10 Underrated Films by Adam Driver You Must See

Adam Driver’s career spans intimate character studies, ambitious art house experiments, and smart studio films that gave him room to build layered roles. Beyond the blockbusters and the awards season headlines, there is a rich set of projects where he collaborated with distinctive directors, tackled unusual material, and tried approaches that are easy to miss if you only follow the biggest releases.

This list focuses on ten feature films that highlight range, craft, and interesting production details. You will find stories rooted in specific places, adaptations of renowned novels, and collaborations with filmmakers known for precise tone and rhythm. Each entry includes clear facts on the role he plays, the creative team behind the film, and notable context from development to release.

‘Paterson’ (2016)

Adam Driver plays a city bus driver who writes poetry and follows a steady routine that unfolds across one ordinary week in Paterson, New Jersey. The film was written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and features Golshifteh Farahani as his partner along with the English bulldog Nellie who became a noted element of the production.

The score comes from Sqürl, Jarmusch’s musical project, and the poems heard in the film were written by Ron Padgett. Filming took place on location in Paterson and nearby towns, and the production design emphasizes repeated settings that mirror the script’s daily structure.

‘Hungry Hearts’ (2014)

In this Italian and English language drama directed by Saverio Costanzo, Adam Driver and Alba Rohrwacher portray new parents whose conflicting beliefs about health and nutrition put their family under increasing strain. The script adapts Marco Franzoso’s novel and sets the story in New York while maintaining a distinctly Italian sensibility in pacing and mood.

Both leads received the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival for their performances. The film uses tight interiors and close framing to heighten the sense of confinement, and the production worked with a small crew that favored practical locations over studio sets.

‘The Report’ (2019)

Adam Driver plays Daniel J Jones, the lead investigator for the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as it examines the CIA Detention and Interrogation Program. Scott Z Burns wrote and directed the film, and the cast includes Annette Bening as Senator Dianne Feinstein and Jon Hamm as a senior White House official.

The production was financed in part by Vice Studios and distributed by Amazon Studios following a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The script draws on the public executive summary of the committee’s findings and recreates the research process through dramatized scenes shaped by thousands of pages of source material.

‘Annette’ (2021)

In Leos Carax’s rock opera, Adam Driver portrays a provocative Los Angeles comedian whose relationship with an acclaimed opera singer played by Marion Cotillard unravels as their daughter becomes the focus of public fascination. The film features original story and music by Sparks, and many vocal performances were captured live on set.

The film opened the Cannes Film Festival and earned Carax the Best Director prize. A wooden marionette represents the child character in most scenes, and Adam Driver also served as a producer, reflecting his deeper involvement in the project’s development and staging.

‘Logan Lucky’ (2017)

Adam Driver appears as Clyde Logan, a bartender and veteran who joins his brother in a plan to rob the cash flow from the Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca Cola 600. Steven Soderbergh directed the film with a cast that includes Channing Tatum, Riley Keough, and Daniel Craig as an explosives expert who becomes central to the heist.

Soderbergh used an innovative distribution model through Fingerprint Releasing with Bleecker Street handling marketing support. The production shot at racing facilities in North Carolina, and the script by Rebecca Blunt structures the heist around the track’s pneumatic tube system and event day logistics.

‘Silence’ (2016)

Adam Driver plays Father Francisco Garupe, a Jesuit priest who travels to Japan with another priest portrayed by Andrew Garfield to search for their mentor during a period of persecution. Martin Scorsese directed the film from an adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s novel, and Liam Neeson appears as the teacher whose fate motivates the journey.

Principal photography took place in Taiwan, where the team recreated coastal villages, mountainous terrain, and missionary outposts. Adam Driver undertook a significant physical transformation for the role and worked with historical consultants to reflect Jesuit practices and the regional context of the story.

‘While We’re Young’ (2014)

Adam Driver plays Jamie, an aspiring documentary filmmaker who befriends an older filmmaker played by Ben Stiller and upends his routine alongside Naomi Watts and Amanda Seyfried in key roles. Noah Baumbach wrote and directed the film, and the story explores friendship, mentorship, and the ethics of constructing nonfiction narratives.

The film was distributed by A24 following a festival launch and was shot across Brooklyn and Manhattan with notable scenes in performance spaces and editing rooms. The production secured access to real documentary filmmakers and venues to ground the depictions of research, pitching, and postproduction.

‘Midnight Special’ (2016)

In Jeff Nichols’s science fiction chase story, Adam Driver plays Paul Sevier, a government analyst who studies unusual signals and becomes a crucial interpreter of a young boy’s abilities. The ensemble includes Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, and Jaeden Martell in central roles that connect law enforcement, family, and a mysterious religious group.

Warner Bros distributed the film after a festival premiere, and the production filmed across Louisiana and New Mexico to capture highways, motels, and rural hideouts. Practical effects and selective visual effects were used to keep the focus on character movement and the incremental discovery of the boy’s condition.

‘The Dead Don’t Die’ (2019)

Adam Driver plays Officer Ronnie Peterson in Jim Jarmusch’s ensemble zombie comedy set in the small town of Centerville with Bill Murray, Chloë Sevigny, and Tilda Swinton among the residents and first responders. The narrative uses repeated cues from a country theme song by Sturgill Simpson and includes brief appearances by performers such as Iggy Pop and Selena Gomez.

The film opened the Cannes Film Festival and was shot in upstate New York towns that provided diner fronts, hardware stores, and quiet streets suited to the script’s slow burn approach. The production design leans into rural Americana details while the costumes and props reference classic zombie cinema.

‘White Noise’ (2022)

Adam Driver leads as Jack Gladney, a professor who studies modern European history with a focus on totalitarian propaganda while raising a family headed by Greta Gerwig’s character Babette. Noah Baumbach adapted Don DeLillo’s novel and cast Don Cheadle as a colleague who collaborates with Jack in scenes that examine academic fashion and media culture.

Netflix financed and released the film with a limited theatrical window, and principal photography took place across Ohio communities including college campuses, neighborhoods, and a large supermarket set. The airborne toxic event sequence combines practical crowd work and visual effects, and the closing dance credits feature an original song by LCD Soundsystem created for the film.

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