DIRECTOR ON FINALLY GETTING BABY DRIVER ON THE ROAD
Filmmaker talks about his love of car movies, snappy soundtracks and Toronto
Memo to James Bond franchise moguls: Edgar Wright is available and interested in directing episodes.
“I wouldn’t say ‘no’ to James Bond,” the British writer/director says during a recent Toronto interview. “I’ll say it on record: I’d do a James Bond!”
He’s not the least bit coy about his ambitions — he’d also happily have a go at a
Star Wars tale — and why should he feign modesty?
Wright dresses like a hip businessman, but fanboy-franchise blood flows in his veins. His own movies have tended to approach genre with a satirical aim, as in the zombies/cops/sci-fi themes of Shaun
of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End, a.k.a. his “Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy.”
His new film Baby Driver, opening Wednesday, is what he calls his “kick-ass music and cars movie.” It’s a spin on classic wheels ’n’ steals caper pics like Smokey and the Bandit, The Italian Job, Grand Theft Auto and other fleet flicks that left skid marks on Wright’s youthful psyche.
Baby Driver stars Ansel Elgort as a music-loving motor prodigy named Baby who works as wheelman for a gang of thieves that includes Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez. There’s better car action in Baby Driver than in the most recent Fast
and Furious instalment, an assertion that brings a broad smile from Wright’s shaggy visage, still youthful at 43. Not the first time has someone told him this.
“I won’t comment but I’ll take it — hah-hah!” he says.
He’s happy to talk to the Star all about Baby Driver, car chases, soundtrack music and his abiding love for Toronto:
You make car chases look incredibly fluid, set to the beat of Baby’s iPod selections, but I’m guessing it’s a lot harder than it seems?
It is. I mean, I had done action in my previous movies, with little bits of car action in Shaun and Hot Fuzz and
World’s End. I knew it was going to be tough because when I had done car scenes before, they were usually the most frustrating experiences. But that didn’t deter me. It was like, I’m going to take the bull by the horns and go for it. And I did talk to some other directors who I knew or came to know who had done car sequences. The only way of doing it is you’ve got to prep the s--t out of it.
Who did you talk to?
Quentin Tarantino. And also Ron Howard, who started his career making car movies, Grand Theft Auto. I talked to George Miller as well, who I met when he was promoting Mad
Max: Fury Road. George Miller is The Man! George Miller, I think, has sort of claimed a flag at the top of Mount Everest, because he is the King of the Car Chase now.
At any point during filming, did you ever say to yourself, “What have I gotten myself into?”
Not really, although there’s always that point on every shoot where you have a low point, some point where I have to be talked off the ledge by my producer. She reminds me that on every movie I have this bleak mood where I’m at a real low point. It’s usually just through sheer exhaustion and insomnia, because it’s that point in the middle of the movie where I’m getting less than five hours’ sleep and
I’m just in an absolutely bleak mood. Music is always important to your films, but especially here, since Baby spins his wheels to favourite tunes. And you’ve got songs from multiple generations, from the boomers on down. Which comes first for you when you’re writing, the music or the story?
I started with the music for this one. What’s funny is that some people say, “Oh, this film’s a departure for you,” but it’s actually the oldest idea I’ve had, in a sense. I’ve been dreaming about this movie or the idea of it for 22 years. It was when I first heard “Bellbottoms” by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, when I was about 21 and living in London. I had just moved to London and I was on the dole. I would listen to the band’s album ( Orange) and the first song was “Bellbottoms” and I would just start to visualize this car chase.
And then that turned into the idea of how the driver can only drive when he has the appropriate soundtrack. I think I’m very much like the character in that regard. There are some similarities between me and Baby: I had tinnitus when I was a kid and I like to soundtrack my life. I’m always trying to find the appropriate music to play whether it’s writing, or driving, or walking, or cleaning up, or going to the gym, there’s always that finding the right kind of music to do things.
What made you think of Ansel Elgort as your musically inclined driver? He’s not the first name that comes to mind for such a role. Did you see him in The Fault in Our Stars?
I’ve had this movie in my head for so long, and the young stars of Hollywood change every 18 months. So whoever I had in my mind in 2007 were now too old for it. So three years ago, when Baby Driver was to be the next movie, Ansel was like the hot thing through Fault in Our Stars, so he was one of the first people I met. I met lots of young actors that were out there, and I’ve got to say this: He is not what I imagined when I wrote the part, and yet I now can’t imagine anybody else doing it. Even just that things about him that were different than I envisioned it and are now a big part of the movie, such as his height — Ansel is like 6’4”. I think it actually really works to the benefit of the movie. And he’s this baby-faced 21-year-old who works so well in the gang. As soon as you put him into a scene with Jon Hamm or Kevin Spacey or Jamie Foxx, you would ask the same question they would: “What’s the deal with the kid with the headphones and sunglasses?”
A lot of directors pretend they’d never do a franchise movie like a 007 actioner or Star Wars chapter. But you’re definitely up for it. What’s the appeal for you?
I would never rule anything out. I’d be a fool to say “never,” but I think with something like a franchise mov- ie, I’d like to put my imprint on it. If it’s merely servicing an existing lineage or brand look, then I’m sort of less interested. I’d like to do a franchise movie if I thought I could make it my own, the way Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins did (with Bond movie Sky
fall). They did a really good job of turning Bond around to make it feel a little more in their style
I can’t leave you without asking about your love for Toronto, which you made look very exciting with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which had you living and working here. What does Toronto mean to you?
I like it on a cultural level. I mean, I like the bands that come from Toronto. I had a great time living here. I love your cinema scene, some of my favourite directors — like David Cronenberg and Don McKellar — are from Toronto. I also made friends with people in music, the Broken Social Scene guys and Metric. It was a magical time.