2-Time Oscar Nominee Adam Driver Talks Paper Tiger, Heat 2, SNL & More w/Rich

Adam Driver describes himself as humorless in life. Over one conversation on The Rich Eisen Show, he confirmed his role in Heat 2, explained why Michael Mann once shipped a car worth roughly $90 million just to record it in a tunnel, revealed that he and Steven Soderbergh spent two years on a Kylo Ren movie that never got made, and owned up to impaling a bird on Saturday Night Live harder than the script called for.

He was there, first and foremost, for Paper Tiger, which hits theaters Friday, November 13.

Paper Tiger and the Pull of James Gray

Rich, who grew up on Staten Island, said the film's setting in 1986 Queens felt very familiar, "although I had nothing to do with the Russian mafia when I was growing up." Driver plays Gary Pearl, whose brother is played by Miles Teller.

Driver said he came to the project through the director, James Gray. He had seen Gray's more recent films, Ad Astra and The Lost City of Z, and when Criterion put out a collection of his earlier work, he watched The Yards and We Own the Night. He reached out and told Gray, "Whatever you're doing next, I want to be a part of it."

A year later, Gray sent him this script, which Driver said is more in the vein of We Own the Night and The Yards. What drew him in was Gray's knowledge of the area, since Gray lived that experience. "There's always like a sequence that's really cinematic and awesome," Driver said, pointing to the car chase in We Own the Night. "But at the heart of all of his stories are really great, clearly drawn family dynamics. And those are my favorite kind of movies to be in."

Driver also said he had wanted to play characters closer to home after a run of roles playing people 20 years older. With Gary, "I just knew this person right away. I recognized him." He didn't grow up in New York in the '80s, but "that kind of personality I recognized."

A Reunion With Scarlett Johansson

The cast also includes Scarlett Johansson, who starred with Driver in Marriage Story, one of his Oscar-nominated roles. "There was no breaking the ice," Driver said. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

On the period look, Driver said he worked again with a tailor he knew from Ferrari and Gucci, mixing custom suits with vintage pieces. His main directive was simple: "Stay away from shoulder pads."

Heat 2 and Otis Wardell

Then Rich got to the question he'd been waiting to ask. Is Driver in Heat 2?

"I think I can say who. I play Otis Wardell," Driver said, confirming the long-rumored casting as the film's main antagonist. Then he hedged with a laugh. "I think I can say that. Well, I'll find out pretty soon."

"Heat is a masterpiece," Driver said. "I love Michael. I loved working with him on Ferrari, but working on this, I'm excited. The cast is so awesome." He said production has already started, he joins at the top of December, and he starts shooting at the top of next year.

Rich asked whether the schedule was pushed because of recent news involving Mann. Driver said no, that was already the plan. He texted Mann immediately, "He responded. He was at work the next day." Driver added that he got plenty of texts asking, "Is this your fault?"

Riding Around LA With Michael Mann

Asked how he prepares for such a dark role, Driver said Mann was going to take him to some places related to the script that Friday. Rich confirmed that meant physically driving around Los Angeles. "It's awesome," Driver said.

To explain how specific Mann is, Driver told a story from Ferrari. Mann had to get the actual car, "like a $90 million car," and a big portion of the budget went to shipping it to location "just so we can strap mics to it and run it through a tunnel." The shot isn't even in the movie. "It's just to get the right sound for what that car would sound like going through a tunnel."

Driver said the script is even more condensed than the hit book. "With the film, it's a missile." Driver even offered to let the crew come along. He said it would be him, Mann "and some other dudes," which led to a promise to wear neutral colors.

The SNL Bird

Rich called Driver's SNL appearances spectacular, noting he has hosted four times, which led to a brief mix-up over whether the next milestone comes with a jacket or a robe, and whether they were thinking of the Masters.

Rich's favorite was Abraham H. Parnassus, the elderly oil baron visiting his son's classroom, with Pete Davidson as the son who couldn't keep it together. Driver did. "I'm humorless in life, so it's a one for one transition," he said. "Take it really seriously to the point of annoyance, so I was in the zone."

The prop was a dead bird, killed by oil, and Driver's cane wasn't supposed to spear it. "I think I was supposed to smash it. But then I just got it first try, and then it was about getting it off," he said. Looking back, "I should have gone farther with it."

Driver insisted he rarely pitches anything. He thinks he's come up with maybe two ideas in four hosting stints. "It's easier when it's like somebody else's idea. When it's mine, it's almost too self-conscious." The Undercover Boss sketch with Kylo Ren, he said, was all the writers.

The Kylo Ren Movie That Never Was

Is he done with Kylo Ren? "It's over," Driver said. But he revealed that he and Soderbergh worked "really and earnestly for two years" on another Star Wars film, writing a script with Scott Burns and Rebecca Blunt that he called really good. "But I don't get to decide," he said. The response, he said, was that Kylo is dead. "I think the ship has sailed."

Driver said he didn't expect the fan response, which included "billboards and people flying planes over Disney." He described Soderbergh's speed on set, editing at the hotel bar that evening with anyone free to watch, and having about 30 minutes of a movie assembled by the end of the first week. Rich recalled the time Soderbergh reviewed an entire Super Bowl broadcast as a director for the podcast this show was born out of, which he called one of the greatest things ever.

Will Driver ever reveal the plot? "No. I think I'll just hold on to it and then die with it."

Chris Rock as a Director

Driver also has a film directed by Chris Rock, an A24 release that begins streaming on Netflix on November 9. Driver said he'd reached out to Rock after seeing Top Five, the same way he had with Gray. Rock, he said, is "incredibly unpretentious, smart, funny, obviously, but a real great philosopher" about the industry. "Every time I have a conversation with him, there's a lot to chew on afterwards."

Between a Friday drive with Michael Mann and a Friday release for Paper Tiger, Driver joked that "this is the most I've been out on a Friday night in a long time."