The personal connection of Adam Driver’s role in ‘Girls’
With acting credits in the updated Star Wars movies and Noah Baumbach’s celebrated drama A Marriage Story, Adam Driver has proven to be one of the industry’s greatest strengths. The actor rose to prominence through the series Girls, earning three Primetime nominations and widespread critical acclaim.
Driver’s roles branch into various aspects: one moment, the actor has star credit in a science-fiction blockbuster, and the next, he appears in a dramatic exposition of love and heartbreak. Following a career in the US Marine Corps, Driver has since worked with some of cinema’s most promising directors – such as Spike Lee and Ridley Scott, elevating his skill under some profound direction.
As a method of perfecting his craft, Driver has explained his approach: “I never figure anything out,” he said. “I do my job. That’s my goal, to be as economical as possible. Basically, the only thing I try to do is know my lines.”
“Usually, the mood of the set is what I adapt to, as opposed to having a set way of working and imposing it on everybody else,” he told The Guardian. “If you need private time, usually people give you space for that. But getting set into one way of doing something seems like closing yourself off from being wrong … interesting things can come out of being wrong.” However, Driver has come across potential method acting opportunities as there have been helpful similarities between roles and his own life.
Driver’s appearance in Girls as Adam Sackler echoes two significant aspects of his private life. The series stars Lena Dunham and focuses on four young women living in New York City, navigating issues such as financial isolation and the pursuit of ideal careers. Adam Sackler dates Dunham’s character Hanna after living in New York as an artist. Soon Sackler realises his talent in acting and auditions for a play, landing a role in the Broadway production of Major Barbara.
Before his work on sci-fi blockbusters, Driver was an actor on Broadway. In the years following his discharge from the military, he attended the Juilliard School. Having studied drama and graduated in 2009, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and the star made his Broadway debut in Mrs Warren’s Profession in 2010 and appeared in Man and Boy a year later. Speaking to The Daily Beast about the role, Driver shared: “Adam’s always been consistent in running full-force and exhausting it and then trying to find something else to move full-force at”. This commitment and ambition is another field where Driver is connected to the part. “I relate to that in life — that doing the copied version is always less gratifying,” he said when discussing his dislike of doing something half-heartedly. The actor then draws parallels between this trait he and the role share and how Durnham’s role lacks it. “Even though Hannah is, ironically, a writer, she says things that seem non-committal, distracted, or not present,” he adds.
Driver’s role as Adam Sackler sprung him into the limelight he has been utilising effortlessly to show his talent ever since. Following this part, the actor was able to bag a role in Martin Scorsese’s Silence and then Logan Luck, directed by indie filmmaking pioneer Steven Soderbergh. He is set to appear in the upcoming sci-fi 75, directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
