Adam Driver has spent years saying no to Marvel. Now, the actor is explaining what finally made him say yes: playing Mister Sinister in the studio's upcoming X-Men reboot.
"I was a big fan [of 'X-Men]. I mean, I was a fan of the other things too, but this one felt like the right time," Driver said during a recent appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"
The actor credited a combination of factors for drawing him to the project. "It was really 'X-Men,' Jake Schreier, who's the director, his idea for it, and that it's Kevin Feige. It all kind of came together. The script is really cool," he added.
Driver acknowledged that he had been cautious about entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the past, citing the enormous audience that comes with the franchise. He explained that a lot of people are going to watch, and if the film is bad, a lot of people will see you being bad, adding, "Plus, I don't want to mess it up."
His hesitation was well documented inside Marvel itself. Studio chief Kevin Feige recently told the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast that offering roles to Driver had become something of a running ritual, with the pair meeting on Zoom whenever a new project was on the horizon, only for the actor to turn the part down.
"It's no secret we'd like to [work with Adam]," Feige said. "But it's a tradition to Zoom with him and then he passes. That's a long-lived tradition. He couldn't be more cordial. He is usually upfront about how he is feeling."
In the new film, Driver takes on the role of Dr. Nathaniel Essex, also known as Mister Sinister, a superintelligent, shape-shifting telepath who serves as the movie's main antagonist.
His character will face off against a large ensemble of mutant heroes. The cast includes Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Charles Xavier, Maya Boyd as Storm and Asa Germann as Angel.
For Driver, the long courtship appears to have paid off for both sides. After years of polite refusals, the combination of the material, the filmmaker and the studio's top executive finally aligned, and Marvel landed an actor it had pursued through one of its most persistent casting traditions.
