Few campaigns have become as instantly iconic as Adam Driver’s Burberry Hero campaign of 2021, and with good reason.
After all, strapping your product to the back of one of the world’s best and most in-demand actors as he continues his creative ascent is the goal of any brand partnership.
To have him shirtless riding a horse down the beach in the TikTok-fan era? Well, that’s just a stroke of marketing brilliance.
It’s no surprise then, as Burberry Beauty unveils its latest expression, the new Burberry Hero Eau de Parfum with a cedarwood-oil base far more intense than the original scent, they once again brought forth the power of the Driver, this time with a new set of photographs by Mario Sorrenti of him and his trusty steed, with a video directed by Jonathan Glazer.
To celebrate its release, we spoke with Adam Driver about not only his relationship with the brand and the conception of the campaign, but where he’s at in life, what he’s learned, and how his approach to his art has evolved as he’s learned to focus on others more.
Read our full conversation below.
Esquire Middle East’s interview with Adam Driver
How did the Burberry Hero project involve creatively? What was your input?
Adam Driver: They really wanted something about transformation, and something really physical. Jonathan Glazer had this idea, this image of a horse and how a man’s body and physicality can echo that. I thought that was an interesting challenge. The images that they drew and sent I thought were really beautiful and unique and abstract, along with the idea of things that were not clearly defined was also unique—creating a scent that wasn’t specific to men or women.
How does the new Burberry Hero Eau de Parfum resonate with you? What feelings does it evoke this time around?
Adam Driver: Well, it’s just a different kind of scent, and it’s supposed to be more intense and last longer.
Apart from having a big nose, I don’t really put it to use very often. I can’t describe nuances and smell. It just smells, you know, more intense than the last one did—in a good way.
As a fellow big-nosed man, I understand.
Adam Driver: [Laughs] Right.
Moving to your career—the best directors in the world always want to work with you, and it’s very clear why, given the performances you’ve handed them. You’ve said in the past that you see your own potential as very high. Do you feel you’ve grown closer to that potential, and have those professional relationships with the world’s best filmmakers helped you do it?
Adam Driver: Thank you, first off, that’s very nice, you saying that. I don’t know why I said that, honestly. I don’t know what exactly I meant by my potential is high. Maybe I was referencing when you’re shooting something that you have a better barometer than anybody of, ‘no, I can do that better’? It’s hard to answer that question. A lot of things I’ve been lucky to do actually, like the thing I’m working on now, it’s very distant from me. Sometimes projects are farther and sometimes they’re closer.
I don’t know how to answer that question, honestly. I feel there’s always room for improvement. I always get to a point where I’m like, ‘Okay, now I want to go back and burn everything I did before.’
You start something else, and start at new and start from a place that’s completely different, be way more economical. Sometimes that matches up with the job you’re working on, and sometimes it doesn’t.
So you don’t feel there’s anything you learned specifically that you carry forward? You don’t feel conscious growth in yourself?
Adam Driver: Oh, yeah. Well, then I didn’t understand the question, then. Yeah, you learned a tonne of things from every job.
What kinds of things?
Adam Driver: They’re not always specific to the character, you know. For me, the biggest thing is trying to be more economical. If I was going to try to nail it down to one thing that I try to carry on through job to job, it’s being economical.
What do you mean by economical?
Adam Driver: For me, that’s finding a way of preserving energy for a long shoot, and getting rid of things that you feel you don’t really need. You also have to be adaptable to other people’s way of working. I have things that I like to make me feel comfortable, but you don’t always get that because you’re fighting the wind, or you’re fighting technology, or you’re racing time. At a certain point, you’ve just got to get on with it, and not be so precious.
How has your relationship with your collaborators evolved?
Adam Driver: I’ve realized my own comfort is beholden to what makes other people comfortable. I always find more and more that 70 percent of being on a film set is trying to get the best work out of everybody else.
You have to make them feel comfortable, so they can give you what it is. That goes to the hair department, that makeup department, the crew, that director, everyone. It’s very much a service industry position.
That’s the biggest thing, that I try to exercise moving forward, is keeping my problems to myself. I’m trying to work economically, but then it’s also really about supporting the whole team. If that makes sense.
It does make sense. Do you feel you’re driven by the same motivations as an actor in terms of the choices you make, especially now as you find more success and are handed a bevy of options? How have you defined your own future for yourself?
Adam Driver: It definitely changes. When you get older, I feel that starts shifting. There were things that I had a lot of energy for in my late 20s or early 30s, I don’t really have the energy for now. My priorities about wanting to be home shifts, so that changes what it is that you work on.
There’s also the pressure that things be more ‘theater worthy’, because people are concerned about COVID, and are going out, which has shifted things. That’s led to the rise of a lot of streamers. There’s so many people making so many things, that you really have to be specific about what you’re doing. So those things kind of change.
How about you as a person, how have you changed?
Adam Driver: Your biology as a person starts—not slowing down necessarily, but it starts just shifting your priorities of what it is you want to work on. When I started my career, I would have taken anything, because it was a miracle to be acting and getting paid to do it. When you have more of a choice, suddenly you’re like, what’s going to make it worth it.
Someone’s going to pay millions of dollars for everyone to be in one spot at one time and you make this thing that hopefully will last forever be good, especially since people have a lot of options if you’re asking for two hours of their time. It better be the most arresting two hours that you can offer, within the constraints you’re given on a film set. That requires a lot of focus.
After a certain point, when you do a lot of those, you get tired. You should take time off in between that, but it could definitely be worse. I don’t know if I’m answering your question or just rambling.
You’re answering it.
Adam Driver: It’s a collection of a lot of things.
When do you feel proud of yourself?
Adam Driver: I feel great about the community of friends that I’ve created over the last 10 years or so. The people I’ve got to meet and work with, in front of the camera and behind the camera, are pretty special to me and maintaining those friendships—I’m pretty proud of that.
Sorry to pepper you with so many questions about life, when we’re here to talk about the fragrance…
Adam Driver: No, I’m sorry to give you so many scattered answers.
Hope to talk again soon, buddy.
Adam Driver: You too!
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