DIRECTOR DRIVEN,
For Adam Driver, the challenges of a role, however demanding, are never the point.
Yes, in Martin Scorsese’s “Silence” he dropped “51 pounds” to play a 17th century fugitive Jesuit missionary in anti-Catholic Japan.
And, yes, he spent weeks learning how to parallel park a city bus to get the license to play a bus driver in Jim Jarmusch’s “Paterson.” But since his breakthrough role in HBO’s “Girls” as Lena Dunham’s on-and-off boyfriend, “My movie choices post-‘Girls’ are always based on the directors,” Driver, 33, said from his Brooklyn Heights home.
“Sometimes they’re wildly different characters (from ‘Girls’) and that’s great to play in different modes. But really it’s just directorbased; it’s a director’s medium.”
Asked if learning to actually drive a bus had him flashing back to Jackie Gleason’s “Honeymooners” bus driving Ralph Kramden, the ex-Marine laughed.
“Now I understand why he was so stressed. I always marvel at people who learn how to drive a car in New York.
“But to learn how to parallel park a bus in Queens? That definitely tests your patience. Your turning is so big, your vehicle so heavy. There are bridges all over that you have to make sure you can fit under. “The driving instructor is very nervous because he’s got a lot of close calls with crazy people who are just taking their tests. So he’s already on edge.”
Still, as the bus driver named Paterson who works and lives in Paterson, N.J., Driver found it “just refreshing to play someone whose main action is to listen.
“Paterson just listens to everybody. His responses were always to meet characters in this movie with curiosity and be of interest — as opposed to judgment. I thought that was really a beautiful thing.
“Any event that happens is seemingly big, but it’s actually not a big event. I liked that it is very much about beauty in the details.” (“Paterson” opens Friday.)