'Having my body match a horse was ambitious': Adam Driver unpacks his viral topless ad

Watch: Adam Driver reflects on 'ambitious' viral Burberry cologne campaign

Adam Driver has finally opened up about that viral Burberry advert, which saw him riding a horse while topless, and quite frankly looking incredible.

The Burberry Hero advert was released earlier this year and, in it, Driver is seen running shirtless, racing a horse along a beach, before swimming alongside the animal in the sea and before they eventually morph together on the beach.

Between Driver's insane abs and the fact that he inexplicably managed to merge bodies with that of a horse, it is hardly surprising the advert courted so much attention.

So far, it’s been viewed well over half a million times on YouTube as well as having been shared countless times by impressed viewers on social media.

And now, three months on from the campaign blowing up our feeds, Driver has spoken about the success of the campaign and what he did to prepare for the role. Surprisingly it wasn't a hundred sit-ups a night.

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“I didn’t have to do any work on my face matching a horse, but having my body match a horse was ambitious,” he told Vogue.

The House of Gucci star added that while an advert was never something he aspired to do, taking on the “unfamiliar” is one of the most “rewarding thing[s] about being an actor”.

“I didn’t approach it any differently than a regular film role, even though it was a commercial,” Driver continued.

“When we got to shoot it, I’m so glad I did what I did because I think I underestimated how physical it would be.

“Our first shot is a guy on an ATV and a camera, matching his pace to a horse’s pace to my pace, and we’re doing it in 30 minutes because we’re chasing the light. Every shot was ambitious and really exhausting but, hopefully, worth it.”

Driver says he was drawn to the one-minute ad, directed by experimental filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, because he'd never done anything like it before and he found the whole premise of it interesting.

“The first images that they gave me was of a man and an animal – specifically, obviously, a horse,” Driver said. “And their concept was that your body would match that of a f***ing horse. So that’s where we started.”

"I thought was really unique. I like his [Jonathan Glazer] films and what they presented to me initially seemed really ambitious and exhausting.

"It seemed like a challenge."

Despite his incredibly chiselled abs and toned torso on show in the campaign, Driver wants people to know that he does not actually run five miles a day, nor does he do "hundreds of pushups" as rumours have suggested.

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In response to being asked whether that was his current fitness regime, the Girls and Star Wars actor was pretty emphatic in his reply.

"Oh f**k no. I don’t do that anymore because my body won’t allow it,” he responded. “My fitness is mostly based on the job.

"I just had to do something where I had to gain weight, so my work kind of dictates it."

That doesn't mean he doesn't try to stay in shape, however, particularly as he credits it for helping to maintain good mental health.

"I kind of need it. For me, it’s… not therapy, necessarily, but I kind of need to move and exercise for sanity. I try to do something as much as possible," he adds.

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Details about the role emerge as Driver also recently admitted to taking a pair of Gucci shoes home from the House of Gucci set, while snubbing the suits.

In the film Driver plays Maurizio Gucci, one-time head of the fashion house, and while he decided to treat himself to a pair of Gucci shoes after filming wrapped, he opted against taking any of the slick suits because he didn't want to feel like his character off-set.

"I didn't take the suits. I took a pair of Gucci shoes," he said.

"I always find from when I work on a movie and you're wearing a costume 14 hours a day for months, always something weird happens where I start to feel like, 'Oh. This is actually who I am. This is my identity. I've been doing it wrong this whole time.'

"And then, you get back to reality and you put the clothes on that you've taken from set, because you're like, 'This is great.' And then you pretty soon are like, 'What? What am I doing? This is not who I am at all.'"