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-Hey, everybody. Welcome back to "Late Night"!
[ Cheers and applause ] We're here with Adam Driver.
That was a clip from "65."
This film take place 65 million years in the past.
-Yes.
-Where do you shoot a movie like that?
Like, where are we living now that best looks like that?
-Oddly, Louisiana. [ Laughter ]
-Okay, good. That's no comment on Louisiana.
-Right, right, no. -A very robust film --
-Yeah, yeah, not the red-light district or the French Quarter.
[ Laughter ] -The French Quarter, yeah.
-Yeah, oddly, the French Quarter in New Orleans.
[ Laughter ]
No, it's, like in the swamps out near New Orleans.
-Okay. -That's what they --
Or at least I was told by somebody
that it was the closest thing to prehistoric Earth.
Then we went to Oregon. -Okay.
-Yeah, to shoot the big trees, the redwoods.
-Oh, very good. So, ultimately, if you can
combine Louisiana and Oregon,
you basically have 65 million years ago.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. [ Laughter ]
Or I guess the redwoods are more North --
Eh, somewhere in Oregon. I can't remember where we were.
Actually, I should remember where we were.
We were there for a long time. [ Laughter ]
But, yes, the combination of those things.
-But you were so deep in character, like,
it wasn't Oregon to you. -Exactly, thank you, thank you.
[ Laughter ] Yeah.
It was 65 million years ago. [ Laughter ]
-How could you possibly remember something
that happened that long ago? -Right, right, right.
-You also -- we were just talking during the break
that you got to work with two directors who've --
I was gonna say I love, but I think everybody loves --
Michael Mann. -Yeah.
-And Francis Ford Coppola. -Yeah.
-When you go in -- [ Cheers and applause ]
-Yeah, yeah.
-Do you go into things like that differently?
Are you thinking -- Or do you try to
get yourself out of your head and know it's, like,
the same kind of work you want to do on every movie?
Even when you're working with legends.
-I think it's a bit of both. They also are people
who are so disarming that you don't really --
the legend of them or what you relate to them and their movies
and how, you know, how much their films have meant to you,
where you replay moments,
it kind of goes away really quickly.
'Cause they're just, you know, they're people who are just --
So you pretty -- you find a rhythm, I think, easily.
Most -- with directors like that who are really good,
they are really disarming because they want the best
out of what it is that you give them.
-Right. I think they would obviously
know from their long careers that if you walk around
like a legend, they're not gonna get the best work out of people.
-Yeah, you drop your movies on the floor.
[ Laughter ]
No, they want --
You know, they want the best out of you.
So there really can't be a distance between you and them.
And they bring their ev-- so much of themselves to a set,
and you, I think, have to do the same.
-You -- I know you put a lot of work before you start a movie
and then the work you put into a movie while you're filming it.
But I've also heard that as, soon as it's over,
you like to move on. -Yeah.
-I mean, I will say, I'm not doing
the same kind of work here, but we do the same thing, right?
I'm never like, "I'm gonna go watch Monday's show."
It's like you move -- -Right, right.
-Is that why -- Do you just feel like
it's important because you don't want the previous work
to get in the way or to clutter the next?
-Maybe that, but it's also the --
I can't control it. It's not my movie
that I'm directing, and acting is so much a service industry.
So you go in and do as much as you possibly can with what --
the time and budget and the director, you know,
and all of the elements kind of allow,
and then I try to -- It's like a protective mechanism --
just move on to the next thing and try not to think about it
'cause I can't control it.
And I don't want to get involved in trying to tell someone else
about what their movie should be.
If there's an inherent trust with them where you're like,
"This is your film," you know, "I'm fulfilling one role of it,
and whatever you want to make it, that's up to you,"
then I kind of don't want to get involved, you know, emotionally
with "Why'd you pick that take?" -It's a very Zen thing.
Did you find that from the beginning,
that idea of just letting go when you're done?
Or did you have to find your way to it?
-A bit of both. I did a lot of theater
beforehand where you can't take it with you,
obviously, every night, and it only exists
how you felt about it when you did it.
And to me, that was enough of a good yardstick
when we're shooting to know if it's going well.
I'm like, "Okay. I know what it feels like internally.
I shouldn't worry about what it looks like externally."
But then I saw some of the things I did and I hated them.
[ Laughter ]
And you wind up putting not only yourself through this
kind of really boring, like, you know,
overpretentious kind of thing of asking --
you know, of asking everybody else around it.
And then you kind of got to watch it four times
to divorce that it's you who's doing it, you know?
To really, "Okay. I remember what we were doing,
why I made that choice."
So, it's like, it's just exhausting.
I try to just, like, do everyone around me a favor
by letting it go as much as possible.
[ Laughter ] -Very selfless.
-Yeah. Well... -This is obviously --
This movie feels very unique to the work you've done
up to this point. Are there other --
Is that sort of what you're looking for?
Is there something out there --
Because, again, I feel like you've had a lot of diversity
in the sort of things you've done.
Is there something left that you really want to do?
The kind of movie or kind of role?
-Um, yeah.
Anything that's different always interests me.
And the people that are making it is a big part of it.
Big budgets or small budget.
I know it's like a very cliché answer,
but the older you get, I feel like,
then you kind of want to be home more,
and things that are interesting to you before
don't really interest you now.
So, I just want to be home and not --
[ Laughter ]
This is where this answer is going.
That's not what I mean to say.
[ Laughter ] "I don't want to work."
-Your agent's gonna be like, "Adam, baby!
What are you doing?!" [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Well, I will tell you that I --
-Anything is really -- anything that's gonna expect it to be.
Not to answer -- [ Laughter ]
Trying to dig my way out of this answer.
Something that's funny. You know, do the opposite.
I'll play the comet in the movie next.
[ Laughter ]
That chases the dinosaur.
Help me out of this answer. -I'm just gonna say, that I --
You know, there are certain actors
that when they choose a role, I have confidence that,
you know, it's the right thing.
And you've always been someone for that.
I'm always excited to see what you choose.
-That's very nice. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Thanks for being here, man. It's always such a pleasure.
Adam Driver. "65" in theaters everywhere this Friday.
We'll be right back with Adam Brody.