Things we need to remember about Adam Driver:
At 17 he joined the Marine Corp
Joined a few months after September 11, 2001 “Feeling like I think most people felt in the country at the time. Filled with a sense of patriotism and retribution and the desire to do something…That coupled with the fact that I wasn’t doing anything.”
He sold vacuums and cut grass leading up to September 2001.
“After the 11th, and feeling an overwhelming sense of duty and just being pissed off in general at myself, my parents, the government, ya know, just not having confidence, not having a respectable job, my shitty mini fridge that I just drove to California and back… I joined the Marine Corp and I loved it. I loved being a Marine. It’s one of the things I’m most proud of having done in my life.”
“But I found I loved the Marine Corp the most for the thing I was looking for least when I joined; which was the people. These weird dudes.”
“A few years in to my service, and months away from deploying to Iraq, I dislocated my sternum in a mountain biking accident and had to be medically separated”
“But then being told I wasn’t going to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan was very devastating to me.”
Auditioned for Julliard his senior year of high school
Tried to move to LA to start his acting career
His car broke down in Amarillo, Texas.
He spent all his money fixing his car.
Finally got to Santa Monica, roamed the beach for 48 hours, then left back home.
After being medically separated he had to return to civilian life
Wanted to give acting another shot
“Again, this is me… I thought all civilian problems are small compared to the military.”
Reauditoned for julliard and got in.
Was surprised at how complex transitioning back into civilian life was
“And I was relatively healthy. I can’t imagine going through that process on top of a mental or physical injury.”
“…I didn’t know how to apply the things I learned in the military to a civilian context. I mean that both practically and emotionally. Practically, I had to get a job, and I was an infantry Marine where you’re shooting machine guns and firing mortars. There’s not a lot of places you can put those skills in the civilian world. And emotionally in that I struggled to find meaning. In the military everything has meaning. Everything you do is either steeped in tradition or has a practical purpose.”
“Your rank said something about your history and the respect you had earned. In the civilian world there’s no rank. You’re just another body. I felt like I constantly had to prove my worth all over again. And the respect civilians were giving me while I was in uniform didn’t exist when I was out of it.”
“And meanwhile in acting school, I was really for the first time discovering playwrites and characters and plays that had nothing to do with the military that were somehow describing my military experience in a way that before, to me, was indescribable. And I felt myself becoming less aggressive as I was able to put words to feelings for the first time and realizing what a valuable tool that was.”
Started a nonprofit called Arts In The Armed Forces
Wanted “to have theatre presented through characters that were accessible without being condescending.”
“It’s a powerful thing getting in a room with complete strangers and reminding ourselves of our humanity and that self expression is just as valuable a tool as the rifle on your shoulder.”
“And I can think of no better community to arm with a new means of self expression than those protecting our country.”
“And in doing this for the past six years, I’m always reminded that acting is many things. It’s a craft, it’s a political act, it’s a business, it’s whatever adjective is applicable to you, but it’s also a service. I didn’t get to finish mine, so whenever I get to be of service to this ultimate service industry, the military, for me, again, there’s not many things better than that.”
From “My Journey from Marine to Actor | Adam Driver” via the TED talk YouTube channel.
annaxmalina
ellievsbear
izzy806
vaporwave
pixelskylines
romaincrisis
