Adam Driver is one of my celebrity crushes so I’m pretty biased when it comes to him. But he is occasionally short-tempered at press events. Most famously, he walked out on Terry Gross a couple of years ago because he didn’t want to listen to a clip of himself from Marriage Story. I think Terry Gross is a manipulative interviewer who likes to push people’s buttons (hot take!) but I also find it mortifying to watch myself on video, so I get where he’s coming from to a degree. But also, my guy, you are a movie actor! You aren’t going to be able to avoid seeing or listening to your performances! Anyway, Adam was at a screening of his movie Ferrari at a film festival in Poland when an audience member asked him a rather backhanded question during a Q&A. They said, “What do you think about [the] crash scenes? They looked pretty harsh, drastic and, I must say, cheesy for me.” Adam took a beat and responded, “F–k you, I don’t know. Next question.” Honestly? It’s kind of iconic.
Adam Driver shut down an audience member’s question at the screening of “Ferrari” at Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival.
“What do you think about [the] crash scenes? They looked pretty harsh, drastic and, I must say, cheesy for me,” the audience member asked Driver during the post-screening Q&A on Sunday. “What do you think?”
Driver simply replied, “Fuck you, I don’t know. Next question.”
Driver attended the cinematography-oriented film festival to accept the Special EnergaCamerimage Award for an Actor, as well as introduce “Ferrari,” one of the entries in the Camerimage Main Competition.
Driver portrays Enzo Ferrari in Michael Mann‘s biographical drama, which follows the life of the legendary sports-car magnate in 1957 as his company prepares to enter the Mille Miglia, a 100-mile, open-road motorsport race. Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Gabriel Leone, Sarah Gadon and Patrick Dempsey also star.
Perhaps the language barrier was to blame, but if you are watching a movie called Ferrari about Ferrari racing…the crash scenes are going to be harsh and over-the-top (and perhaps cheesy). That’s how it’s supposed to be. Racing is an over-the-top, flashy, dramatic sport. It’s not golf. If someone asked me that kind of a question, I’d be tempted to respond the exact same way. This audience member clearly wasn’t asking a question in good faith and just wanted to insult the movie and heckle Adam. Granted, Adam can only get away with responding like this because he is Hollywood’s Golden Boy. He’s worked with Scorsese, Spielberg, Soderbergh, and Spike Lee and they all adore him. He was in Star Wars. He’s been nominated for two Oscars and a bunch of other awards, too. He’s untouchable–although his Disney media training clearly didn’t stick. I’m here for it as long as he only aims his rudeness at snot-nosed hecklers. Go off, Scorpio King.
Adam Driver reacts to someone asking about & criticizing the crash scenes in ‘FERRARI’ as “pretty harsh, drastic and cheesy.”
“Fuck you, I don’t know?” pic.twitter.com/MtmehVa6D3
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) November 12, 2023
Photos credit: Mikolaj Kuras/Avalon, TheNews2/Cover Images and Getty
Lord what a big baby.
Never liked his vibe, like him even less now. Hate this entitled behaviour instead of an intelligent answer
I desperately wanted to like him for a long time, then I gave up….
He’s entitled and easy to annoy, he’s all about ‘The Art’. Get a grip Kylo Ren.
Him and Chalasomething can take a hike, a woman would have been blacklisted for life after she replied that way at a Q&A.
THIS
Accept the criticism without a “fuck you” would be my advice. Not an iconic moment as is. And if an actress said it?
If a woman had said it, her perennial unemployment would have started once she was offstage.
Did he make the crash scenes? It’s not his criticism to accept.
I think I’ll be in the minority here, but IMO , good for him. Just because he’s a celebrity doesn’t mean he should have to suffer rude foolishness. More people need to be told to f*ck off in this world and learn to act right.
I agree. That’s also not a real question — it was just a way of criticizing someone (for something they’re not even responsible for) on camera. If you want to be rude, don’t be shocked if someone responds.
I’m also 100% team Adam for the Terry Gross thing. He’d specifically asked ahead of time just to not have to hear himself (so like, can I take the headphones off if you play clips?) and she knowingly played him a clip of himself right near the start of the interview.
He’s not being rude, he’s just not okay with it when folks are brazenly disrespectful.
Yeah, I mean, he’s a human being. Many actors are great at doing the work but don’t love the promotion side of things, interviews, etc. It wasn’t a real question & doesn’t deserve grace. And for what it’s worth, that was a dismissive “f*ck you.” Mr. Bathory is from New York & saying “f*ck you” can range from acknowledging a good joke to starting a fight.
I agree, he had nothing to do with the special effects.
I don’t think he’s really untouchable, by any means.
And here, proper media training would have gone a long way. He could have said what you said here – “racing is an over the top, flashy, dramatic sport and the scenes reflect that.”
Instead he said “eff you” which just comes across as petulant and obnoxious.
Yep. Some media training could help indeed. It sounded harsher in writing than in the video, I think, but that’s just not how you should interact with the a member of the audience…in a Q&A session. Where you get questions, unsurprisingly. He could have just talked about the Director’s vision or something. Or that crashes are an integral part of a movie about Ferrari and diminishing the hard reality that comes with that world could also have been problematic. There are better answers than “F*** you”…
How about some audience training? All this “media training” is just turning people into automatons spitting out pablum. I’d much rather get an actor’s true response in a situation like this than some publicist approved garbage.
because its a Q&A and he should not expect that every question is going to be blowing smoke up his ass.
But I freely admit I think he’s an awful actor and don’t understand all the love he gets on here.
Adam Driver is my celebrity crush (Carina, my friend and I are apparently going to have to divide him into 3)! But I sense that he can be arrogant and it shows here. Man, this response was not it.
He went to an event, took questions, and then told the person asking to F off? So no one gets to ask questions except if they are blowing smoke up your ass about your amazing performance? You’d rather they hide behind the internet?
Sorry, f— you is a beautiful, versatile phrase that relies entirely on delivery. He’s not angry–maybe a bit irritated for being asked to give an opinion on something that has nothing to do with his personal work (crash scene editing, it seems). But he definitely has spent too many years in NYC! Around there, it’s as casual as breathing.
So… not the most professional reply, but I laughed.
Yes, he sounds chill and confused.
Agreed. “On paper” the idea of respondingto Q&A with “Eff you” seems terrible. But his tone on the video read to me like “what the hell do you want me to say?”
And I agree that just because someone is an audience member shouldn’t guarantee respect. That was a crappy question, easily converts to “I think this aspect of the movie sucks, do you also think that the other professionals that worked hard on this film with you lacked skills?”
It sounds like the audience laughed too. Everyone knew that wasn’t a real question.
He is one of my celeb crushes too.
He’s joli-laid and just such a tremendous actor. He is good in everything and he feels the real heart of all his characters. You have shrieking Leo and Pacino whom I also like but Driver shape shifts.
This is the kind of cr*p people who aren’t white or male have to deal with all the time. And he gave this heckler exactly what they wanted. Welcome to the world the rest of us live in.
Fair enough, but he IS a white male so in some ways he is showing his privilege too? As someone else mentioned, imagine if a female or black actor had just said “eff you” to an (admittedly kind of obnoxious) question/comment.
With the way the question is worded, it sounds like he was asking, “What do you think about the fact that I hated the car crashes in the movie you acted in?”
Which…I mean, I would be confused by that question too. Like, “what does that have to do with me, exactly?”
Anyway, the organizers of the film festival already put out a statement backing up Adam Driver.
Exactly! Maybe it’s a language issue, but that’s exactly how the question sounded. So I interpreted Driver’s response as “I guess ‘f**k you’ would be my answer? Is that what you’re wanting??” It makes the q&a feel like sitting-at-the-bar chitchat — familial, not petulant at all. I think we’re in the minority here, though :/
I dislike AD’s response. The audience member clearly is not an English speaker and isn’t entirely fluent in English. AD is n a foreign country and he must know that when people don’t entirely speak the language, it can come over harsher than what they meant. The guy said that he didn’t like the crash scene and added that this was how he himself (the audience member) saw it—explaining that it was his personal viewpoint. I have no idea how often Driver speaks in languages other than English, but here he acted like a jerk.
This wasn’t a language-barrier issue though, and the Q&A isn’t a place for personal reviews. “How do you feel about me not liking your movie?” is not a serious question.
Kirsten, I think language barrier is a bit too far, but it’s more of a nuance thing.
As to the crash thing: For instance I have been forced against my will to watch very rich guys drive very polluting cars some Sundays of my life, because there’s this dude named Max Verstappen who is distressingly popular here. There’s a Netflix show on Formula 1, but if you watch it, it’s like they add way extra drama, extra sounds, and it’s unrealistic. (I can’t watch that either.) I think the guy in the audience was trying to make that kind of a point.
So rude. Wasn’t going to see this movie anyway, though.
Nah, that dude was rude as fuck. He wasn’t looking for any kind of answer, just to bitch about something in the movie he didn’t like. The kind of dude making “more than a comment that a question” that’s usually in every Q&A, so in my opinion he got an appropriate answer to his foolishness.
Not to mention that Adam is clearly not angry, he’s half joking and wanting to get out of that “question”.
I think Adam Driver is a thin skinned jerk.
Really gross behavior, IMO. You’re making millions and you have to do some publicity. Poor f*cking baby. Get over it.
I feel the same. Partly because I have this residual reaction to Marriage Story, which I thought was one of the most overhyped, empty films in recent years. I am probably very much on my own in this opinion. I get the feeling he is one of those actors who believe their own hype (I give you Tilda Swinton) and put themselves above normal interaction at points.
You’re not alone, I couldn’t stand that insipid snooze fest and frankly, AD gives me the creeps. I won’t be surprised if we learn he’s not nice to women.
As for his response here, I can’t believe people can support this while missing the irony of saying the audience member, who didn’t seem to speak English as their first language, should have acted better.
The actor promoting their work is supposed to be aspirational. He could have been both genuine and not coddling, while not resorting to FU. “Not sure what your question is, it seems worded more as your opinion on the movie, I’m going to move on but get back to me if you have a question about the movie!”
It was an odd question. It’s a movie about a car race, titled Ferrari no less, what kind of car wrecks did he expect to see? Or did he expect none at all? Not a great response but not the end of the world, either.
Oh Lord, the names he would be called if he was a woman. I have seen hundreds of videos actresses get stupid and/or disrespectful questions. Even when they shut down the question, they do it in a matter of fact, diplomatic way. It really surprised me when I read mostly positive comments from people to Adam Driver swearing off to a question in a press tour. If an actress did the same thing, I am pretty sure she would be a target of online hate campaign for years. Good to be a man, I guess.
If an actress had done that, she wouldn’t work anymore afterwards.
Really agree.
He was “difficult” and “demanding.”
I was much more excited about Nia Hill (Bill Burr’s wife) giving the double bird to Donald Trump. Now THAT’S a well deserved FU.
That’s also the proper power dynamic, a comedians wife to a former president who’s running again, whereas this is the actor of much power to random audience member. AD was just mean and lazy.
Some stans working so hard to give him an out. How about: Fuck you is never an acceptable answer in these situations? Period. Example: a high school student in class said my legs looked fat in my dress. I guarantee you that if fu came out of my mouth I’d be in the superintendent’s office under a number of charges. No one would think I was cool or hot. And I was never paid the obscene amounts he probably is. So just no.
I still haven’t forgotten that according to the Portuguese actor Lídia Franco he was really rude and a jerk to her. I believed her back then and his inappropriate response here only adds to this.
I don’t think he’s all that as an actor and to me, he comes off as pretentious and arrogant.
Utterly unprofessional. YOU HAVE ONE JOB, and I’m pretty sure alienating audiences is NOT part of the job description. Particularly in a “looks casual but unmistakeably IS professional” setting.
He was terrible in Star Wars..and he gives an off vibe.
I don’t understand the hype this guy gets here. He’s so full of himself, and I just can’t believe him as a serious actor. Here believes himself as one, though. He seems insufferable. And he was absolute crap in Star Wars and painful to watch in his screamy-marriage movie with Scarlett.
Not very professional.
You could see his days of a Marine in that answer. Once a Marine, always a Marine. My friends that are Marines answer questions like that. I always tell them that is not an answer. 🙂
I think there were two language barriers during this Q&A.