Participating in a Q&A means having to put up with a lot of nonsense. Often, there questions that make you feel uncomfortable, and you’re left wondering why someone would ask a creative this question. Actors are sometimes asked about things that have nothing to do with them and it’s a mess, but Adam Driver wasn’t having it during a recent Q&A for Ferrari.
Following a Poland Camerimage Film Festival screening of Michael Mann’s Ferrari, Driver was asked a question about the car crash scenes. Driver, who plays Enzo Ferrari in the film, is an actor; he is not the director, nor is he the screenwriter, so the question is aimed at the wrong person. The question is phrased more as a statement of the asker’s own opinion than anything else (a common issue during Q&As). “What do you think about [the] crash scenes,” the audience member asked. “They looked pretty harsh, drastic and, I must say, cheesy for me. What do you think?”
To Driver’s credit, he didn’t entertain it. He simply said “Fuck you, I don’t know? Next question.”
Before you say “That was harsh,” it wasn’t. The amount of people at Q&As who make accusations or comments instead of asking questions is astounding. Driver choosing to not entertain the “question” is frankly iconic. If I was Adam Driver, I’d react similarly. How is that a question for Driver, an actor?
The movie was written by Troy Kennedy Martin. It was directed by Michael Mann. The only way this question sort of makes sense is because Driver is an executive producer. If you want to ask about his process, the production of the movie, or how those scenes impacted his character or performance? Fine. But that’s not what this is.
Your opinion is not needed during a Q&A
The amount of Q&As I have been to where a question starts with “this is more of a comment than a question,” is outlandish. The Q&A is not your moment to hound creatives. It is an opportunity to ask them about the creative process, the work, and how they crafted what you’ve seen. That’s not how a Q&A works most of the time, though.
More often than not, “fans” use it as an opportunity to tell creatives why they’re the biggest fan of theirs, talk about other projects, or generally just use it as a chance to not talk about what they’re supposed to. This question, while about Ferrari, shouldn’t have been directed at Driver. What is he supposed to say? “I don’t think it’s cheesy, man”? It is genuinely weird behavior to look at a man who is starring in the movie and say that parts of the movie were cheesy. To his face.
Driver’s response is refreshing because we often have to watch celebrities tip-toe around their responses. And that’s just simply not what he wanted to do.
(featured image: Rudy Carezzevoli, Getty Images)
