Oscar-Nominated Drive My Car Director Doesn't Actually Know How To Drive

screenrant.com:

Ryusuke Hamaguchi, the Oscar-nominated director of Best Picture contender Drive My Car, has revealed that despite the subject matter of his film, he doesn't know how to drive. The film, an adaptation of the Haruki Murakami short story of the same name, has been internationally and critically successful, and beyond its Oscar nominations has earned over 50 accolades. HBO Max subscribers have been able to stream Drive My Car since March 2.

Drive My Car follows the story of Yūsuke Kafuku, played by Hidetoshi Nishijima, an actor and theatre director. Shortly after discovering his wife Oto's infidelity, she dies of a brain hemorrhage, causing Yūsuke to have a breakdown. Two years later, in Hiroshima directing a multilingual production of Uncle Vanya, Yūsuke is obliged by the theater company he works for to be chauffeured in his 1987 Saab 900 by a young woman, Misaki Watari. Much of the film's three-hour runtime takes place during their conversations in Yūsuke's car as she drives him around and they grow closer, gradually learning more about one another.

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Hamaguchi confirmed in an interview with EW that, though he is officially in possession of a driving license, he is functionally unable to drive, despite the fact that a large part of Drive My Car takes place behind the wheel. He explained that even after passing his test, he felt unsafe driving. That said, he still enjoys the experience of being a car in a passenger:

I actually am not able to drive. [Laughs] I do possess a license. But in Japan, we have a saying, we call it a «paper driver.» Because we're just a driver on paper — we don't actually drive. I do enjoy riding in cars with other people and