Star Wars Special: Adam Driver shows his Dark Side

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren with Stormtroopers in a scene from the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The star of the hit television show has been recruited to the Dark Side. Adam Driver talks about his Star Wars experience with Michele Manelis.

Until now Adam Driver has been primarily known as the on-again, off-again boyfriend of Lena Dunham's character in the HBO hit, Girls.

His distinctive features have otherwise been confined to modest arthouse movies. But now Driver, who spent three of his 32 years in the United States Marine Corps before an injury sent him back to civilian life and to Juilliard to study acting, takes on the role of Kylo Ren, uber-villain of The Force Awakens.

Adam Driver, right, and Joanne Tucker at the premiere of the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens in London. Photo / AP

We see you a lot in indie movies, usually in supporting roles. Did the scope of this role appeal?

Yes, the appeal to me was that it was something big. I'm used to doing things where it's like, "Actually, can you bring all your clothes to set because we need you to wear them?" And on this we actually get fed all three of our meals. The kind of scale is very different to what I'm used to. And as far as the role, trying to keep a sense of what your character is, especially behind a mask, was very challenging.

So now your face will be on lunchboxes, kids will play with your action figure ... it must seems a little strange.

Yeah. For you and me both. It's hard to have a feeling about something like this. It's a cocktail of things. At this moment I'll do this interview and then go eat something. I just take it and break it up into moments, and I guess that was the same thing about what it was like working on the film.

I remember calling J.J. before we started when I had these thoughts of, "This is not my world and it seems very big." I remember him saying, "We'll break it all into moments and then we'll solve this moment and then the next moment, then by the end hopefully we'll have a movie."

That's how I've been approaching it, in pieces. I try to take it moment by moment and not over-think it too much.

That costume -- how comfortable was it?

It's uncomfortable and by the time I put it on I was pretty pissed and throughout the day it got very hot. Also, I was very nervous because I couldn't see anything. It was uncomfortable, but again, maybe that's good information because the character is uncomfortable. He's not easy. He doesn't rest in his skin very easily.

Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Photo / Supplied

You play a villain in a Star Wars movie who is, of course, not just any bad guy. Who is your favourite cinematic villain?

Darth Vader.

You weren't born when the first Star Wars movie came out. Do you remember the first Star Wars movie you saw?

I don't. It's very much like my friends' kids who know everything about the movies but they haven't seen any of them. I think that's what it was like for me. I had not seen any of them but somehow knew all about them through the action figures. My dad had a Stormtrooper helmet that he would put on and chase us around the house and he would always have models around of the Millennium Falcon, so it was always kind of around but I don't remember the moment I sat down and I first watched a movie. It was always in my DNA from very early.

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in a scene from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

You were in the Marines and you went to Julliard - that's an interesting journey.

Thanks. I probably would have stayed in the military but I injured my sternum. I broke it or I dislocated it and it had to be medically separated. I was interested in acting and I went to Juilliard. I knew it was the best place to go ... I had just come from the military so I had this false sense that civilian problems would be smaller than what I'd experienced, or rather, something I could easily manage. I would just move to New York and just do it. I had this false confidence that I could and now realise that was a myth but I was really lucky to get in. Had I not done acting, I probably would have stayed in the military or been a fireman.

So where will you be December 17?

I'll be driving out of town.

Grab your copy of the TimeOut Star Wars: The Force Awakens special today. Inside, we've got interviews with Harrison Ford, director JJ Abrams, new villains Adam Driver and Gwendoline Christie plus a look back at the ten best Star Wars scenes - so far. And who is the NZ telly star only too keen to don the Stormtrooper helmet on our cover?