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Star Wars is one of those legendary properties that lives in the hearts and imaginations of fans and actors. This makes the stories we’ve heard about cast members like The Last Jedi’s Laura Dern making “pew” noises on set not only expected, but also absolutely adorable to hear. And in a recent interview with franchise stuntman Stephen Oyoung, we can now add Adam Driver to the club. He reportedly couldn’t stop making noise during his early lightsaber training sessions.
A sword trainer involved on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Stephen Oyoung spoke about his experiences with Looper. And from day one, even he was making the lightsaber noises. Keep in mind this behavior even stuck with him after working as a stunt/motion capture performer on a couple of the games in the Star Wars universe prior to the big revival that kicked off the sequel trilogy. With that in mind, Oyoung was able to use that experience to enhance training Adam Driver, as he described below:
First day we were rocking with the lightsabers and he would just be [mouthing lightsaber noises]. Me too! And I had to remind him, 'Hey man, we've got to stop. Because when they film, you're going to start doing that. And then they're going to catch you. And it's going to be strange. You don't want to get into the habit.
As if laser blaster noises weren’t a strong enough temptation for a Star Wars cast member to indulge in, wielding a lightsaber has to be the ultimate opportunity for childhood dreams to come true. It’ll never totally go away, and there’s probably a handful of moments where Adam Driver kept making those noises. Even when playing someone as intense as Kylo Ren. But thanks to Stephen Oyoung, it probably happened a lot less than it could have throughout the production process.
Imagining Adam Driver making those noises, whether they were captured on camera or not, still makes Star Wars just a little more enjoyable. With the redemption arc Kylo Ren engaged in throughout the Skywalker Saga’s sequel trilogy, whether his character needed or not, Adam Driver’s performance did lighten up, both in tone and in deed. Which of course has us wondering about two things: did the urge to make such noises grow as Driver’s Kylo became more of his Ben Solo self? Also, did this moment from The Rise of Skywalker come from the same sort of childhood glee that saw Adam Driver making his own lightsaber noises?
In the most lighthearted of circumstances, actors get to be professional imagination specialists. Movies like Star Wars need that, and both Adam Driver and Stephen Oyoung got to lend that particular talent of theirs to franchise history. But, thanks to Oyoung’s sage advice, we’ll have a hard time seeing those particular flights of fancy play out in Driver’s mostly villainous performance.
If you, like the rest of us, want to go through each Star Wars sequel and look for any moment where Adam Driver could have been remotely captured making lightsaber noises, you know where to go. Which would be straight to Disney+, as they have the entire Skywalker Saga, as well as the whole Star Wars universe of shows and movies, housed in one convenient location. If you’re not already a part of that streaming family, check out the Disney+ streaming bundle that’ll give you access to that platform, as well as ESPN+ and Hulu, for one monthly fee!
