Kylo Ren's Most Pivotal Star Wars Scene Invades Adam Driver's Life All The Time
It's gotta be tough being any main lead "Star Wars" actor. There's a level of scrutiny that comes with those roles that most other franchises don't have to deal with. Best case scenario is you lose your anonymity for the rest of your life, worst case the fanbase turns on you and there's nowhere for you to escape to. In my generation, it was the criticism of Jake Lloyd in "The Phantom Menace" that had a very negative effect on his private life. In contrast, this generation chased folks like Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran off of social media entirely.
Even actors that the fans generally seem to like have to take part in these movies knowing that these roles will live with them forever. Adam Driver recently discussed that on "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace" and made mention that ever since "The Force Awakens" came out, he "hears about" one particular moment in that movie on a near daily basis.
You know which moment it has to be:
"Yeah, somebody reminds me about that every day. Well, not every day. It used to be more, but now it's probably once a month someone will let me know that I killed Han Solo."
Han's final tender touch
Driver usually rolls with this very specific kind of notoriety, even joking about it during his recent "Saturday Night Live" opening monologue. When pressed to give a serious response, he'll praise his scene partner for this moment, saying Harrison Ford was really there for him for what would end up being a scene that would define the public's perception of Driver:
"It was very emotional, actually, shooting it with Harrison. Harrison was so generous and contemplative. To me, that was a great moment on set, actually, even though it was his death."
We all know that Ford has long wanted Han Solo to die. He famously campaigned George Lucas to kill him off in "Return of the Jedi," but it's not that Ford just wanted out of "Star Wars," although that extra scrutiny I talked about probably didn't encourage him to stick around. What Ford wanted was for Han Solo's character to have a real meaning in "Star Wars" beyond charming smuggler and the guy who kisses Leia.
It's not surprising that he was given that moment in "The Force Awakens." Solo's death marks Ben Solo's final step to the dark side, or so he thinks. What it really does is open the door for his redemption and Ford does that with a single, very interesting decision that is mirrored in "The Rise of Skywalker."
Kylo Ren is reminded of forgiveness
When Han is struck down by his son, his reaction isn't to fight back or try to take the bad guy down with him. His reaction is give his son a final moment of tenderness, a fatherly caress of the cheek before he tumbles into the abyss. Through it all, he loves his son and the character's gut instinct is to remind him of that love.
"The Rise of Skywalker" has a lot of problems, but one of the best things about it is, in my opinion, is how they called back to this moment of tenderness. The scene itself is intentionally vague (did Leia use the last of her lifeforce to connect Ben to the spirit of his father or is this all just happening in Ben Solo's mind as he wrestles with the dark and light side of himself once more?), but the moment that brings Ben Solo back to the light side is when his father once again shows that love, touching his cheek and reminding the central villain of the sequel trilogy that he was already forgiven for his horrific act the moment after he did it.
It gives Solo that feeling of importance to the story that Ford was long-craving. We can argue all day and night about how earned Ben Solo's redemption is, and I'd likely agree with the critics, but the choice to mirror this moment from "The Force Awakens" is a wonderful and poignant one.
That maybe won't prevent people from stopping Adam Driver in the street to give him a tongue-lashing for murdering one of the most beloved characters in the history of cinema, but it does give the scene in question a level of compassion that it often doesn't get credit for.