Drive is a 2011 American action drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. The screenplay, written by Hossein Amini, is based on James Sallis's 2005 novel. The film stars Ryan Gosling as an unnamed Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. He quickly grows fond of his neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son, Benicio. When her debt-ridden husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), is released from prison, the two men take part in what turns out to be a failed million-dollar heist that endangers the lives of everyone involved. The film co-stars Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Christina Hendricks, and Ron Perlman.
Producers Marc Platt and Adam Siegel optioned the source novel after Siegel read a review from Publishers Weekly. Adapting the book proved to be challenging for Amini, as it had a nonlinear narrative. Gosling, one of Platt's top casting choices, eventually signed on for the lead, as he wanted to star in an action-oriented project. Gosling played a pivotal role in the film's production, which included hiring Refn as director and Beth Mickle as production designer. Newton Thomas Sigel oversaw the principal photography, which started on September 25, 2010, was shot on location in Los Angeles, and ended on November 12.
Before its September 2011 release, Drive had been shown at the 64th Cannes Film Festival, earning Refn the Best Director Award. The film was praised for its direction, cinematography, performances (particularly Gosling and Brooks's), visuals, action sequences, and musical score; however, some critics were appalled by its graphic violence and found it to be potentially detrimental to the film's box office success. Nonetheless, the film was still a commercial success, grossing over $81 million against a production budget of $15 million. Several critics listed Drive as one of the best films of 2011, including the National Board of Review. Its accolades include a nomination for Best Sound Editing at the 84th Academy Awards. The film has garnered a cult following since release.
Plot
A man in Los Angeles (billed as "The Driver") works as a mechanic, stunt double, and criminal-for-hire getaway driver. His jobs are all managed by auto shop owner Shannon, who persuades Jewish-American mobster Bernie Rose and his half-Italian partner Nino "Izzy" Paolozzi to purchase a stock car for the Driver to race as a legitimate business for them all.
The Driver grows close to his new neighbor, Irene, and her young son, Benicio, but their relationship is interrupted when Irene's husband, Standard Gabriel, is released from prison. While in prison, Standard owed protection money to an Albanian gangster named Cook, who demands Standard rob a pawn shop for $40,000 to pay off the debt, threatening to harm Benicio and Irene. Driver offers to act as the getaway driver for Standard and Blanche, Cook's accomplice.
At the pawn shop, Blanche exits with a bag of money, but Standard is killed by the store owner. Another car waiting in the parking lot immediately pursues them, but Driver shakes it off. Hiding at a motel, a suspicious Driver forces Blanche to admit she and Cook planned to take the money for themselves, and Cook's henchmen were in the waiting car. She also reveals the bag holds $1 million. Informed by her text messages, two gunmen locate the motel room and one kills Blanche. Driver, in return, kills both gunmen.
Shannon offers to hide the money, but Driver declines. Interrogating Cook at a strip club, he learns that Nino was behind the robbery. The Driver calls Nino and offers to return the money in exchange for peace. However, Nino instead sends a hitman to the Driver and Irene's apartment building. The Driver tells an angry Irene about his involvement with her husband's death, and they enter the elevator, not realizing the hitman is waiting inside. Noticing the man's gun, the Driver kisses Irene goodbye. He subdues and brutally stomps the hitman to death in front of a horrified Irene.
The Driver confronts Shannon, who reveals that he called Bernie about the money and unwittingly mentioned Irene. Furious, the Driver tells Shannon to flee, as Nino will surely hunt them both. Nino reveals to Bernie that a low-level Philadelphia mobster stashed the money at the pawn shop to set up a new operation. Anyone tied to the robbery must be killed, as they could lead the East Coast Italian-American Mafia to Nino and Bernie. Learning this, Bernie reluctantly murders Cook.
Later that night, Bernie visits Shannon at his shop, and fatally slashes Shannon's forearm with a straight razor when he refuses to divulge information. The Driver discovers Shannon's corpse at the auto shop. He disguises himself with a rubber stuntman's mask and follows Nino from the pizzeria to the Pacific Coast Highway. He rams Nino's car onto a beach, killing his driver, before drowning him in the ocean. He calls Irene and tells her that he will not return, explaining that she and Benicio were the best part of his life.
The Driver meets with Bernie, who promises that Irene will be safe in exchange for the money. At the Driver's car, Bernie stabs him in the stomach, but he stabs Bernie to death and manages to drive away, leaving Bernie's corpse and the money behind. Irene knocks on the Driver's apartment door and leaves when no one responds. Although wounded, the Driver drives into the night, his fate ultimately unknown.
Cast Ryan Gosling as "The Driver" Carey Mulligan as Irene Gabriel Bryan Cranston as Shannon Albert Brooks as Bernie Rose Oscar Isaac as Standard Gabriel Christina Hendricks as Blanche Ron Perlman as Nino 'Izzy' Paolozzi Kaden Leos as Benicio Gabriel James Biberi as Chris "Cook" Russ Tamblyn as Doc
Production Development
The novel Drive by James Sallis was published in 2005. Producers Marc Platt and Adam Siegel of Marc Platt Productions optioned the novel after Siegel read a review in Publishers Weekly. The Driver intrigued Siegel because he was "the kind of character you rarely see anymore he was a man with a purpose; he was very good at one thing and made no apologies for it". The character interested Platt, because he reminded him of movie heroes he looked up to as a child, characters typically portrayed by Steve McQueen or Clint Eastwood.
Hossein Amini adapted the novel for the screen. He felt it was a rare book to receive from a studio because it was short, gloomy, and like a poem. Since the novel does not present a linear story, but has many flashbacks and jumps around in time, Amini found the adaptation challenging. He felt the non-linear structure made it "a very tricky structure" for a feature film.
A film adaptation of Drive was first announced in early 2008, with Neil Marshall set to direct what was being described as "an L.A.-set action mystery", planned as a starring vehicle for Hugh Jackman. Universal Studios, which had tried to make a film version for some time, was also on board. By February 2010, Marshall and Jackman were no longer attached to the project.
Platt contacted actor Ryan Gosling about Drive early on. Platt explained: "I have this list that I've created of very talented individuals whose work inspire me writers, directors, actors whom I have to work with before I go onto another career or do something else with my life." Despite having starred in films of diverse genres, Gosling had never starred in anything like Drive but had been interested in acting in an action-oriented project. Gosling said that he had been put off by the many current action genre films that focused more on stunts instead of characters. He responded to Platt about two days later, as he was strongly attracted to the plot and the leading role. He thought the story had a "very strong character" at its core, and a "powerful" romance.
In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Gosling was asked what had attracted him to the film, and whether he had read the earlier script when Jackman and director Neil Marshall were attached to it. He said: I think that might be the original one I read. I read a few drafts. I read one as well where he wasn't a stunt driver at all, which was a newer draft maybe that's the one Hugh Jackman had; I'm not sure exactly. Basically when I read it, in trying to figure out who would do something like this, the only way to make sense of this is that this is a guy that's seen too many movies, and he's started to confuse his life for a film.
When Gosling signed on for the leading role, he was allowed to choose the director, a first in his career. He chose Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn. "It had to be [him]. There was no other choice."
When Refn read the first screenplay for Drive, he was more intrigued by the concept of a man having a split personality, being a stuntman by day and a getaway driver at night, than the plot of the story. Believing that the director might be intimidated by the script, as it was unlike anything he had done before, Gosling had concerns about whether Refn wanted to participate. Refn took on the project without hesitation.
On the podcast It happened in Hollywood with Seth Abramovitch, Refn recounts meeting with Gosling after his initial plans to direct Paul Schrader's Dying of the Light fell through following creative disagreements with actor Harrison Ford: "Ryan had reached out because he liked what I made and simultaneously there had been this book called Drive, which I think was bought by Universal originally to adapt into some kind of like franchise action film. The book's very minimalistic and very good but I wouldn't say it's very commercial but it had turned into more of a vehicle and it wasn't really my thing. But when Ryan and I met, we had a very interesting meeting. I had a high fever so I was there but high as a kite because I had these very severe, hard American anti flu drugs that made you zoned out and I couldn't really move. We had a very peculiar conversation where we didn't really talk. We didn't look at each other because I couldn't move my body. After a very uneventful dinner, I asked him to take me home and he was very kind to do so. As he's driving me back to Santa Monica where I was staying, we were driving in silence like a blind date gone terrible. He turns on the radio to the soft rock station... I'm a sucker for a great rock ballad and "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon kicks in. Ryan's just driving as our song layers out of the stereo and I build myself up into some kind of frenzy and start to sing to the song. A lot of things were happening... I had just had my second daughter and felt bad about being away. I thought 'What was I doing here of all places in LA?'. I kind of just started to cry, tears rolling down my cheeks as I'm singing this song. It was sort of a catharsis because I just got this feeling I couldn't fight anymore, like the lyrics. I turned to Ryan and, because the music was so loud, screamed very loudly 'I got it. I know what we're going to make. We're going to make a film about a man who drives around at night listening to music because that's his emotional relief' and Ryan looked at me and said 'I'm in'."
Casting When casting roles in his films, Refn does not watch casting tapes or have his actors audition for him. Instead, he meets with them and casts them on the spot if he feels they are right. Drive was the first film that British actress Carey Mulligan signed to do after being nominated for an Academy Award for her role in An Education (2009), which was directed by Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig, a good friend of Refn who had babysat him as a child. At the time of Mulligan's casting, Refn had not seen An Education, but his wife was a fan of the film and Mulligan's performance, and urged him to cast her. In the original script, the character was a Hispanic woman named Irina. The character was changed to Irene after Mulligan was cast; Refn said that he "couldn't find any actress that would click with [him] personally".