Thanks to Disney dropping the digital release for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker early, folks have had time to pore over the making-of documentary, which is loaded with interesting info about the final installment of The Skywalker Saga. Adam Driver‘s extremely passionate fanbase is going to be particularly thrilled as the making-of feature highlights his intense dedication to performing his own stunts even on his birthday.
According to Nerdist, stunt coordinator Eunice Huthart is a “hilarious, enthusiastic, and heavily accented British woman” and one of the documentary’s more delightful stars. Huthart reportedly was against Driver doing his own stunts, but the actor quickly won her over and was soon swinging from wires during the film’s climactic lightsaber duel:
He explains in the documentary how protective he is over Kylo’s body language. Eventually Huthart relented–especially after seeing how much better it looked with the actor doing the stunts.
All of this paves the way for a special little treat for Driver: The most difficult stunt sequence in the film–the lightsaber battle with Kylo Ren and Rey aboard the Death Star ruins–was partially filmed on his birthday. “It was really physically exhausting, and we were wet and soaked and cold and on wires–I loved it,” Driver says with glee in the documentary. “How many times are you gonna get a chance to do that?”
Speaking of Driver and birthdays, Ben Affleck recently teared up while telling Jimmy Kimmel how the Kylo Ren actor came through for him in a big way. After rushing from Paris to Los Angeles for his son’s birthday, Affleck arrived at his ex-wife Jennifer Garner’s house only to learn from his assistant that the gifts he sent ahead for the party never arrived, which left Affleck empty-handed. However, unbeknownst to the former Batman, Driver had sent a package full of signed Kylo Ren toys for Affleck’s son that did arrive and basically saved the day.
“Adam made me a hero to my kid,” an emotional Affleck told Kimmel, “and I will never, ever, ever forget it.”
(Via Nerdist)
