Adam Driver and 19 other actors who hate watching themselves on screen

20 stars who hate watching their own projects

Adam Driver made headlines this week for walking out of an NPR podcast interview after host Terry Gross wanted to show a clip of him singing in his upcoming film Marriage Story. The actor famously hates listening to or watching himself in his own movies, saying on the same podcast in 2015 that he can "drive myself and the other people around me crazy with the things I wanted to change or I wish I could change."

But Driver is far from the only actor with an aversion to seeing themselves on screen. Check out EW’s galley to find out why acclaimed performers like Meryl Streep and Joaquin Phoenix would rather stay away from their own movies.

Joaquin Phoenix

Out of an extensive catalogue, the Joker actor has only seen two of his own films: Her and The Master. He wanted to learn from his mistakes by watching himself, but admitted that the practice is "still something I struggle with."

Meryl Streep

Streep, the inventor of acting, said she only watches her movies once. On revisiting her projects, the Little Women star said "I don't do that. I just look ahead." Wise words for life.

Helena Bonham Carter

Sweeney Todd, The King's Speech, The Crown -- Bonham Carter has been in plenty of acclaimed projects, but the actress is too focused on her next role to dwell on what she's already done.

"It's not like I am going to do exactly the same part next year, so what's the point?" she said. ''I love acting because I love doing it. You do it so that other people can watch it if they want to watch it."

Lost's Naveen Andrews and Matthew Fox

Both Lost stars said they never watched their own show, as filming it was enough for them. "Maybe 20 years from now," Andrews said about getting around to see it.

Even without watching the whole series, Fox said he's a fan. "I loved the story. I got it all from the script," the actor said during an Emmys panel. "I just really am not comfortable watching myself."

Andrew Lincoln

The Walking Dead star famously avoided watching his own show — including episodes that didn't even feature him — as he focused too much on his own mistakes. "My job here is just to be as truthful as I can in this role," he told EW in 2013. "It’s the same thing as not reading press or reviews. You can’t do both. You can’t get good stuff and not get the bad as well."

Julianne Moore

Moore is another actor who finds more joy in making a movie than watching it, calling the filming process her "big thrill." As such, she hasn't seen any of her own movies. If she ever does, her Oscar-winning role in Still Alice may be a good place to start.

Jesse Eisenberg

Count The Social Network and Zombieland star among those who do not like watch their own work once it goes from acting in front of a small crew to the big screen and a large audience. When reflecting on his Lex Luthor role in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Eisenberg told Business Insider, "I really like thinking that you're working in this bubble and I can experience these personal emotions without thinking that it's going to be scrutinized by, in some cases, a lot of people."

Emma Stone

Eisenberg's Zombieland: Double Tap costar hated watching herself in her breakout film Easy A so much that she had to leave. "I went to a friends and family screening to see it and I had to get up and walk out," she said in Variety's Actors on Actors last year. "Who wants to watch themselves for that long?"

Nicole Kidman

Other actors leave the theater to escape their faces on screen, but Kidman literally left the country after watching her 2008 film Australia. She "squirmed" in her seat during the Sydney premiere, then immediately left "straight on a plane." It was only the second film she starred in that she's watched, along with another Baz Luhrman picture, Moulin Rouge.

Jared Leto

Even after winning an Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club, Leto said he hadn't watched the film. "You have so little input and control of the final product once you’re done that I feel like I just would rather leave it alone," he said in 2014. And given all the flak Leto caught for his Joker portrayal, maybe it's for the best he doesn't watch 2016's Suicide Squad.

Maggie Smith

The legendary actress doesn't like watching herself, but she's open to making an exception for Downton Abbey. Why? "They gave me the boxed set. And I’m going to do all sorts of things now, ‘cause I’m free!'" said Smith, who played the beloved Dowager Countess on the show for six seasons.

James Van Der Beek

Unlike other actors who avoid their own projects because they felt too attached to the process, Van Der Beek never watched the end of Dawson's Creek because he felt detached from it.

"I’m not as invested in that because it was something that I did, not something that I wrote," he said in 2017. "I was a part of it. I felt like a passenger on the whole thing."

Javier Bardem

The Spanish actor, who nabbed an Oscar for his No Country for Old Men role, said he can’t get over his appearance on screen. "The fact that I like to make characters doesn’t mean that I like to watch my characters being made, my performance," he told GQ in 2012. "I can’t even watch that f—ing nose, that f—ing voice, those ridiculous eyes. I can’t handle that."

Megan Fox

Fox has said she freaks out when faced with her own films, in addition to photographs. "I don’t look at anything," she revealed. "I panic if there is a monitor in the room. I immediately go into, like, an anxiety attack." It was so bad that the starlet could only stomach Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen after chugging champagne.

Zac Efron

Although he can appreciate his own stuff "years down the road," Efron told Collider in 2010 that typically he obsesses over "every single flaw" when first screening his work.

Johnny Depp

Depp admitted that there are cons to not seeing his own movies, saying "you miss out on a lot of your friends' incredible work." But ultimately, the actor wants to protect his own sanity. "It would just harm me," he said of screening his own stuff. "I would rather stay as ignorant as possible about the result of anything because once you’re done playing that character, it’s really not your business anymore."

Robert Pattinson

The actor has previously said he doesn't bother with watching himself, likening it to "self-flagellation." But he did have to watch himself for the Twilight DVD commentary and his reactions were hilariously honest. "I didn't actually know they were rolling when we were doing this scene," Pattinson recalled at one point, "I was just kinda cold."

Reese Witherspoon

The Morning Show actress said it was "torture" viewing her own work. "Why would you want to watch yourself being stupid and pretending to be somebody else?" she said on Chelsea Lately.

Gwyneth Paltrow

Paltrow didn't watch herself in Spider-Man: Homecoming, mainly because the actress forgot she was in it. "I just got confused,” she told Jimmy Kimmel on his show in October. "There are so many of these wonderful Marvel, interconnecting movies." As the guru of Goop, Paltrow has better things to do.