Adam Driver, Michael Shannon on Why ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Man of Steel’ Are ‘Socially Relevant’

In their sit-down for the fifth season of Variety and PBS’ “Actors on Actors,” Michael Shannon and Adam Driver discussed the social messages of their blockbuster movies. “I looked at ‘Man of Steel’ as a very socially relevant movie, not necessarily a comic-book movie,” Shannon said, before Driver added that he feels the same way about “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” “Here’s a story about some people, a civilization. They lived on a planet and used up all the resources and destroyed the planet, and they thought the way to solve the problem was just to go get another planet.” Shannon said. Driver also questioned which side was the light and which was the dark in “Star Wars,” comparing the First Order to the Resistance. “You have two groups who are completely convinced and morally justified to do whatever it is. If it means blowing up a Death Star, which has so many families and people, even though they’re supposed to be bad, and on the opposite side Alderaan, a planet,” Driver said. “The idea that people think that they’re 100% convinced that they’re correct, I thought it was really interesting.” The interview will air in its entirety on Variety’s “Actors on Actors” Season 5, presented by The Venetian Las Vegas, which debuts on PBS SoCal on Jan. 3.