Adam Driver Tribute (2020): USA

Reviewed by Ryo Nishimura. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2020.

On January 17, 2020, Adam Driver came to the Arlington Theatre to receive his Outstanding Performers award for his newest movie Marriage Story. Driver was supposed to come and receive the award along with his co-star Scarlet Johansson but due to last minute illness, Johansson was unable to attend the Tribute. Without hesitation, Adam Driver was able to take on the full interview by himself and entertain the audience with his stories.

The first movie I saw with Adam Driver was France Ha. I remember not knowing his name or what other movies he’s been in but still liking his character. In 2019, he played Charlie in Marriage Story; another film by Noah Baumbach. After watching Marriage Story, I was blown away with his acting and decided to watch all of his other movies. Although he plays fantastic roles in each movie, I was the most impressed by his role in Marriage Story.

On this tribute night, I was working in the tech booth so my job was very easy. Since Adam Driver does not like viewing his own clips, there were zero clips that I had to worry about. (My job was to countdown on how many seconds are left in each clip). Adam Driver did a full almost hour long interview with the moderator, Anne Thompson was able to make the audience laugh and learn more about what he is all about.

I learned that Adam Driver was in the military after the 9/11 disaster in 2001, after he felt a strong sense of patriotic responsibility. During his time in the military, he got into an injury and was sent back home. He talked about how when he entered back into the normal world, things were weird to adjust to. Today Driver has created Art in the Armed Forces for people in the military. His goal is to have accessible art classes for the soldiers to take.

I thought it was super surreal seeing Adam Driver in person too. He was one of the first actors that I look up to that I have seen in person and it felt a little strange. I was so used to seeing him on a two dimensional screen, therefore seeing him in person was funny.

Another thing I felt interested about in his interview was all the backstories that he had during the production of Marriage Story. He talked about his relationship with the director Noah Baumbach who he considers one of his best friends. Driver talked about some funny stories and memories that he shared with Noah. One story that I thought was interesting was when Adam Driver first received the script for Marriage Story. He said that Noah is very traditional and likes to send his scripts in hardcopy rather than digital. Driver made a joke that the script was “top secret” and that a bird came to drop the script off to his house.

Adam Driver was honest and funny, and seemed like a genuine person to talk to. I was really happy that I got to sit down and watch his tribute that night.