Collider: Timothy Olyphant Talks ‘Daisy Jones & The Six,’ And His Love of Music

Via Collider: [Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Daisy Jones & The Six.]

Collider: In doing a project like this, when you’re dealing with a book that people love and has this built-in fan base, does that become something of a bible for you, outside the script, or does it work better for you to look at things like bands and musicians, locations, and just this whole era?

TIMOTHY OLYPHANT: The book, for me, was just a great read. Even before getting all the scripts, it was just a cool book. It’s always nice when you read some material that’s really great, and then you think, “Oh, I might be able to be fit into this somehow.” After that, you let go of it, other than what you’ve sourced already, and it becomes a bit of a jumping off point. The nature of an adaptation means that you’re taking it in its own direction. I did read about a lot of tour managers. There have been some great ones, and there were some classic interviews. Both of my brothers have been in the business, and my older brother is still in the business. I’ve been around it a lot. Even though it’s a different decade, it’s more or less the same gig and the same struggles and the same heartaches. I was around it a lot.

I’ve loved music my whole life, I’ve been a concert photographer since I was 15, and I’ve worked directly with a lot of bands, and I’ve run into a lot of guys like your character. He just seemed so real and authentic, in a way that you could find him with any number of bands. even today.

OLYPHANT: It’s no different from being in show business. If you’re around enough First ADs, they start to narrow down to a type, to some degree. But that book was well-researched. (Author) Taylor [Jenkins Reid] knew what she was writing about, and (producer) Scott [Neustadter] is no dummy either. I was in really good hands. And then, you put on those outfits, and it’s easy after that.

Are you, personally, a music guy? Are you someone who has a connection to music, yourself? Are there bands that you’re a fan of, that you’ve been curious about the personal story of?

OLYPHANT: I love music. I haven’t thrown out my CD collection. It was a big deal, growing up with my brothers. It’s been a big deal, my whole life, seeing music, listening to music, and talking about music. I wish it was something that came easy to me. It’s not. I’ve learned things for work, but it’s just not my language. But I love being around music, of all kinds.

What do you think this guy saw in this band? This type of job is a bit like herding cats. It’s hard to keep track of rock stars. So, what do you think made this band worth it to him?

OLYPHANT: Well, it’s a good job. If that’s what you do for a living and if you can hook a big fish that’s gonna carry you for a while, that’s pretty huge. You’re so dependent on the band’s success to maintain your job, to be part of that family, and to not have to keep looking for other bands. Even in the show, it’s such a sought after gig. This band is blowing up, and he’s pretty sure that there’s not gonna be any band that’s that successful, that’s gonna be easy. You know what you’re getting into.

Because of the structure of the storytelling of this, we’re experiencing this story in its wildest moments, but also through reflection with each of these characters. What was it like to build your character in that way?

OLYPHANT: We talked about where we wanted to see him go, and gave some hint of that. A lot of it was in the book already. A lot of it was just about how you wanna look. I don’t know what those other actors are telling you, but the fact is that most of us spend our time thinking about how we’re gonna look.

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