Adam Driver Reflects on Joining ‘Star Wars’ and Filming Han Solo’s Death Scene
It’s been two years since the last time Adam Driver spoke publicly about Star Wars, which is not really surprising considering how much the actor enjoys doing the press tours for his movies (*heavy sarcasm.*) However, Driver recently had a chat with CNN’s Chris Wallace about his decision to join the Star Wars franchise 10 years ago (time flies!) and also his time on set filming the key scene from The Force Awakens where Kylo Ren kills Han Solo.
When asked how he felt about the idea of being a part of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Driver said:
“I took it really seriously and thought about it a lot. I was very on the fence. I was aware that it was a great opportunity and I didn’t want to be in it and be bad. A lot of people were gonna watch it, I was a fan of those movies…”
Wallace then brought up the scene where Kylo Ren kills his legendary father, Han Solo, Driver recalled what it was like knowing that scene was coming and then shooting it:
“Yeah, somebody reminds me about [having killed Harrison Ford] every day. Well, it used to be more [frequently], now it’s probably more like once a month.
I remember shooting that day and it didn’t feel like that at all, obviously. John Williams wasn’t playing in the background. And it was very emotional, actually, shooting it with Harrison. Harrison was so generous and contemplative. To me, that was a great moment on set, even though it was his death.”
Adam Driver is currently promoting Ferrari, which debuts in North American theaters on Christmas Day. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll get more Star Wars talk from him in the coming weeks of course, as he’s been working on a regular basis over the past few years and only does interviews occasionally, and even more rarely talks about his turn as Kylo Ren.
Next in the pipeline, he has Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis and is reportedly in negotiations to star in Michael Mann’s Heat 2. Will he return as Kylo Ren/Ben Solo in the future? At this point, it seems extremely unlikely. Putting aside Driver’s own apprehensions about coming back to a role that had a definitive ending, the only place for such a return would be in the New Jedi Order-era film starring Daisy Ridley — a story that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has said will not feature many Force Ghosts. So don’t hold your breath for more Ben Solo just yet.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
