-Our first guest tonight is an Oscar-, Emmy-,
and Tony-nominated actor
you know from films such as "Marriage Story,"
"House of Gucci," and the "Star Wars" franchise.
He stars in "65," which is in theaters Friday, March 10th.
Please welcome back to the show,
our friend Adam Driver, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome back!
-Thank you, thank you, thank you.
-Very, very, very happy to have you here.
-Thanks for having me. -This is one of those
really fun for all ages blockbusters.
I would recommend people see it in the theater.
Do you remember the first time you saw one of these movies
with your family where you got to be a kid
and go out and see one of these
really fun things on a big screen?
-Yeah, mine was -- I think "Star Trek" was the first movie.
The one they go to a planet and they think it's a god.
-Oh, I don't remember -- I don't remember --
I'm glad you kept going, 'cause I'm like,
"I think they go to a planet in all of them."
-Yeah, yeah.
I think William Shatner directed it.
-Okay. -I think it was like
Leonard Nimoy did the one with the whales.
-Okay, you're right. Nimoy was the whales.
-Then after that, I think he directed the one
where you go and they think it's god
and it turns out to be a false prophet.
-Okay, gotcha.
This seems, like, very complicated for your first one.
-That was my first one.
I think I'm getting the dates right, but I was --
that I remember being the first one I saw in the theater.
-And do you remember enjoying it?
-I mean, yeah, I had a great time.
I watched the show, "The Next Generation," with my dad.
-Oh, that's great. -So, I was expecting it to be --
and I knew the William Shatner show
'cause they did the -- or the older one, the original ser--
So, I was expecting it to be that, but it wasn't that at all
so it scared the [bleep] out of me.
-[ Chuckles ] Right. [ Laughter ]
Now, I worry, 'cause, like, you know,
this film, you know, I --
My oldest is almost seven.
And I feel like I've done a bad job.
We haven't shown them enough movies yet,
and so they scare very easily
'cause I don't think they understand the stakes.
We were showing them the first "Paddington,"
and there's a moment where Paddington --
I hope I'm not ruining it. -No, I -- No.
[ Laughter ]
-There's a scene where Paddington has --
they, like, kick him out of the house,
and my oldest was, like, overcome with grief.
And I realized, "Oh, we haven't
taught them that, like, Paddington's" --
I was like, "Paddington's going to be fine."
-Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. -So, is this -- I mean,
is this a film -- have you seen kids see this new film yet?
-No. No.
I invited kids from my building to the premiere part --
[ Audience awws ]
[ Laughter ]
-He charged them for tickets.
[ Laughter ]
-Then I harassed them the whole time.
They didn't like it.
And they had a great time. -That's great.
-My dad actually recorded -- he showed --
this is a non-sequitur,
but he showed me "Old Yeller" when I was young
and Old Yeller gets shot. -Yeah.
-But they get another dog. -Yeah.
-He would record a tape on the VHS, put the tab over the thing,
give it to friends of ours,
but cut the movie... -That's nice.
-...when he shoots the dog and then give it to people.
So you never saw -- -I remember being very upset
the first time I saw "Old Yeller"
and taking it out on my parents for not...
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -And I remember --
You know, my dad was making a point, but you know the story is
about that, like, one, you can replace a dog and you move on.
-Right, right. -And I was like,
"Yeah, but they didn't have to shoot it."
-Right, right, right. -There's another version
where the dog just gets old. -Right, right, right. Yeah.
They didn't have to go so hard with the rabies, right?
Doesn't it get rabies? -They went hard in rabies, yeah.
[ Laughter ] -It was a trope at the time.
-Yeah, rabies was -- Remember simpler times?
When you were a kid,
you were just worried about, like, rabies.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Actually, in this movie we have a quicksand sequence,
which I remember -- which maybe I shouldn't say.
But when I was a kid, there was quicksand everywhere.
Quicksand was very popular. -Yeah, no. I think you're right.
-So much to the point I was worried
that I had to worry about quicksand when I...
-And I'm guessing you didn't grow up in a place
with a lot of quicksand.
-No, no, no. Indiana.
-Yeah. -No quicksand.
-I think they're at almost zero deaths a year from quicksand.
-[ Laughs ] Yeah, yeah.
-Was that -- When you shoot a quicksand scene, is it --
I mean, obviously it's not practical quicksand,
but I'm assuming you can't CGI quicksand.
You've got to be in something.
-Yeah, they put, like, a bunch of cork particles.
That's what they fill -- -Oh, interesting.
-But it's very nice. It's, like, very heated.
-Oh. [ Laughter ]
So, you're saying this might be,
10 years from now, a spa treatment?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's the quicksand close-to-death spa treatment.
-Yeah, I did a quicksand rinse, and I look and feel great.
-Yeah.
My hair is different. -[ Laughs ]
-You know, "Jurassic Park,"
was that a movie you saw when you were...?
-Oh, yeah. "Jurassic Park" was a big one.
-That's fun. And I think, like,
dinosaurs in general, because it's like --
You mentioned you watched "Star Trek"
before you went to see "Star Trek," the TV show.
I think the nice thing for kids is, like, they all --
like, you don't have to introduce dinosaurs to them.
Like, they just know dinosaurs.
It's so funny how much my kids will just come home
and tell me about a new dinosaur,
and I remember the same thing, and I'm like, "When does...?"
Like, at some point, just other kids on the playground
are like, "Hey." -Right. Right.
-"I wanna fill -- There's a lot of different dinosaurs."
-That actually was going on during the --
I got this during the first -- the first part of the pandemic
when everyone was isolated. -Yeah.
-And so I was with my family all the time,
and my son was just telling me everything about every dinosaur.
I knew the basics -- T. rex
and everything that was in "Jurassic Park."
But apart from that -- So, when I got this...
And obviously the themes are obvious in relationship to COVID
that everyone's kind of facing this thing that they don't know.
It's this invisible kind of thing, but it was also big.
It was like dinosaurs and laser guns, and he's into dinosaurs.
I'm like, "I'm in." You know? -Yeah.
-And then we went, and he kind of --
he kind of knew everything.
The guy was, like, introducing, like,
"Oh, this is going to be -- might be a little scary.
Like, don't be scared." He's like, "No."
He's like, "Gallimimus. Paleo--"
He was -- You know, "An eoraptor."
He was naming everything that -- He was really into it.
But he doesn't want to see the movie 'cause he's going to be --
it's too scary. -Really?
-So, I basically made this thing for him to watch
that he has no interest in watching.
-Are you -- [ Laughter ]
Is any part of you worried that the "I'm too scared"
is just a cover for the fact
that he's not a huge fan of yours as an actor?
-Yeah. Yeah, yeah. [ Laughter ]
I tell him, like, "Oh, we're gonna do movies sometimes."
Like, "Oh, that's cool. I hate movies."
[ Laughter ] He hates movies.
All of his friends watch -- -So, is it just --
Like, does he just get anxiety being in a big room?
-He hates them.
We showed -- I finally showed him "Mary Poppins"
as the first movie, and he's like, "Eh, it was okay."
We're like, "Do you want to watch anything else?"
He's like, "No, I'm not interested."
-We also showed our kids "Mary Poppins" during --
Can I make... -This is the original one.
-Yeah. The original for me. Can I make an unpopular opinion?
-Yeah. Yeah. -Could have used a cut. Right?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-"Mary Poppins" is a little bit --
There's stuff you don't remember from "Mary Poppins."
-It's pretty wild, "Mary Poppins."
-It's pretty wild. -The whole sequence when
the guy is laughing and he goes up to the top of the thing.
-Yeah. It's terrifying for kids. -Yeah, yeah. Or adults.
-It's very anti-laughter. -Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
-Alright. I've got a ton more questions.
We'll be right back with more from Adam Driver.