10 Quick Facts About ‘Drive’

Boasting an old-fashioned movie-star performance from Ryan Gosling as a quiet, toothpick-chewing Hollywood stunt driver with a side job in heist getaways, Drive is both an arthouse and an action movie. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and featuring a stellar cast including Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, and Oscar Isaac, Drive topped many critics’ year-end lists and sparked a lot of interest in toothpicks. Here’s what you should know about it.

Drive began as a short story written by James Sallis in 2002, later expanded into a novel published in 2005. Producer Adam Siegel read Publishers’ Weekly‘s review of the novel and optioned it, bringing on screenwriter Hossein Amini. After the film’s success, Sallis released a sequel, Driven, in which the nameless Driver moves to Phoenix and embarks on a mission of vengeance.

Initially, Drive was set to star Hugh Jackman and be directed by Dog Soldiers’ Neil Marshall. Both left the project by 2010, leading to the recruitment of Ryan Gosling by producer Marc Platt. Gosling expressed to The New York Times that he was drawn to the movie because “everyone’s playing superheroes and I just felt like I wanted to make a superhero movie too, you know?”

If one particular playlist had been different in 2009, Drive might never have happened. Platt told Gosling he could pick his director, and Gosling wanted Nicolas Winding Refn, who had directed Tom Hardy in Bronson. Refn was interested, partly due to a tarot-card reader in Paris predicting he would have a good experience in Hollywood. Their dinner meeting was awkward, with Refn recalling he was so high on medication for a fever that he couldn’t remember the script.

As Gosling drove Refn home, the silence was broken by REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling” on the radio. They both joined in, and that moment of connection set the tone for the film. Refn later said, “The film is that scene, really.”

Several iconic moments in the film differ significantly from the original screenplay. For example, the intense elevator scene—transitioning from a romantic kiss to brutal violence—originally featured Driver killing a henchman with razor wire. The fork in Cook’s eye was initially meant for his neck, and Shannon’s (Bryan Cranston) death was less distressing. Cranston conceived the final scene for Shannon’s exit in a dream.

The Driver’s iconic satin jacket, adorned with an embroidered scorpion, references the fable of the scorpion and the frog. The jacket’s exact origin in the film’s development remains a mystery, but it drew inspiration from KISS and the 1963 movie Scorpio Rising. While Gosling initially envisioned a 1950s Korean souvenir jacket look, costume designer Erin Benach opted for a less billowy design. Thirteen identical jackets were used for filming, with many replicas sold online post-release.

Driver’s minimal dialogue—just 116 lines in the whole film—was a choice influenced by Gosling’s previous role in the dialogue-heavy Blue Valentine.

Albert Brooks, cast against type, shaved off his eyebrows to appear less expressive. Despite critical acclaim, Drive received only one Oscar nomination, for Best Sound Editing. Brooks, who many thought would get a Best Supporting Actor nod, humorously tweeted, “I got ROBBED,” later clarifying, “I don’t mean the Oscars, I mean literally. My pants and shoes have been stolen.”

Ryan Gosling described Drive as “a violent John Hughes movie,” while Refn likened it to a fairytale. According to Refn, the characters are archetypes in a modern fairytale setting. The Driver is likened to a noble knight who doesn’t fit in the real world because he’s too innocent and noble.

Interestingly, Refn himself failed his driving test eight times. He told the LA Times, “Like [J.G.] Ballard in Crash, I find driving so sexual and exciting, and I’m very much aroused by speed. So I will never control a machine.”

Not everyone appreciated the film similarly. One viewer, expecting a Fast & Furious-like experience based on the trailer, attempted to sue the distributor FilmDistrict and the cinema for false advertising and claimed the film was antisemitic. The case lingered until 2018 but appears to have exhausted its appeal options.

Source: Publishers’ Weekly, The New York Times, The Guardian, LA Times