Adam Driver has stunned fans after saying ‘f*** you’ to an audience member who called crash scenes in his latest movie ‘cheesy’ at a paid-for Q&A session.
The 39-year-old hit back at the suggestion that the action scenes in the film – which has received negative reviews – were ‘harsh and drastic.’
An irritated Driver bluntly responded: ‘F*** you. I don’t know? Next question.’
The response drew awkward laughter from the audience at the Camerimage Film Festival in Poland on Sunday.
The leading-man disappeared straight after the interview and ‘ghosted’ all the fans that were waiting for him, according to an attendee of the festival who said Driver was ‘bored and rude’.
Adam Driver, 39, hit back at an attendee of the Q&A for Ferrari – his new movie – who asked Driver what he thought of the ‘cheesy’-looking crash scenes
The film follows Enzo’s life in 1957, as he prepares his company to enter the famed Mille Miglia, a 1,000 mile motorsport race held on the open road
The viral video captured the moment that the bold audience member said ‘What do you think about [the] crash scenes? They looked pretty harsh, drastic and, I must say, cheesy for me. What do you think?’
Driver – who has been nominated for four Emmy Awards and two Academy Awards – clearly had no interest in answering the scathing question as he took a long sip of his water before delivering his gruff response.
In addition to Driver playing the titular role, the star-studded cast includes Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Gabriel Leone and Sarah Gadon.
Driver couldn’t contain his emotions in August as Ferrari received a seven minute 30 second standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival – where he was promoting the biopic – but not everybody has been giving the film a standing ovation.
The Venice Film Festival was boycotted by many stars during the SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Ferrari actors (and writers) could attend without breaking the strikes because the film was given an exemption as it was made by an independent, Neon, not a studio.
This isn’t the first awkward interview moment for Driver – who skipped an NPR interview entirely.
Driver was set to record an interview in 2019 for NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, but fans of him and the show will never hear it.
The actor walked out of the interview midway after the host tried to get him to listen to a clip from his Netflix film Marriage Story.
According to sources within NPR, the drama arose when Terry wanted to play a clip from late in the film, when Adam sings Being Alive from Stephen Sondheim’s iconic musical Company – but the star ‘expressed displeasure’ at listening to the clip.
The Fresh Air team suggested he remove his headphones once the clip was played.
Piers Morgan slammed the star for being ‘extremely rude and disrespectful’ in light of his NPR interview controversy – while Jameela Jamil jumped to Driver’s defense, saying his rude behavior could be due to ‘mental health’ and that he was ‘just anxious’.
Driver admitted in an interview with The New Yorker that his performance in the Coen brothers movie Inside Llewyn Davis from 2013 made him never want to watch his own performances – which is why he walked out of his NPR interview.
An irritated Driver bluntly responded: ‘F*** you. I don’t know? Next question,’ which was met with uncomfortable laughter and shock from the audience
Ferrari is set to hit the big screen on Christmas day
Driver couldn’t contain his emotions in August as Ferrari received a seven minute 30 second standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival – where he was promoting the biopic (pictured: Driver and his wife Joanne Tucker)
During one moment in the movie, Driver had to drive an ‘open-wheel single seater’ vintage sports car that was modified in order to connect a camera to it
In an episode of The Graham Norton Show – Driver confessed that he found Comic-Con ‘scary’ because he couldn’t get a coffee without being recognized.
He told Norton: ‘I didn’t know the rules. I couldn’t go out for a coffee without a mask in case I was recognized and when I opened my window there was a band playing the Star Wars theme on repeat. It was scary.’
The A-list actor and U.S. veteran spoke to Variety at the New York Film Festival about a particularly ‘terrifying’ scene he had to shoot for his recent movie, where he plays legendary sports car entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari.
During one moment in the movie, he had to drive an ‘open-wheel single seater’ vintage sports car that was modified in order to connect a camera to it.
‘It teleports you back to the time and you realize if you turn left or right the wrong way, then you’re dead,’ the Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker star explained.
He added ‘There’s at least seatbelts in the newer cars.’
Further emphasizing how dangerous the car felt, the 65 film star added that driving it felt like he was in a ‘moving coffin.’
Driver and Mann clarified during a press conference at the festival that the reason why drivers didn’t wear seatbelts back in the day was because ‘get[ting] thrown from the car,’ was, ‘considered more safe’ than being dragged around in the aforementioned ‘moving coffin.’
Mann added a bit more context to the thought process of no seatbelts back in the day, adding ‘The idea was you’d rather be thrown from the car than dragged by the car.’
The iconic director is famous for his crime dramas – including Miami Vice, Heat and The Last of the Mohicans – has been nominated for four Academy Awards but is yet to take the trophy home.
His most recent movie received a 74 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.7 out of ten on IMDb.
Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian gave the movie three stars and described Driver in the movie as ‘a remote and unengaging paterfamilias’.
The film follows Enzo’s life in 1957, as he prepares his company to enter the famed Mille Miglia, a 1,000 mile motorsport race held on the open road.
The Emmy Award winning director had the cast enroll in ‘race driving 101’ where they test-drove contemporary Ferraris before shooting started
In addition to Driver playing the titular role, the star-studded cast includes Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Gabriel Leone and Sarah Gadon
Adam Driver chats to Formula 1 Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz
The Q&A for the upcoming action movie – directed by four-time Oscar-nominated Michael Mann, 80 – took place at the Camerimage Film Festival in Poland on Sunday (pictured: Driver and Mann)
Bilge Ebiri – a film critic for Vulture – gave a glowing review of Driver’s performance: ‘As Enzo, Adam Driver somehow manages the impossible. Ferrari was 59 years old when the events of this movie took place; the actor is a full 20 years younger.
‘He’s got convincing jowls and worry lines, and he absolutely goes to town on the Italian accent.
‘You can’t take your eyes off him. In the hands of a less confident actor, this could have been a disaster, theatrical and awkward and unreal.
‘But Driver makes Ferrari – this stolid, strapping wall of a man, towering over everyone around him and always commanding our attention – something indelible, a force not so much of nature as steel, asphalt and death.’
Greg Potts’s film review for Top Gear countered Ebiri’s claims that Driver’s age didn’t work for the role because he is ‘is clearly too young to be playing a near-60-year-old Ferrari’.
The same review criticized the movie for an ‘excessive fling of CGI’d human travelling through the air’ in the movie’s crash scene.
Another review from IndieWire had similar opinions about the movie’s CGI, saying the crash scene ’employs probably the most conspicuous and impact-dulling use of post-production CGI effects in a movie that’s primarily practical’.
The Emmy Award winning director had the cast enroll in ‘race driving 101’ where they test-drove contemporary Ferraris before shooting started.
He explained that ‘I wanted everybody to have an experience of driving these cars on a racetrack,’ for an extra layer of authenticity when they began production.
Ferrari is set to hit the big screen on Christmas day.
The highly-anticipated movie had a budget of $110 million and began production in April 2022 after multiple decision-changes in who would play the lead role.
Christian Bale was originally set to play Ferrari, then Hugh Jackman – but eventually Adam Driver was confirmed for the role.