Adam Driver's performance as Kylo Ren is easily one of the best parts of the Star Wars sequels — and ever since his debut in The Force Awakens, the character has stood firm as one of the franchise's most beloved villains. But just how did Driver prepare himself for the part? In the wake of 9/11, a 17-year-old Adam Driver postponed his acting dreams in order to join the Marines. Prior to this, the actor had tried and failed to get into the Juilliard performance school. During a TED Talk he gave in 2015, Driver elaborated on his decision to abandon the arts and join the armed forces.
Driver's career in the Marines was cut short when he was medically discharged. Luckily, however, he reapplied to Juilliard soon after — and this time, he got in. Many years later, Driver used his military experience to drive Kylo Ren's physicality.
The actor has also explained how a military environment can be similar to life on a movie set.
"There's somebody in charge who knows what they’re doing, the director and when they know what they’re doing, what you’re doing feels kind of exciting and important and when they don’t, it feels like a waste of time."
One thing that many people assume about Adam Driver is that he can be a pretty intense guy on-set. And while some of his Star Wars co-stars are known for enjoying a laugh or two on set, Driver has garnered a reputation for being almost as brooding as Kylo Ren himself. In an interview with Radio 1, Driver's co-star John Boyega explained:
"I think when he's on set as Kylo Ren, the Dark Side of the Force likes to capture him sometimes."
Speaking about their time filming The Last Jedi, Star Wars veteran Mark Hamill told Vanity Fair:
"He’s very moody and intense. I remember saying to Adam, ‘I don’t know how you work, or your technique.' [...] All I’m suggesting is, if you’d like, maybe we could go to lunch, we could get together and hang out.”
But Driver insists this wasn't part of his process — he just likes to stay in the zone between takes. The actor told Vulture:
"I like to stay focused on set, but it's not because I have a process that I'm imposing on everybody else. Sometimes you have to be more focused in between scenes because [...] it's pure comedy in between takes."
One way Driver did that was by sometimes staying in character as Ren after the cameras stopped rolling — even though he's not usually a method actor. The fact is that Kylo Ren is a complex and serious character, so, for his scenes, jokes with Driver's castmates had to come second to his performance. Driver's co-star Domhnall Gleeson later explained:
"There's enough going on already without adding in knock-knock jokes. […] Depending on the day, Adam is hilarious, but he's always good."
Starring in a franchise as huge and beloved as Star Wars is always going to come with an overwhelming amount of pressure. When Driver first began work on 2015's The Force Awakens, he found that dealing with that pressure was a matter of simply not thinking about it. Keep watching the video to see Adam Driver's incredible transformation into Kylo Ren!
#AdamDriver #KyloRen
Marine life | 0:16
In the zone | 1:31
A galaxy's legacy | 2:55
Call to the light | 3:56
Young rage | 5:18
Greenscreen | 6:23
Behind the mask | 7:30
The voice | 8:34
Bulking up | 9:47
Lightsaber training | 10:51
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