Adam Driver and Lena Dunham were co-stars in the series Girls. But Dunham was more than Driver’s colleague. Behind the scenes, she was writing, directing, and producing Girls. She was also inspiring the future Star Wars actor. As a multi-faceted piece of the Girls puzzle, there’s one thing Driver learned from Dunham while working on the HBO series.
Adam Driver and Lena Dunham played a couple on ‘Girls’
Dunham played Hannah Horvath, the protagonist in the HBO series. Girls followed Hannah as she navigated the relationships she had with herself and her friends. The show also examined Hannah’s ever-changing bond with love, work, and everything in between.
Driver was her on-again-off-again counterpart, Adam Sackler — a role Dunham is glad Driver won’t go down for in history. Zosia Mamet, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, and Andrew Rannells were also part of the cast.
Though their on-screen chemistry was evident, Driver and Dunham never dated in real life. Driver met his wife, Joanne Tucker, while he was studying at Juilliard. Ironically, Tucker appeared in the season 5 episode of Girls, “Hello Kitty.” Tucker played Ruthie in the episode, who acted with Adam in a play.
‘Girls’ made Adam Driver a local celebrity
Before he became known worldwide as Kylo Ren in Star Wars, Driver was known more locally as Adam Sackler. “In my neighborhood, a lot of people watch HBO,” Driver told the Irish Times in 2017. Both he and Dunham lived in Brooklyn Heights, New York at the time.
Star Wars hits a different audience. “Seven-year-olds to 70-year-olds,” as Driver described. Still, Driver is grateful for his time working on Girls, taking one lesson in particular from Dunham herself.
Adam Driver ‘loved’ working with Lena Dunham’s ‘specific writing’
During an interview with the late Larry King, Driver talked about working with Dunham and Judd Apatow on the HBO series. “I love [working with Lena]” Driver said. “She’s very specific in her writing and she’s very open with creating a space for everyone to try anything they want to.”
Working on Girls, Driver said there was never any kind of pressure on the cast to get things right in a certain amount of time. Instead, the actors had the freedom to interpret scenes and make them their own.
When asked about the impact Dunham has made on women and the entertainment industry as a whole, Driver had this to say: “[She has] given a lot of people a platform and feel empowered to create things.”
Lena Dunham inspired Adam Driver to process his experiences better
Having worked with Dunham for five years on Girls, Driver had the opportunity to learn a thing or two from the writer and director. “Lena is a great writer,” Driver relayed to the Irish Times. “She’s a good thief, also: she’s very aware of her environment and is very good about processing her experience of something immediately.”
That ability to process experiences is something Driver feels he needs more time “to get distance on [in order to] look back and have an opinion.” Meanwhile, Driver says Dunham can form an opinion as she works. “Which I think is a rare ability” — one the Star Wars actor admires.
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