Why Did John Boyega Randomly Hug Adam Driver On The Set Of 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'?

In the world of acting, there are those stars who are only in character when the camera is rolling, and there are those who prefer to dig a little deeper and stay in character during the production, if not a bit longer. It sounds like Adam Driver belongs in the latter category, at least when it comes to playing the physically and emotionally scarred Star Wars villain Kylo Ren.

At the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren had to make the grim decision to kill his father Han Solo in order to stop the struggle in his mind that kept him from submitting to the dark side completely. Adam Driver has said that because of that, there may be more scars he's dealing with than the one that now crosses his eye, and when he's on set, he brings that emotional intensity to his performance.

This hasn't gone unnoticed by fellow cast members John Boyega and Mark Hamill, and they each tried to get through that exterior in their own way during production on Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Find out more below.

Speaking to Vanity Fair about his role as Kylo Ren, Adam Driver had this to say about how he approaches the villain:

"There's big personal things that I find about every character, not just in Star Wars, that you have to make as personal as possible. It's the big joke about being an actor, that you make everything you're doing seem like it's life or death. The things about that character that I find painful, that I really relate to, I kind of prefer to keep to myself."

Whatever those things are, Mark Hamill says they make Adam Driver "very moody and intense" during production. The actor who plays his Jedi uncle recalls a time that he once tried to make more of a connection with the actor:

"I remember saying to Adam, 'I don't know how you work, or your technique. But, at some point, you were my nephew. I probably bounced you on my knee. I probably babysat for you. There's that side, and now we're both estranged from the Skywalker family. All I'm suggesting is, if you'd like, maybe we could go to lunch, we could get together and hang out.'"

Hamill makes an interesting point about the relationship that used to exist between Luke Skywalker and his nephew, but even so, Driver refused the invitation. Personally, I think that Driver was smart to decline the offer. While Luke and Kylo Ren have similarities in how they've outcast themselves from the Skywalker family, the latter left the former behind in quite the dramatic way, and Driver probably doesn't want any potential bonding that could happen between he and Hamill to influence his performance.

For Hamill's part, he wasn't offended at all. He told Vanity Fair, "more power to him," and if it's something that gives us a better performance from Driver, then I'm not going to judge him for it.

Meanwhile, John Boyega sees Adam Driver's method approach to acting as an opportunity to have a bit of fun. The actor who plays Finn revealed that he and Daisy Ridley constantly try to bring some lightheartedness to the set, especially when dealing with Adam Driver's moody presence. Boyega says:

"I give Adam hugs randomly, just for no reason. He just stands there. He just waits for me to be done."

There better be video footage as John Boyega hugs Adam Driver before shooting a scene. This is the reason that supplemental features on home video releases of movies exists.