Marriage Story’s Adam Driver – his talent was obvious in HBO’s Girls but fame had eluded him until now
- With roles in Netflix film Marriage Story, The Report, and his return as Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Adam Driver is having a Hollywood moment
- Not conventionally handsome, he often commands the screen by keeping his character’s emotions bubbling beneath the surface
Viewers watching a scene mainly concerned with the dynamic between a film’s protagonist and his romantic rival might not expect the random guy in the corner to attract much attention.
And yet, as Oscar Isaac and Justin Timberlake’s characters in 2013’s Inside Llewyn Davis record a song begging United States President John Kennedy not to send them into outer space, it’s not just their singing that makes the bizarre tune work.
It’s the manner in which their screen-mate Adam Driver punctuates it with comical noises and refrains (“Outer … space!”) that sells the scene.
That’s Driver in a nutshell – someone who, in part thanks to his large presence and general way of being, can’t help but command the screen.
HBO’s Girls, on which he broke out as Adam Sackler, even features a scene in which another character notes that he “does sort of look like the original man”.