BABY DRIVER 2017

Edgar Wright hurtles down memory lane PORTRAIT MARCO VITTUR

How do you feel about your most recent film making the list?

I’m very happy. I guess the irony there is that it was my oldest idea. I remember where

I was when I came up with the idea for, if not the whole movie, at least the first scene. I was in Myddleton Road in Wood Green, and I would just listen to ‘Bellbottoms’ [by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion] and imagine an amazing car chase completely set to this song.

You did a dry run for it with a Mint Royale video starring Noel Fielding.

I introduced that [at a screening] the other day. I said, “If you wanted to see Baby Driver starring one of the hosts of The Great British Bake Off, this is it!” It’s Bakey Driver. But what’s funny is when I did that video, afterwards I felt like such an idiot because I thought, “That could have been a good film.” The irony is that when I was pitching the film in 2015, it was like a proof-of-concept piece. And it was nice to have something backdated. So if fans with short memories would say, ‘Oh, Baby Driver is just a rip off of Drive,’ I could go, ‘Well, let me refer you to my video from 2003…’”

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World aside, all your movies are very British. Then this came along. Was it always set in America?

I thought a little bit about it being in the UK. But you know what the one-way systems are like. I would take my hat off to anybody who can do a really amazing car chase sequence in London in this day and age.

This is the only movie you’ve written by yourself. Did you ever think about bringing on a co-writer?

I very much wanted to write it myself. It was a very difficult thing to do. When I was getting