his life as he realized he needed to stop with his Oscar obsession.
- Mar 20, 2023
AceShowbiz - Sam Claflin was yearning for an Oscar nomination. Admitting he pushed himself out of his comfort zone in a quest for critical acclaim and recognition, the 36-year-old actor later realised he had gone "too far" away from what he was happy to do when he played a rapist who has a baby slammed against a wall in "The Nightingale".
"I went through a stage of desperately vying for an Oscar but doing things that were really not me. Physically, emotionally transforming myself. ['The Nightingale'] was too far the other way. I think that was the turning point in my life. I don't think I could do that again," he told this week's edition of GQ Hype.
The "Daisy Jones and the Six" actor admitted he has taken on some roles that he's had "second thoughts" about but didn't want to drop out of the projects because he was worried people would think badly of him or consider him "difficult" to work with.
He said, "There've been a few jobs I've agreed to and later had second thoughts, but I'd given my word. I don't want to be perceived as someone who is difficult."
And Sam - who has two children with ex-wife Laura Haddock - admitted he has lost his sense of self because he's always been so desperate to please other people. He said, "One of the reasons I became an actor is that I always want people to like me."
"I think it's only recently dawned on me that I try so hard to make other people happy that I don't know who I am. I'm from Norfolk but I've just adopted an accent that no one can really put a flag on. It's an amalgamation of other people's accents. Over time I'd sort of lost, I don't know… What makes me happy?"
