Marine Vet Adam Driver Teams With Lady Gaga to Tell a Shocking True Story

As we’re finally exiting the movies’ pandemic slowdown, Adam Driver has not one but two new movies directed by Ridley Scott coming to theaters this fall. “House of Gucci,” co-starring Lady Gaga, is set for a Thanksgiving theatrical release on Nov. 24, 2021.

That’s in addition to the Oct. 25, 2021, release of Scott’s medieval epic “The Last Duel,” in which Driver plays a squire who must pick up his sword for a duel with his best friend (Matt Damon) after the friend’s wife (Jodie Comer) accuses Driver’s character of assault.

That’s two big movies that both look like potential awards bait for Driver and Scott. We’ve already covered “The Last Duel,” so let’s talk about “House of Gucci.”

Related: Marine Vet Adam Driver Picks Up a Sword for ‘The Last Duel’

The movie is based on the true story of Maurizio Gucci’s murder by hitmen in 1995. He was the grandson of the Italian fashion company’s founder and would be the last family member to run the company. Lady Gaga, who plays Gucci’s wife, Patrizia Reggiani, has released the movie’s trailer on YouTube.

The Gucci empire was full of intrigue after the 1953 death of founder Guccio Gucci, who built his family’s leather goods shop into one of Italy’s most respected fashion houses. The family opened up its first New York boutique right around the time of his death, and the business was left to be run by his five sons. That was never going to be an easy arrangement, and the family drama culminated in Mauricio’s murder just over forty years later.

Scott has made an old-style Hollywood movie with American and British actors hamming it up, delivering their English-language lines with outrageous Italian accents. Let’s just forget that every event in the movie originally happened with Italians speaking Italian.

Driver is the low-key player here, while Gaga (who, let’s be fair, is Italian-American) goes all the way over the top with a full diva performance. She’s matched by Jared Leto, who plays Mauricio’s wayward cousin, Paolo Gucci, with a massive gut and bald cap. Al Pacino plays Paolo’s dad and Mauricio’s uncle, Aldo Gucci, and Jeremy Irons is Mauricio’s father, Rodolfo.

Driver has come a long way from his childhood in Mishawaka, Indiana, to star as the heir to one of the greatest European fashion fortunes. It’s easy to imagine the Marine mortar operator who played Kylo Ren in the recent “Star Wars” trilogy as a medieval warrior in “The Last Duel.”

It may be a surprise to think of him as the kind of dashing leading man who stars in this kind of glitzy Hollywood drama, but Driver’s dedication to craft has made him the most in-demand Marine Corps actor since Gene Hackman and R. Lee Ermey.

Driver was nominated for Oscars two years in a row for “Marriage Story” (Best Actor, 2020) and “BlacKkKlansman” (Best Supporting Actor, 2019). Scott has been nominated for Best Director three times, for “Thelma & Louise” (1991), “Gladiator” (2000) and “Black Hawk Down” (2001). He also was nominated for Best Picture as the producer of “The Martian” (2015). Driver and Scott have doubled their chances to finally win this year with “The Last Duel” and “House of Gucci.”

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