Adham drivers 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 I
joined the Marine Corps and I loved it I
loved bringing the Marines one of the
things I'm most proud of having done in
my life
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 how he responds to things is
probably a bit physically quicker than
most kisses on you know it's on edge
there at war but that's not the only
useful experienced driver gained from
the Marines my experience from the
military was more in the relationships
actually that I formed then that kind of
camaraderie and like the work ethic and
working as a as a team 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 drivers
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 camera 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 drivers castmates had
to come second to his performance
drivers 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
well I think with the first one that was
more terror or denying that you know oh
there look there's a Millenium Falcon
you're like okay I put it out of your
mind and just focus on this story in a
different interview driver admitted that
it wasn't just the history of the
franchise that added pressure to his
performance but also the sheer scale of
the project he said that by the time he
had begun filming on the last Jedi the
level of Terror I think was different
the force awakens I kind of had no idea
what the end result is it was all new
and I'd never worked on anything that
size or scale before fortunately when it
came time to return to kylo Ren for the
last Jedi he felt comfortable enough
with the character and the world that he
was able to unwind a little driver
explained the second time I just knew
more so whenever you kind of know more
for me I relax a little bit let's be
honest kylo Ren has done some pretty
nasty things in his time there is
killing his dad for one of course but
his allegiance with the evil Snoke and
his desire for galactic domination
aren't exactly endearing either you
think there could be little doubt that
the guy is a real villain heck he's even
got the red lightsaber to prove it
but driver disagrees he said that while
preparing to play the role he looked for
kylos human side and tried to figure out
why he behaves the way he does
through JJ kind of hearing what he had
to say about him
tried to hopefully make him as human as
possible in an interview with Empire
magazine driver explained that part of
the reason for his character's
questionable morals is that he's a
fanatic he said when they think of their
actions as morally justified it makes
them dangerous and unpredictable I never
thought of the character as an evil
person driver also lays some of the
blame on kylos parents han Solo and Leia
Organa and their obsession with the
rebellions caused a cause Ben solo
didn't necessarily connect with driver
told Entertainment Weekly looking around
and not seeing yourself and not
identifying with what's around you
I think affects how we behave of course
it helps that driver considers himself
closer to the dark side than the light
as he once joked I live in the dark side
constantly reminding ourselves that
we're all going to die soon for an actor
as thoughtful and serious as Adam driver
playing a character as angry and
impulsive as kylo Ren meant tuning into
a certain mindset in the past driver has
said that he views kylo Ren as being
young impetuous and driven by
convictions that despite being strong
aren't entirely rational according to
driver that aspect of his character was
really brought to life for the last Jedi
something about the youthfulness of him
was not lost on in Ryan's writing when
first getting to grips with kylos
character driver realized the character
was at that point of early adulthood
where he had to decide who he wanted to
be and figure out his place in the world
so when playing him driver looked for
something beyond his own measured
demeanor and tried to draw out kylos
less mature and more impulsive attitude
and when it came to accessing the anger
he needed for kylos explosive bursts one
thing seems to have worked in particular
I just think about taxes and traffic and
I'm there even the best theater school
in the world can't prepare you for every
acting challenge and Driver struggled
with one major aspect of life in the
Star Wars universe the green screen the
actor told Seth Meyers that it can be
pretty difficult to get into character
as a fearsome villain when you're stuck
in front of a green screen on an empty
back lot but you're standing in front of
the screen and they're like trust us
your lightsaber is working yeah or
there's space behind you it looks really
cool one thing that helped driver better
connect to kylos world was actually
watching the final product driver has
said that normally he doesn't watch the
movies he's in as it makes him feel too
self-conscious and can interfere with
his ability to embody his character in
the moment however he made an exception
for Star Wars because he wanted to see
what kylo was experiencing while driver
was acting against those green screens
he told Esquire part of the impulse and
wanting to see it is because there's so
much visual going on that I didn't know
what was happening
driver added that seeing the force
awakens helped him understand the world
of Star Wars and reassured him that he
was on the right track so much so in
fact that he almost decided he didn't
need to watch the last Jedi the first
item on any Darksiders checklist is a
good old fashioned scary mask even if
it's meant more for intimidating people
than it is for say life-support and
while kylo ren's mask might help him tap
into his villainous side driver himself
found that the headgear was more of a
hindrance than a help when it came to
playing the role he even described the
costume as the hardest part of returning
to the character for the last Jedi
saying that working with the mask is
especially challenging because it badly
limits his vision is terrible who's in
the movie despite this driver also felt
that the mask helped him understand and
convey his characters internal conflict
for the force awakens the costume
department carefully decided which
characters wore masks because they
didn't want the looks to feel derivative
of the original movies driver said that
kylos reason for wearing one is that
he's trying to hide his insecurities
about living up to Darth Vader
he told GQ the person kylos pretending
to be on the outside is not who he is
he's a vulnerable kid who doesn't know
where to put his energy but when he puts
his mask on suddenly he's playing a role
in order to make kylo Ren work as a
character driver had to find a voice
that successfully conveyed his rage but
didn't come across as silly at the same
time so he worked with the sound team to
come up with the robotic voice that
would come from under the mask as sound
editor Matthew wood explains I actually
came up with a process to allow atom
driver to be very Method about it and
hear what his mask was sounding like
while he was performing we'd bring him
into the studio and he could get right
up on the microphone and get really
creepy about his process and hear it but
it wasn't just driver Inwood who had to
be happy with kylos voice would said JJ
Abrams really wanted people to feel it
he wanted that organic process and he
won in kylo ren's mask to portray that
sort of intimidation however once on set
Abrams apparently changed his mind about
the voice they'd worked on during one
interview drivers co-star Oscar Isaac
recalled that the first scene both
actors shot together was a torture scene
but things didn't go entirely to plan
you know we did the first take and Jade
came up and was like yeah maybe maybe
try something different like what
fortunately after that false start
driver was able to land on the right
voice and make high/low as menacing as
he needed to be as a six-foot-three
former Marine driver was no stranger to
the physicality required of a force
wielding warrior but he still had to hit
the gym to prepare for the role and he
made some friends doing so - Shane Finn
who owned a gym and Carrie Ireland
met the actor as he prepared for
shooting on the last Jedi Finn described
driver as one of the nicest guys who had
ever trained at the gym and said that
the actor made a particular effort to
thank the staff for their help during
his training drivers hard work paid off
to inspiring the last Jedi director Rian
Johnson to introduce the shirtless scene
that has Sims past into Star Wars legend
speaking with W Magazine jon said he
knew he looked good Adam looks so damn
good because he'd been training hardcore
for the past six months for those fight
scenes I'm like if he looks so good we
should put him up there
drivers shirtless scene lived on even
after the
we left cinemas thanks to a viral
sensation that came to be known as the
kylo Ren challenge fans internet lurkers
and even John Mayer posted photos of
themselves shirtless wearing the same
kind of eyebrow-raising high-waisted
pants that driver wore for the scene by
far the best part about being in Star
Wars is getting to play around with
lightsabers just ask you and McGregor to
begin with it was quite difficult not to
make the sound yeah because it makes
that nicer Shh
noise kylo Ren's own red lightsaber with
its unique plasma cross guard has
already become one of the sagas most
iconic weapons and drivers said that
this generation of Star Wars actors have
had the privilege of working with the
best lightsabers yet he told The
Telegraph this is the first time that
we're actually fighting with a whole
lightsaber - before it was just the hilt
with something like an antenna or a
green stick but this was
state-of-the-art
it actually sends off light drivers
commitment to lightsaber training earned
his co-stars respect - I was watching at
him and he gives us so for now every
single time but driver himself admits
that throwing himself into his fight
training was a no brainer
it's just rigorous in a great way and
these stunt guys are very disciplined so
you can't half-ass it lucky for the cast
mastering the moves for the force
awakens made preparing for the last Jedi
just a little easier speaking with
scream slam drivers said because we
started last Jedi almost a month after
we finished the force awakens that kind
of vocabulary was still in our bodies so
it made things easier a little bit
faster but the rigor of doing it was
maybe more intense for this one check
out one of our newest videos right here
plus even more looper videos about your
favorite movies are coming soon
subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit
the bell so you don't miss a single one
[Music]