No, Adam Driver Did Not Attack 73-Year-Old Co-Star With A Chair

Adam Driver’s assault of a 73-year-old woman with a chair may have been a case of mistranslation.

The actor found himself the subject of several uncomfortable headlines when, in an interview with a Portuguese podcast late last month, actress Lídia Franco appeared to accuse her co-star of attacking her during the filming of “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.”

“Yes, he attacked me on the scene, but it had nothing to do with the scene,” the now 76-year-old supposedly told Era O Que Faltava, according to a translation by Portuguese publication NIT, describing the 2018 incident as “a camouflaged assault with a chair.”

But this week, the actress sent the publication a clarification, insisting that while she still considered Driver “rude”, he did not assault her, and that that part was a misunderstanding.

“Our characters, in the film ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’, had to be physically close,” she explained. “I considered the actor’s behavior to be rude because, in the preparation of a scene, he didn’t take the care I believe he should have taken.”

She claimed that during the scene in question, they were sat very close, and every time he stood he got up with such force that his chair “would bump into me with some force, which bothered me.”

“It wasn’t an assault, nor did I ever feel or report that that was the actor’s intention,” she added. “I am sorry for any misunderstanding.”

Meanwhile, a native Portuguese speaker on Twitter offered their own translation of the original interview quoting the actress saying she had a “horrible” experience — “and it was because of Adam Driver”.

The Twitter translation, which gained traction earlier this week, said she accepted he can be “an extraordinary actor” but was a horrible person — a “madman” — and didn’t even deserve to be spoken about.

The social media translation continued to claim that during rehearsals he would demand every crew member leave the set; also claiming it was in his contract that no one could look at him, and if they did, they’d be fired… and claimed this happened to at least one extra.

It further alleged the producers told her that his attitude toward her was awful, but that they couldn’t do anything, because their hands were tied.

Without referencing the chair incident specifically, the film’s producers told NIT that such “Large international projects with a cast of various nationalities and with different dynamics of star systems can lead to misunderstandings or misinterpretations by both sides.”

They insisted that contrary to Franco’s supposed claims, no extras were fired in the making of the film, but they were asked not to take pictures or interfere with the American actor’s work.

The only disruption to filming came during external shoots when tourists spotted Driver and began taking pictures, and the production crew were forced to intercept.

“The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” was famously stuck in production hell for decades: director Terry Gilliam had been trying to get it made since 1989.

Several main star pairings including Johnny Depp & Robert Duvall, Ewan McGregor & Michael Palin, and Jack O’Connell & John Hurt were all attached at one point or another, before it finally came to fruition with Driver and Jonathan Pryce.

The film was finally released in May 2018, closing the Cannes Film Festival. The worldwide release stuttered through a number of different countries over the next two years over a legal dispute with a former producer.

TooFab has reached out to Driver’s reps for comment.