Five Minutes with Adam Driver

Fresh off the premiere of House of Gucci and his participation in the new Burberry Hero fragrance campaign, Adam Driver spoke with L'OFFICIEL about the role of costumes in cinema and its relationship with fashion and scents. The campaign, overseen by Riccardo Tisci as Creative Director, was launched this November with a film directed by Jonathan Glazer and photographs by Mario Sorrenti. 

L'OFFICIEL: What do you think the choice of wardrobe contributes to when playing a role?

Adam Driver: The wardrobe is very important, it does something to your physique: it has to coincide with where the character is. He says so much without saying anything. The complicated thing about cinema, or rather the challenging thing, is that you have an hour or two to tell the story of a lifetime that is being lived. Although the wardrobe in Paterson is not as extravagant as in Gucci, it is just as important, there is something in the idea of ​​someone who has a routine and is consistent and disciplined in their routine: this is the lunch that you take, walk down this street every day, she wears a uniform that doesn't vary as much from the clothes she wears in her life outside of work. It reflects what the character is. He has an established discipline and routine, but when it comes to creating something, he is abstract and elusive. The same goes for the Gucci character, which attempts to reflect the character's journey. So at first his clothes are dissonant, it is not Gucci, it does not fit him and all that reflects where the character is in his life: people tell him what he is going to do and he has no real control. And then as he starts to integrate into the family, his outfits get slimmer, his hair is shorter, everything is sharper, and it looks more like a costume, because it's not something that comes naturally to him. By the end of the movie, his clothes are a bit more relaxed, his hair is longer, his glasses are more rounded. Of course, acting plays a big part, but costumes are essential to tell the story of a life.

L'O: Did you participate in the creative process around the costumes?  Do you wear movie costumes later in your everyday life?

AD: Yes, I have been lucky enough to work with great costume designers. Creating a character has a lot to do with the visual, so I am very involved in the clothes they wear.  And I keep things from the movies all the time. Nothing that I wear in my daily life. In fact, I have Star Wars helmets and if I put them on to go to the bank or the supermarket, I would probably be arrested or high-fived, who knows (laughs).

L'O: What was your relationship with brands and/or the fashion universe before accessing them?

AD: It was not very related. It just wasn't part of my upbringing as a person. I grew up in the Midwest, Indiana. Gucci or Burberry were things that I really didn't have access to, they just weren't part of my world. And now that they are, I have nothing but appreciation for something that is made with specificity and quality.

L'O: Burberry is a traditional brand but also avant-garde.  In what aspects do you consider yourself traditional and in what aspects do you consider yourself avant-garde?

AD: I don't know if it's up to me to say that my way of thinking is avant-garde or that I look ahead, I feel like I'm looking back in many areas (laughs). I think the way I consider myself traditional is that I was lucky to have a traditional training as an actor. I went to a school that was specifically about training you to be a classic stage actor who travels the world and only acts on stage. That was the curriculum design at Julliard: being a repertory theater actor, nothing in relation to cinema. What I believe, and this is not exclusive to me as an actor, is that you have to be open to not knowing anything. You have the technique, but technique is what works for you when you are in trouble and you really need to rely on something to help you get to a certain point. Beyond that, you have to be able to adapt to the conditions of the set, the people you're working with, the locker room. You cannot lose yourself in the way you work and I try to embody this philosophy in life, because otherwise you are closed to a whole culture that perhaps has a different opinion, that has a different way of doing things that is not necessarily correct or wrong. It is unique, different from yours and I think that is the exercise of being an actor. I don't think that makes me avant-garde at all. In any case, it is thanks to my traditional training that I learned not to have a correct answer about anything.

L'O: How does it feel to be a part of the Burberry Hero campaign?

AD: It's exciting to work with people who are...exciting (laughs) It's new to them and it's new to me. They are a consolidated brand that represents quality and specificity, and at the same time simplicity. And they are doing something new that is not related to the tradition of their company.  While Jonathan Glazer was filming this, it seemed to me that the ideas and images that came to him were truly unique. And it required work, it was not a thing where the actor comes in, shoots a one-day commercial, and retires. You had to be, you had to interact with the idea. It was exciting that everyone was doing something new and that there was also the possibility that it would be a disaster (laughs).

L'O: Do you have any rituals or experiences around fragrances?

AD: It's not something I thought about before going through this process. Again, another great thing about being an actor is that now I know more about it and it's on my mind. But no, I don't have anything specific. I just try to bathe as much as possible (laughs) and not give off the wrong smell.

L'O: What scent brings back memories and why?

AD: Firewood burned on the beach is an aroma that always attracts me, because when I was a kid—I lived in San Diego until I was seven—and every Friday my family went to the beach in San Diego, Coronado and we made a big bonfire, and we ate hot dogs. It was a great moment in my life.

L'O: A scent that you would like to keep forever?

AD: I think I could say if you set something on fire, I'm sure I'm going to be interested in that (laughs). It would probably be less about the fire and more about the food, to be honest. I feel like I have a lot of memories around food, for example, Thanksgiving dinner in this country is a great memory.