The Sad Reason Why Adam Driver Feels Regret Every Time He Leaves a Movie Set
Adam Driver has become one of Hollywood’s most sought after actors in a rather short amount of time. After starring in Lena Dunham’s hit HBO series Girls, he transitioned to the big screen and started landing roles in films such as Star Wars and The BlacKkKlansman.
Driver is known for his powerful performances and remarkable ability to emote, as seen in the 2019 film Marriage Story. However, even though moviegoers love to watch Driver on the big screen, working on the movies is never a fun process for him.
Driver experiences intense feelings of regret every time he finishes a movie, and can never watch his performances after he completes them. Thankfully, he’s been working on becoming more accepting of his work, no matter how critical of himself he may be.
Adam Driver feels regret whenever he finishes a movie
Driver talked about his self-critical nature during a 2020 interview with the Hollywood Reporter, admitting that he’ll never fully be able to outgrow it.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think that you ever get over [it],” Driver said. “‘Cause in a way, you kind of know what your potential is more than anybody else, in a sense.”
In the same interview, Driver went into detail about the regret he feels whenever it’s time to wrap on a film. Because he knows that he’ll never have another shot at better executing the performance, it can be difficult to accept the work he’s done.
“I have a lot of regret—often when you leave a set you can’t help but think about it. And obviously, it’s film, so film is forever, so you never get a chance to go back and do it again. I feel like that’s the thing about acting, is that you—regardless of how often you do it, or how long you do it, you never figure it out.”
Working in theatre helped Adam Driver learn to accept his failures
Driver spent several years working in theatre before he transitioned into acting in TV and film. Even though he mainly focuses on movies now, the lessons he learned while working on stage have helped him become more accepting of his performances on screen.
“I’ve learned from theatre in that,” Driver said. “Always, at the end of a four month run of a play you’re always the last performance, it’s always the best one and you’re like, ‘Ok, now I have a better sense of what I want to do and go back.’ So I know that there’s no right answer.”
Nowadays, Driver is more capable of letting go of his attachment to his performances and accepting the possibility of failure.
“There’s no right way to play a scene,” Driver said. “That’s my part of it, I like the making of it and it’s someone else’s responsibility to make the choice of what is the best version of it. But I know that there’s no right way. And you just have to feel comfortable with failing. And you either get easier on yourself, I think, about like, ‘Ok, I’ll let it go,’ or you don’t. But I don’t think you’ll ever figure that out, that’s why people keep doing it. I think, but I don’t know.”
