According to Variety, Adam Driver is in talks to join Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Jodie Comer in the upcoming Ridley Scott film, “The Last Duel.” The screenplay of the film was actually written by Scott, Affleck, and Damon. An intriguing partnership.
The bigger story to me, however, is that this is yet another major push to Driver’s rising star. In August Martin Scorsese called Driver “the best actor of his generation.” Has it come to that? Are we at that stage where we can call him that? I personally don’t think so, but he sure is on his way to becoming just that.
Over the past decade, Driver has worked with Martin Scorsese, Joel Coen, Noah Baumbach, Jim Jarmusch, Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg, Steven Soderbergh, and Terry Gilliam. Jesus. He sure picks ‘em right. How did this happen? Well, for starters, Driver is no slouch to acting, he graduated from Julliard, one of the most prestigious acting schools in the world. And it wasn’t Lena Dunham who discovered him when she cast him as her character’s love interest in “Girls”, but, rather, Clint Eastwood who gave Driver his big break in a minor role in “J. Edgar.”
Is Driver the “actor of his generation” as Scorsese claimed? Quite possibly and the Oscar buzz he is getting for his excellent work in Noah Baumbach’s upcoming “Marriage Story” will no doubt skyrocket his star further upwards. Driver is at that stage in his career where he can be pickier about the roles that he chooses, something that all-too-rarely comes to an actor of his age, or any age, let’s hope he continues to take full advantage of that luxury.
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.