When Adam Driver is done filming a movie, he is done. The House of Gucci actor does not even join his castmates for the post-shoot afterparty. Although he enjoyed working with director Ridley Scott, he said he could not wait to stop playing Maurizio Gucci because the character’s personality was so different from his own. Driver was in both Scott-directed films released in 2021, as he also starred alongside Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in The Last Duel.
In his interview for W Magazine‘s issue about the best movie actors of 2021, Driver was asked about making so many movies during the coronavirus pandemic. Aside from the two Scott movies, he also starred in Leos Carax’s musical Annette. As a Juilliard-trained actor, Driver said he loves the “discipline” that performing in plays instilled in him. Of the three movies he made this year, House of Gucci was the “most difficult,” he said because he doesn’t live in the same luxurious world as the Gucci family did.
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“The way he picks up things that are valuable and discards them, the way he is the most elegant man-those qualities were interesting to think about,” Driver said. “But after 14 hours a day of being a Gucci, I was ready for it to be over. In general, I leave jobs immediately. I haven’t been to a wrap party since Girls. I just want to get the character out of my system and go home.”
Although it sounds like Driver might have been frustrated with making House of Gucci, Driver had nothing but good things to say about working with Scott. “He uses four cameras at a minimum, and it’s like theater-in-the-round. He draws his own storyboards, and the productions move very fast,” Driver told W Magazine. “He doesn’t lose momentum over a meaningless detail.”
House of Gucci tracked the love story between Maurizio and Patrizia Reggiani, played by Lady Gaga, and how that ultimately played a role in the Gucci family’s downfall after Patrizia ordered Maurizio’s assassination. Jared Leto starred as Maurizio’s cousin Paolo Gucci, while Al Pacino played Maurizio’s uncle Aldo Gucci. Jeremy Irons played Maurizio’s father Rodolfo Gucci.
While Driver couldn’t wait to say goodbye to Maurizio as soon as possible, Gaga needed to go through a process before leaving Patrizia behind. “On the last day of filming, I was on the balcony of my apartment in Rome, and I was blasting Dean Martin singing ‘Mambo Italiano,’ and I had a cigarette hanging out of my mouth. I was Patrizia,” Gaga told W Magazine in her own interview. “But I knew I had to say goodbye to her: Large swarms of flies kept following me around, and I truly began to believe that she had sent them. I was ready to let her go.”
House of Gucci is expected to be a major player at the Oscars, despite the mixed response from critics. Gaga and Leto were both nominated for their performances by the Screen Actors Guild. The cast was also nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast. The SAG Awards air on TNT and TBS on Feb. 27. Gaga and Leto also picked up nominations from the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.
