While Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren quickly became a keystone of contemporary pop culture, there was once a time when the idea of the dude from Girls becoming the new Darth Vader was met with Dana Scully-levels of skepticism.
But Driver did play the role of the antagonist shortly before The Force Awakens hit theaters, in the decidedly smaller-budgeted Ben Stiller indie comedy While We’re Young – arguably to an even more sinister effect …
Directed by now-frequent Driver collaborator Noah Baumbach, 2014’s While We’re Young tells the story of a middle-aged couple (Stiller and Naomi Watts) who befriend two 20-something hipsters played by Driver and Amanda Seyfried. It’s basically the arthouse equivalent of that Steve Buscemi skateboard meme, but with more fedoras and ayahuasca parties.