Adam Driver on Playing Enzo Ferrari in New Biopic

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You know Driver from movies like “House of Gucci,” “Star Wars,” ” BlacKkKlansman,” “Marriage Story” and many more. I spoke with him about making “Ferrari” and what he draws on from his own life.

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AMANPOUR: Adam Driver, welcome to our program.

DRIVER: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

AMANPOUR: How difficult was it for you to play Enzo? Well, I mean, I feel the pressure with every job. This one was — you know, because he was such an Italian icon, an automotive icon, but largely because it was Michael. What I liked about the character is that Michael’s version of him was that he was a racer first, so he was calm on the surface but had a constant engine going on underneath. And what I love about Michael and his films is that I feel like they’re accessible to everyone.

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DRIVER: If you get into one of my cars, you get in to win.

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DRIVER: But they’re not dumbed down where he insults his audience’s intelligence by telling them everything. You have to — you do have to do work as an audience member. It’s not necessarily a character that’s easily accessible or likable, which I think is more true to how things are in life. So — and just these moments in his films that are just, you know, incredible cinema, just beautiful moving images.

AMANPOUR: Well, that’s for damn sure. It’s a very beautiful look, and Michael Mann, you’re talking about the director, just for our audience. I guess before I get to one of these pieces of beautiful cinema and a clip, I want to ask you what is it about Michael Mann? Just for our audience, tell us what are the films, what is it about what he does? You’ve told us about not dumbing down and, you know, really making the audience work, and you love his genre. Just give us a few that you really liked and made you want to do this.

DRIVER: Well, I’ve actually — after working with him, I’ve gone — when I went back while we were shooting and watching his films, I see Michael in all his films. I see him in “Heat” and “The Insider” and “Last of the Mohicans” and “Thief” and the common thread, I would say largely, you know, externally, there are a lot about process and obsession and commitment, speaking generally in big things. But as an actor, I was surprised on how much Michael is interested internal life. In almost 90 percent of his notes are internal life. He doesn’t, you know, waste time with a lot of characters coming on film and explaining everything that they feel, which I feel is often you kind of get in scripts. You can’t guess. There’s no ambiguity. You have to, as a character, say everything that you feel. And I think that’s why his movies are so rich, and he has such a sharp attention to detail and he is relentless in this — in a quest for authenticity.

AMANPOUR: Tell me what sort of scenes here match that. I mean, you know, really the authenticity, knowing without actually telling you in terms of this film.

DRIVER: Right. In this film there — you know, the engine sounds is something that he is very particular about. So, a lot of — some of the cars were the real thing. And he would get — you know, these are like $70 million — $50 dollar — you know, $50 million cars that were shipped there and nine mics were strapped to them and driven down the tunnel because you can’t replicate the engine. You kind of have to have the real thing. So, even in watching it, you get the — we can’t use the engine sounds of the cars that were crashing in the film, so that kind of specificity, and not just recording it sitting idle on a tarmac, actually taking it down a tunnel so you can get the sound bouncing off the buildings is a perfect example in our movie.

AMANPOUR: That’s amazing. And you yourself are known to be equally passionate about getting things right, about immersing yourself in roles. I don’t know, are you method? How do you describe what you do and how you get totally into the characters?

DRIVER: You know, for me, it’s kind of like — it’s not method, it’s — you know, it’s kind of like moving to a new country, and I felt this way about theater, you move to a new country and you have to adjust to the time. So, if you’re in London, I’m here, if I went to London, it’s the time out, the difference is five hours. For the first couple days, it would feel — I feel tired. But then after a few days, just naturally by osmosis, you start to adjust to the time and it becomes natural. The same thing with the character. I load up on as much information as I can, really to just control anxiety as much as possible. So, I feel like there’s not a stone that I haven’t overturned. And then you move to a country, which is usually a film. And then it’s awkward for a couple days. And then, just naturally from wearing the costumes or being on set or the other actors or a piece of technical thing or direction that Michael has given you, then suddenly just being in that person’s shoes literally for, you know, 14 hours a day, for months on end, naturally you just kind of adjust. Your body adjusts, your mindset adjusts, and it’s my favorite part of acting. It’s, you know, forced empathy for, you know, three or four months, sometimes a year, if you’re including prep, in your life, you know. So, that for me —

AMANPOUR: Yes.

DRIVER: It’s not — it’s kind of unconscious, in a way.