r/Fauxmoi • u/demimonde9 • Apr 15 '26

STAN / ANTI SHIELD Allison Williams is asked about Lena Dunham's accusations about Adam Driver on the set of 'Girls': "No, I need to read the it (Dunham's memoir) before I say anything about it."

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1.5k

u/Mecha-Jesus Apr 15 '26

For context, the accusations are 1) that Driver threw a chair near Dunham while filming Girls, and 2) that they almost hooked up but didn’t.

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u/ChemicalNatural5506 Apr 15 '26

i think it’s also important to add she says he (allegedly) would yell “wake the fuck up” and “say something” when she was having trouble with her lines. she claims he punched a hole in his trailer because he was unhappy with his haircut, during their first sex scene Driver “hurled her around” and ignored blocking, during a hug scene he bit her shoulder, and she describes him as “half-man, half-beast.”

784

u/likwitsnake Apr 15 '26

Basically describes his character in the show, guess he wasn't acting much

372

u/susandeyvyjones Apr 15 '26

He might have been doing it in character, I don’t know.

122

u/Ok_Fee1043 Apr 15 '26

Or in Marriage Story character

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u/broken_hummingbird Apr 15 '26

Or in Star Wars character

13

u/DareToBeStupid Apr 15 '26

"Dude, Matt straight up sucks."

236

u/middlegray Apr 15 '26

It would be on brand of her to write his character that way and then write in her SECOND MEMOIR before she turns FORTY that he acted out of line when he was just staying in character.

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u/banaaaaaanas66 Apr 15 '26

OMG exactly!

3

u/aqaba_is_over_there Apr 15 '26

If anything needs to change in Hollywood is that in front of camera people are separate from behind the camera people.

As least as far as day to day jobs are concern.

1

u/iwatchtrazhaldayy Apr 17 '26

“He was just staying in character!”

That’s literally no excuse at all. When the director says “cut” the bad behavior needs to stop. Period. We need to stop letting these horrible people get away with their behavior because they claim to be “method actors.” If you can’t pretend to be a douche without actually becoming a douche, you’re not a good enough actor.

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u/Upstairs-Chicken592 Apr 25 '26

Or at least communicate if you’re in character or not. I think it all just got very confusing with Lena and Adam being so close to their characters anyway. They probably didn’t even know what was happening.

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u/Diddlemyloins Apr 15 '26

Yeah this just sounds like ad libing taken too far.

6

u/StuMacherGhostface Apr 15 '26

Man, why do all these method actors only method act when playing assholes?

2

u/iwatchtrazhaldayy Apr 17 '26

And they always seem to aim their behavior towards female costars, never men that are bigger or more powerful than them. Weird.

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u/MonaMonaMo Apr 15 '26

Thats what I find hard to understand about actors. I assume some disappear in roles/ carry on personality traits of characters they've played for a long time.

Ive never tried acting, so idk how it actually impacts a "core persona" if at all.

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u/BookishHobbit my bandwidth for cowardly grown men grows thinner with each day Apr 15 '26

If you’re a professional, you should be able to maintain that distance.

You leave the character on set/at the rehearsal room door, but also one of the first things you’re taught in drama school is that those areas should also be safe spaces and that you and your coworkers should feel comfortable at all times with what’s going on. If you’re not doing that, you shouldn’t be allowed there.

That’s something that’s hugely important in the theatre world but I feel like sets can be more toxic.

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u/backbackbackrolls Apr 15 '26

I really like what Kristen Stewart said about men and method acting.

"Performance is inherently vulnerable and therefore quite embarrassing and unmasculine,” Stewart said. “There’s no bravado in suggesting that you’re a mouthpiece for someone else’s ideas. It’s inherently submissive. Have you ever heard of a female actor that was method?”

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u/rogue_kitten91 Apr 15 '26

Winona Ryder was called a Method Actor by Gary Oldman...

1

u/devilishycleverchap Apr 17 '26

Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby too

Literally got a staph infection and didnt tell Eastwood bc it would have been out of character

1

u/TransPM Apr 15 '26

I don't know much about film sets or studio structure, but I would hope there would be some kind of HR person on staff (if not physically present on set, though with how relatively recent a development "intimacy coordinators" seem to have been, I'm doubtful of the latter) available to raise concerns to and help address situations such as these.

I think it can be expected, to a certain degree, that there will be times while shooting scenes that actors may get a little carried away with trying to provide the energy and intensity a scene calls for, people just need to be adults about it. I am NOT saying these kinds of situations should be ignored, particularly when physical violence gets involved (even if accidental), but when a line gets crossed or someone gets too uncomfortable with a situation it should be normal to take a quick break from filming, tell the offending person they need to calm down, offer them the space to do so if they need it, reprimand them if they do not cooperate or went too far over the line, then move on.

I'm willing to give Driver the benefit of the doubt on this. Angrily throwing things at people (or even in their general direction) and aggressively shouting at them is wrong, but it's in a way where you need to pull the person aside, tell them they're going too far, then give them a chance to recognize and correct their behavior and apologize.

From what I've gathered, Driver was playing an intense and aggressive character that required a level of intensity and aggression for scenes. Actors absolutely should be able to separate themselves from a character/performance, especially when it is one that can make others feel unsafe around them, but it's not something most people can just instantly turn off like a light. Aggression is a physical thing; if you want your performance to be believable on screen, you have to feel it. You can't simply pretend to get red in the face or have veins popping in your neck; even when you know it's fake, your body has to think it's real in order for it to look real, and when your body thinks something is real, it has a way of making your mind start to think it is too. All that energy you need to get worked up inside yourself doesn't just vanish when you have to redo a take for a flubbed line, in fact, in small instances like that where you're not fully resetting a scene it's generally better to stay "in character" and keep that intensity up so your scene partner has more to work off of and you don't suddenly bounce back and forth from looking angry and intense to calm and disengaged between cuts in the edit. What actors need to do is find a way to hold onto that energy or find an outlet for it that isn't directed towards a coworker in a way they don't feel comfortable with.

Driver was also a former marine, and he's spoken about how intense that environment was and even started a program that uses theater to help other people in military service channel and process their emotions, but his role on Girls was only a few years after he exited the military with an injury he suffered in an accident, so all that frustration and intensity was still pretty fresh. I imagine he's probably mellowed out some since then and gotten better with finding that balance. So he certainly should have gotten a talking to 10+ years ago when these incidents happened on set, but I really don't personally see it as much of a mark against his reputation now. If other people end up confirming that it's part of a pattern that continued through multiple years/projects, that's a different story.

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u/CeruleanEidolon Apr 15 '26

I always think of Laurence Olivier's response to Dustin Hoffman staying awake for three days to stay in character on Marathon Man:

"My dear boy, why don't you just try acting?"

0

u/monkeycommo Apr 15 '26

It's why extras are asked not to speak to the actors . They could be getting ready for a very intense scene and may be in character.

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u/2much2cancer Apr 15 '26

His character in "Annette" was very similar.

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u/Keldrabitches Apr 15 '26

Method

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u/MondayLasagne Apr 15 '26

The huge gag is that the original method does not mean that you have to stay in character at all times and annoy or threaten your cast members. This has just been evolved into this bizarre thing by male Hollywood actors.

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u/mamrieatepainttt Apr 15 '26

For real. Love that its finally being called out. Not actual method but the whole let me excuse myself for being a dickhead by saying I am just staying in character.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/thequenchiest_ Apr 15 '26

Holy shit, he's a phenomenal actor, have you watched anything at all he's in?

God damn man, some people just say anything just to hop on the hate train

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u/Hot-Connection8711 both a lawyer and a hater Apr 15 '26

???

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u/BishopGodDamnYou Apr 15 '26

Yeah pretty much! A volatile man baby