Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Adam Driver Offers Blunt Response To Being Called Out For Playing Italians In Back-To-Back Films

Adam Driver
Amy Sussman/Getty Images

The actor, who played Italians in 'House of Gucci' and 'Ferrari,' had a blunt message on the 'SmartLess' podcast for fans pointing out that fact.

Adam Driver is wondering what all the fuss is about over his portraying Italians twice in recent films.

The Academy Award-nominated actor in movies like BlacKkKlansman and Marriage Story recently starred as Italian motor racing driver Enzo Ferrari in the sports biopic Ferrari, which was released last December.


Driver also played Italian businessman Maurizio Gucci, who was head of the Gucci fashion brand, in the 2021 biopic House of Gucci.

On the January 1 SmartLess podcast hosted by fellow actors Will Arnett, Sean Hayes, and Jason Bateman, Driver talked about all the hubbub in regards to playing "very significant" Italian men.

Regarding the coincidence, Driver said:

"So many people have been like, ‘How many Italians… ?’ I’m like, it’s just kind of worked out that way."

Despite director Terry Gilliam once claiming Driver had Native American ancestry, the American actor has no known Native American ancestors.

According to IMDb, Driver was born in San Diego, California, and has Dutch, English, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.

His mother, Nancy Wright, is a paralegal from Mishawaka, Indiana; and his father, Joe Douglas Driver, is from Little Rock, Arkansas.

Driver noted that his focus was to work with prominent film directors rather than fixating on the specific backgrounds of the characters he might play.

House of Gucci was directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott, who is known for films like Alien, Gladiator, and Blade Runner; and Ferrari was helmed by Heat and Ali director Michael Mann.

Driver continued:

“But I’m like, you know, it’s Ridley [Scott] and it’s Michael [Mann] and they’re in my mind some of the best filmmakers."
"Who gives a s**t that it was two Italians back to back?"


The 40-year-old wondered why playing Italians was such a big deal and a recurring topic.

“I’m surprised how much it comes up," he said, adding: 

"It’s like, ‘You have a thing,’ and I’m like, ‘It’s two! It’s two Italians!’ It’s just two."
"The press isn’t a place where you have a nuanced conversation."
"That seems like a hard idea of like 'Well, what is it with Italy?' Well, I mean, it's less to do with Italy—although I like it—but it's more about Ridley Scott and Michael Mann and the projects themselves."



He noted:

"Italy is not the first thing on my mind."



It's worth mentioning that Driver didn't play Italians in "back-to-back" films as many moviegoers have claimed.

Between House of Gucci and Ferrari, Driver was featured in two non-Italy movies.

In 2022's Noah Baumbach film White Noise, based on the 1985 eponymous novel by Don DeLillo, Driver played Ohio professor Jack Gladney, and in the sci-fi thriller 65 released last March, he played a space pilot.

More from Entertainment/tv-and-movies

Alex Cooper singing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'
@MBDChicago/Twitter (X)

'Call Her Daddy' Host Alex Cooper Gets Brutally Booed At Wrigley Field After Painfully Off-Key Singing

If there's one thing that all baseball fans can come together about, it's the importance of their traditions—and songs.

In the seventh inning at Wrigley Field during a match between the Cubs and the Cardinals, popular Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper was invited to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and brought two backup dancers with her.

Keep ReadingShow less
Linda Yaccarino
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

X CEO Resigns Day After AI Chatbot Grok Praised Hitler In Alarming Series Of Antisemitic Tweets

Linda Yaccarino—the former NBC Universal executive who later took the reins at X—stepped down as CEO of billionaire Elon Musk's platform after two years on the job just a day after Grok, the platform's AI chatbot, went on antisemitic rants and openly praised Adolf Hitler.

Grok issued deeply antisemitic responses on Tuesday following a reported software update that encouraged the bot to embrace what developers described as the “politically incorrect.” Taking that directive to heart, Grok responded with a series of disturbing posts that included praise for Hitler and even a statement expressing its aspiration to become a “digital version” of the Nazi leader.

Keep ReadingShow less
Black and white photo of a falling spider.
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

People Divulge Their 'Rare' Phobias That People Refuse To Believe

I am a SEVERE claustrophobic.

I have struggled with this issue for decades.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ted Cruz
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

'The Onion' Rips Ted Cruz With Brutal Headline After Yet Another Vacation During Texas Disaster

The satirical news site The Onion had social media users cackling with its brutal headline mocking Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz for once again being out of the country when Texas was hit by another deadly natural disaster.

Cruz faced considerable national backlash after he flew to Cancún while millions of people went without food and water as a result of the February 2021 Texas power disaster. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly; some estimates suggested as many as 702 people were killed as a result of the crisis.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk and Grimes
Kevin Tachman/Getty Images for Vogue

Elon Musk's Ex Grimes Calls X Platform A 'Poison' And 'Theatre' After Social Media Hiatus

Claire Boucher—who performs and creates under her stage name Grimes, but prefers her birth name or just "C" offstage—recently returned to her musical persona's social media accounts after taking a hiatus for her own well-being.

Once extremely active, she noted on X in April:

Keep ReadingShow less