Girls’ Adam Driver To Play Vaderesque Villain In Star Wars: Episode VII?

As long as we’re casting Girls actors in Star Wars, can Shoshanna be a protocol droid? One with hair, like Dot Matrix from Spaceballs, except hers will be in the shape a doughnut bun.

And Darth Booth Jonathan.

Variety has broken the “news” that Adam Driver, best known as Hannah loveable/jackassish on-again-off-again boyfriend Adam, will play a villain in Star Wars: Episode VII. “Exact details are unknown,” they write, “but the character is said to be in the vein of iconic Star Wars villain Darth Vader.”

The reason I say “news” is that there’s nothing official behind this announcement, just a hat tip from some of Variety’s anonymous “sources.” Granted, they’re a reputable, well-connected site, but… I’m going to hold off on calibrating my mind to accept Darth Driver until we get official confirmation.

Still, it’s an interesting idea. When Variety says “in the vein of Darth Vader,” do they mean “a Force user who works for the Empire, or the sequel equivalent of the Empire?” (which, as we know from the EU, could just be the Empire). Or is their phrasing just some The Secret type positive thinking: “We mean he’ll be iconic like Darth Vader is, and if we say it, it’ll have to be true.”

I haven’t seen him in all that much, and in two of the roles I’ve seen him do—in Girls and Inside Llewyn Davis—he’s played basically a doofball. He might have played one in Lincoln, too, but I can’t remember, because throughout his whole scene I was thinking “OMG that’s Adam from Girls talking to President Lincoln, this cameo is so weird.” Not exactly villain material, unless Disney is going the doofball baddie route, which I heartily approve of.

But still. Dude may be associated with a particular type of role, but he is an actor. I think it’s unfair to say he can only play one character type, considering he really hasn’t done all that much. And he’s an actor who people are—not to put too fine a point on it—flipping their lids over at the moment. He has five movies either in the can or being worked on at the moment. Remember that time he was rumored to play Nightwing in Man of Steel 2? And his name’s actually been attached to Episode VII before, along with Michael Fassbender and Hugo Weaving, whom Variety says were also “in contention” to play the villain.

Fassbender’s a bigger name. And Weaver’s a no-brainer to play just about any villain. But… I say give Driver a chance. I love (love love love) weird casting. And it’s not like Episode VII can be worse than The Phantom Menace.

(via: Variety)

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