Is Adam Driver Actually a Film Star — and Does It Truly Matter?

Harrison Ford is arguably the one actor who’s ever grow to be a serious, long-haul film star off the again of Star Wars. Sure, loads of Star Wars gamers grew to become well-known (Mark Hamill) or had a profile bump (Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman), however Ford was just about the one one who grew to become a bankable, name-above-the-title main man for many years to return. So it was solely applicable that Adam Driver, the actor who performed Han Solo’s son Kylo Ren within the Star Wars sequel trilogy, appeared as if he might grow to be the second. 5 years after that trilogy concluded, although, Driver appears considerably much less more likely to assume Ford’s mantle.

Not that Driver is any worse for put on. In actual fact, he’s labored with probably the most spectacular roster of administrators ever seen for an actor who’s nonetheless simply 40. Since his movie debut in 2011, Driver has labored with Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, the Coen Brothers, Spike Lee, Noah Baumbach (a number of occasions, together with one film co-written by Greta Gerwig), Michael Mann, Clint Eastwood, Rian Johnson, Jim Jarmusch (twice, with a 3rd movie on the best way), Steven Soderbergh, Ridley Scott (twice), Leos Carax, Terry Gilliam, and now Francis Ford Coppola, whose Driver-starring dream challenge Megalopolis is in theaters now. (He has additionally grow to be a valued Saturday Evening Stay visitor host, having appeared 4 occasions since 2016, a shoo-in to hitch the vaunted five-timers membership.)

For comparability, Ford himself, twice Driver’s age, has labored with Coppola, Spielberg, and Scott; he can even declare a number of large names that Driver can’t (Kathryn Bigelow; Peter Weir; Denis Villenueve). However he can’t match the youthful actor’s eclecticism. At this level, it may be simpler to listing the foremost filmmakers Driver hasn’t but checked off: Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Todd Haynes, David Fincher, Christopher Nolan, Kelly Reichardt. Possibly Brian De Palma if he needs to complete up the ’70s film brats. (George Lucas could be a get, however doing another person’s Star Wars might need to suffice.)

Driver doing a film with any of the above has come to appear vastly extra possible than him starring in one other Star Wars-level blockbuster – which inevitably results in query, so typically requested within the IP-as-star period, of whether or not he’s any sort of field workplace draw. The grosses for Megalopolis, Ferrari, and The Final Duel counsel not – these have been all big-budget, wide-release films from main administrators with Driver entrance and middle of considerable advertising and marketing campaigns, and all collectively they’ll make about as a lot as Home of Gucci, which itself is Driver’s greatest non-Star Wars hit, and in addition much less widely-seen than a number of of Ryan Gosling’s purported flops.

Does it matter that Adam will not be, ah, driving any ticket gross sales? He’s clearly not dreaming of Ryan Reynolds standing, casting about for model partnerships and changing into a stakeholder in a cell-phone firm. Driver doesn’t even look like he needs to hold the torch for fellow auteur-courting main males like Brad Pitt and (in his ’90s heyday) Tom Cruise; his starring roles aren’t actually designed as film star showcases in the identical method. These guys performed up their slickness or mythic qualities earlier than dipping into gnarlier, messier elements, whereas Driver leans into his personal potential remoteness. Consider Enzo Ferrari, a racecar driver and businessman who Driver performs with a mixture of deadpan wit, single-minded obsession, and haunted regrets; his want for pace isn’t as simple as Cruise’s High Gun hotdogging. Driver’s distinctive supply – take into account the best way he says “ghouls” in The Useless Don’t Die, or his already-memed sarcastic pronunciation of “cluuuub” in Megalopolis – has a contact of Christopher Walken. Even his Star Wars villain Kylo Ren feels each smaller and extra sexual than the enduring baddies seen elsewhere within the sequence.

MY WIFE (in her head after seeing me deep in thought): He’s clearly combating the pressures of labor and residential, however he’s staying silent as to not burden me.

ME (solely fascinated about Adam Driver’s line supply of “Again to the membership” from Megalopolis):pic.twitter.com/bxl2MLkD5F

— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) September 29, 2024

These are usually not essentially qualities that encourage shopper spending. (Then once more, I’d wager that a number of Kylo Ren merch moved fairly rapidly; his motion determine definitely wasn’t the best to seek out.) At occasions, it looks as if Driver is conducting an experiment to see simply how a lot of his Star Wars credit score line he can spend, with solely the occasional minor industrial foray like 65 to tide over any demand for a extra popcorn-friendly automobile. However a few of this experiment enabled by the notion that he’s an enormous, large star; his proficient Star Wars scene companion Daisy Ridley, for instance, clearly has the same style for making “actual” (non-franchise films), and has to make do with a smaller scale of them, whether or not the Disney household drama Younger Girl and the Sea, or the upcoming chamber-noir Magpie.

The query – much less for armchair monetary analysts than followers of Driver’s astonishing run – is whether or not anybody will begin counting his industrial flops as blemishes on his credit score report, so to talk. A part of the fun of his look in Megalopolis comes from the truth that he wished to assist get the rattling factor made; Coppola self-financed the challenge however clearly wanted some names to have even a prayer of promoting off the rights. Driver virtually definitely helps the likes of Jarmusch and Baumbach get initiatives going; will he nonetheless have that juice after one other decade?

Truthfully, he would possibly. Stardom has at all times been a nebulous calculation, moreso now that the traces between films, TV, and social media have blurred. Driver looks as if a star exactly as a result of he largely does bold films with identify administrators; take a look at how minor and trifling a Brad Pitt/George Clooney team-up like Wolfs can wind up feeling with out the correct buzz. Driver has additionally managed to keep away from the seeming dependancy some stars really feel to the push of common approval; Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington are stars (and actors) for the ages, however they’ve definitely spent a good period of time doing model upkeep for the followers. That is one place the place Hollywood traditionalism will be flipped to some artistic benefit: If financers haven’t caught as much as the truth that Adam Driver doesn’t assure a lot return on funding, then let it journey, and benefit from the fruits of his labor. He could not promote tickets, however he’s firmly established within the cluuuub.

Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a author dwelling in Brooklyn. He’s an everyday contributor to The A.V. Membership, Polygon, and The Week, amongst others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.