Summary
- Adam Driver’s early career almost took a different path as he had to be convinced to audition for his breakout role in the TV show Girls.
- Despite his concerns, Driver ultimately took on the role of Kylo Ren in Star Wars and embraced the opportunity to create a human and complex character.
- Driver recently passed on the role of Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four movie, demonstrating his newfound comfort and ability to choose the roles he wants due to his influence and respect in the film industry.
Adam Driver kicked off his career in 2012, and in the time span of a decade, he has become one of the greatest movie stars of his generation. Ever since the actor joined the entertainment industry, there hasn’t been a single year in which he didn’t actively contribute to high-profile or small indie films that end up attracting people’s attention due to his presence.
Driver has worked in a variety of movie genres including comedy, historical drama, action, and horror. Along the way, he’s established long-term collaborations with renowned directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Noah Baumbach, and Ridley Scott. Yet looking back on his early career, Driver’s path to stardom was nearly self-sabotaged when he almost turned down the biggest roles of his career.
Adam Driver Had to Be Convinced to Audition for His Breakout Role
Driver finally rose to prominence as an onscreen actor with the role of Adam Sackler in the comedy-drama TV show Girls, a realistic portrayal of the everyday struggles of four flawed women trying to make a living in New York City. However, Driver was reluctant about the role and had to be convinced by his agent to give it a try.
After a surprising background in the Marine Corps, Driver graduated from Julliard, known for launching new promising talents to the world every year, and engaged in a promising career in the theater scene, alternating between Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Committed to his theater projects, Driver wasn’t all that much interested in TV shows and didn’t see anything that resonated with him in Girls at first glance. Little did he know that the role of Adam Sackler would change the course of his life.
As a product of its time, most of Girls‘ takes on women’s urban lives can now feel outdated and predominantly white, let alone constrained to first-world affairs. However, the show’s feminine perspective and commitment to a more rebellious and free-spirited take on Sex and the City brought many viewers on board, earning critical acclaim and tons of Emmy nominations. Driver himself was nominated three times as a Supporting Actor, and he immediately set off to Hollywood once the show was done.
Adam Driver Almost Turned Down the Iconic Role of Kylo Ren in Star Wars’ Sequel Trilogy
While Driver played a range of successful roles in the past few years such as Paterson, Flip Zimmerman, and Maurizio Gucci, none of them come close to the success and influence of Kylo Ren in pop culture. The character came at a time when Disney was fully committed to making Star Wars culturally relevant again, and Star Wars: The Force Awaken not only revived the franchise, but also won over a new generation of fans, while simultaneously introducing a new movie star to the world.
However, Driver wasn’t so sure about the true intentions behind a new Star Wars trilogy. In an interview for GQ, he claimed, “I’m leery of big movies — a lot of them sacrifice character for spectacle.” Judging by the current state of the Star Wars universe, with an overwhelming amount of TV shows released every year with so few highlights, Driver’s concerns weren’t totally unfounded. Yet the conflicting nature of Kylo Ren eventually caught the actor’s attention, and he realized the people behind the project were determined to creating a character as human as possible.
Although Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the last movie in the sequel trilogy, was an absolute letdown for the majority of fans, Driver never seemed to treat the character with regret. In an interview for the international media outlet LeMatin, the actor discussed how he would like to be forgotten, not because the experience was bad, but because he wanted to be remembered for a fruitful, variable career.
Adam Driver Has Recently Passed on Yet Another Big Role, But Things Are Different Now
It started out as just rumors, but then it became public that Driver was quick to pass on Reed Richards in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, which has been the target of speculations ever since its announcement in 2019. The Hot Mic podcast was the first to point out Driver as the frontrunner for the role, but shortly after, Jeff Sneider revealed on the same podcast that the actor was sent the script a while back and claimed he just couldn’t connect with the character on the page. Regardless of whether Driver’s intentions were based on what he said, the script’s quality, or hesitation to be the face of a new major blockbuster, the truth is the actor couldn’t be more comfortable than he is now.
Over the course of a decade, Driver constantly alternated between small indie films and massive productions, and his versatility arguably is his best trademark. In this context, the actor earned enough influence, admiration, and respect within the film industry to finally get to choose the roles he would like to take part in, different from the early stages of his career when he risked fading into oblivion by turning down the roles that launched him in the industry.