Troubling Details About Adam Driver’s Behavior on ‘Girls’ Set Revealed in Lena Dunham’s Memoir

It seems Adam Driver’s behavior on set wasn’t too far off from the unpredictability of his Girls character, at least according to accounts from show creator Lena Dunham’s new memoir. The writer and actress shared details of what she called disturbing and unprofessional antics from her on-screen love interest throughout their time taping the HBO coming of age dramedy.

Variety reports that Dunham, who was 24 years old at the time she helmed the series, wrote that she was unsure of how to handle Driver’s behavior. By the end of filming, she said she disassociated in order to get through scenes but remained uncomfortable.

Girls, which ran on HBO from 2012 to 2017, starred Dunham as writer Hannah Horvath and Driver as her toxic on-again, off-again boyfriend, also named Adam, played by Driver. She says their issues began in the debut season of the show. He starred on and off for five seasons.

Dunham writes that her “careful blocking went out the window and he hurled me this way and that” during their first sex scene. “Stunned, I couldn’t speak for a moment, unsure of what had happened — had I lost directorial authority, allowed the scene to go off the rails, not given proper instructions? Would I be removed from my command post immediately?” she writes. “It wasn’t that I felt violated — and I also wouldn’t know if I had, as there was little in my sexual life that I hadn’t allowed to happen, and for no pay. But I felt that something intimate, confusing and primal had played out in a scenario I was meant to control.”

She also alleges that Driver walked out of the room after she showed him the pilot episode and “didn’t answer any of my calls for the next three weeks.” She expected him to quit the show but says he admitted that he rushed out because he hates watching himself on screen.

She recalls one instance with Driver where he grew frustrated with her for forgetting her lines during rehearsal and alleges he “hurled a chair at the wall next to me.” She writes: “I remember doing a fight scene with Adam and how scary it was to meet someone so totally present with such absence. “Late one night, as we practiced lines in my trailer, I found that mine were suddenly gone. I knew I’d written them. I’d known them only minutes before. But when I opened my mouth, all that came out was a stammer — until finally, Adam screamed, ‘FUCKING SAY SOMETHING’ and hurled a chair at the wall next to me. ‘WAKE THE FUCK UP,’ he told me. ‘I’M SICK OF WATCHING YOU JUST STARE.’”

She says she spent much of their time together wondering if he liked her. While he was difficult to work with at times, she says he had an understanding of her, regardless of whether she liked his delivery. “He could be short-tempered and verbally aggressive, condescending and physically imposing. He could also be protective, loving even,” Dunham writes. Later in the book, she even claims that he once “punched a hole in his trailer wall” because he “hated his new haircut.” When filming wrapped, Dunham says Driver told her “I hope you know I’ll always love you” before saying goodbye.