From Hunger Games to Love, Rosie

MANILA, Philippines - Sam Claflin came to worldwide attention since his notable role in the second installment of the phenomenal hit franchise as Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in 2013 reprises his role in this year’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, but Claflin has already made an indelible impression in the movie industry with his roles in previously released blockbuster films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides as Philip Swift and in Snow White and the Huntsman as William.

Sam now headlines his latest romantic lead role in Love, Rosie opposite Lily Collins — adapted from the bestselling tome, Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern.   In director Christian Ditter’s new film Love, Rosie, Lily Collins and Sam star as Rosie and Alex, childhood friends seemingly destined to be together, yet a couple which fate itself seems determined to keep apart. The film paints a rich and textured canvas of a complicated yet lifelong bond between Rosie and Alex, beginning in their childhood, spanning a trans-Atlantic separation and enduring ups and downs of romantic liaisons with everyone but each other resulting in some bittersweet consequences.

“The story is about two people who really have a deep love for each other, but are constantly being pulled apart,” explains acclaimed Irish author Ahern. “I wrote Where Rainbows End a couple of months after I had finished P.S. I Love You, she says of the follow-up to her first novel, written when she was only 21 years old.

 Born in Suffolk, England, Sam first took up acting at Norwich City College and completed his studies at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in 2009. Within a year of graduating, he’d already established himself as someone to watch with performances in two award-winning series — KenFollett’s The Pillars of the Earth (2010; for Starz television) and Any Human Heart (2010; based on the novel by William Boyd for UK broadcaster Channel 4) — followed by a starring role in the post-apocalyptic drama, The Lost Future for Syfy.

 “Sam was really our first choice to play Alex,” says producer Robert Kulzer. “He was terrific in the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie and had just come out with Snow White and the Huntsman. I also knew that he would be one of the leads in the new Hunger Games sequel.

 For Sam, the prospect of filming Love, Rosie resonated on many levels. Initially attracted by the script and the prospect of working with Lily, he was also a fan of the genre itself and saw the film as a departure from his previous work. “I’d read a fair number of scripts over the past few years and nothing really grabbed my attention like this did,” says Sam of his decision to come aboard. “The journey that these two characters go on struck a chord with me. I also wanted to do something contemporary, something modern. All in all, it was a no brainer.”

 “Sam is like a young Hugh Grant,” says Brooks of the up-and-coming star and his performance in Love, Rosie. “What this film did was allow him to really act. He’s incredibly charismatic and he put a lot of hard work into the limited amount of time we had with him.” 

Love, Rosie opens Dec. 3 in cinemas nationwide from Pioneer Films.