Though the best Adam Driver movies are often dramas or comedies, the actor is known by most for playing Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. However, the actor has portrayed different characters during his 10-year big-screen career, collaborating with indie directors and renowned auteurs, national and international alike. Before reaching worldwide fame thanks to Star Wars, Driver had already acted in movies by acclaimed directors such as Steven Spielberg and Noah Baumbach. Still, at the time, his most prominent role had been in television, where Adam Driver starred in Lena Dunham’s Girls as her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Adam Sackler.
His ongoing career as a screen actor started around the same time as his television and Broadway careers. Driver’s first role on Broadway was that of Frank Gardner in Mrs. Warren’s Profession. 2021 was one of Driver’s busiest years, with Leos Carax’s Annette and Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel and House Of Gucci all hitting theaters. With Driver working on indie gems and blockbuster movies alike, and his big screen career clearly flourishing, looking back at all his previous acting roles remains interesting thanks to the diversity.
30. Annette (2021)
- Streaming now on Prime Video
Leos Carax’s dreamlike and dark musical Annette received praise for its actors’ performances. The musical follows the complicated relationship of a jet-set couple, Henry and Ann, and how it changes when their daughter Annette is born. The child is portrayed by a wooden puppet, and the movie’s tragic approach to telling the story resulted in a mixed reaction from the audience. However, the movie received critical acclaim and Adam Driver picked up the Best Actor nomination from the César Awards.
29. Bluebird (2013)
- Rent now on Prime Video & Apple TV
The premise of the 2013 drama, which examines the reactions of inhabitants of a small town in Maine after a tragedy happens, showed promise. Nevertheless, the film only touches upon the themes of guilt and division in the community without thoroughly examining them, despite focusing precisely on how the town reels from the tragedy. Compared to other Adam Driver movies, he has only a small role as the victim child’s mother’s love interest. Critics praised the movie for its atmosphere.
28. Midnight Special (2016)
- Rent now on Prime Video & Apple TV
The 2016 sci-fi drama from Jeff Nichols focuses on a dad and his child with special powers on the run from the police and the cult they previously lived with. Driver plays an NSA analyst that tries to sort out where the two are heading, a minor role that is nevertheless central to its ending. Like many Adam Driver movies, it was praised by critics, with an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising its Steven Spielberg influences. Its ending is also satisfying and similar in ways to E.T. The Extraterrestrial.
27. Hungry Hearts (2014)
- Stream now on AMC
The 2014 Italian drama follows couple Jude and Mina and their family life in New York City after their son is born. Their parenting styles are different, with Mina endangering the child. The movie is deeply disturbing, and its ending does not leave viewers with anything, save perhaps for sadness, the only possible emotion after watching characters hurting each other in the worst possible ways. Driver and Rohrwacher’s performances are superb, for which they both won the Coppa Volpi at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.
26. 65 (2023)
- Currently still in theaters
This is among the Adam Driver movies that should have been a sure-fire hit and a critic-proof big-budget release. 65 was an original sci-fi movie that mixed the idea of space travel with dinosaurs. The movie did something curious and revealed the twist in the trailers that this was a sci-fi movie in Earth's past, with a spaceman battling dinosaurs, possibly the biggest selling point. What resulted was 65 bombing at the box office. It also had negative reviews from critics and ended up a disappointment when it comes to one of Adam Driver's rare leading man performances.
25. J. Edgar (2011)
- Rent now on Prime Video & Apple TV
Clint Eastwood’s biopic about FBI director J. Edgar Hoover isn’t one of the stronger Adam Driver movies, but it does focus on Hoover’s hypothesized homosexuality in a previously unseen way. The main love story being treated as such despite opposition by some historians makes history, especially considering how often LGBTQ+ people are erased from it. Adam Driver only has a minor role in the crime drama, but Eastwood’s movie is his first appearance on the big screen and the promise of great things to come from Driver is readily apparent.
24. House Of Gucci (2021)
- Stream now on Prime Video & Paramount+
Driver collaborated twice with Ridley Scott in 2021. House of Gucci is inspired by the real story of the murder of Maurizio Gucci in the 1990s. While the movie polarized audiences, Lada Gaga and Driver’s portrayals of Patrizia Reggiani and Maurizio Gucci, respectively, are some of the strongest high points of the movie. However, when it comes to Adam Driver movies, the movie was a hit, earning one Oscar nomination while Lady Gaga and Jared Leto picked up Screen Actors Guild nominations for their performances.
23. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
- Stream now on Disney+
The final installment of the Skywalker Saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, sees Adam Driver reprising his role as Kylo Ren. Star Wars IX’s production surely had many bumps in the road, with the director changing in its midst. Kylo Ren's arc, in particular, is fascinating. But J.J. Abrams overcorrected after the studio gave too much weight to the backlash from some fans after the previous Star Wars film, resulting in a conclusion that alienated even more fans. What resulted was the last Star Wars movie, as the franchise has moved mostly to Disney+.
22. This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
- Stream now on Netflix
The dramedy follows the Altman siblings as they go home for their father’s funeral, which causes them to fight and reconnect with each other. Driver plays the youngest troublemaker son, Philip, and is part of an extraordinary cast that also includes Jane Fonda. Shawn Levy’s film was meant to be a darkly funny retelling of the Altmans’ conflicts and aversion to each other – at least some of them. Despite the fantastic cast, however, critics left disappointed, giving the movie a 44% on Rotten Tomatoes.
21. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)
- Stream now on Fubo
This 2014 comedy fantasy by Terry Gilliam took 29 years to see the light of day. It stars Adam Driver as Toby, a director who, while trying to make a movie about Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in Spain, finds himself meeting a man on a horse who thinks he’s actually Don Quixote. In typical Gilliam style, the movie is surrealist and weird but tells a magnificent story about the characters, where Driver’s Toby ends up perfectly embodying Sancho to Jonathan Pryce’s Don Quixote. The movie closed out the Cannes Film Festival, and while it was an awards contender, it received below-average reviews.
