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00:00Hi everyone, I'm Mia Galupa with the film team here at The Hollywood Reporter and today we're talking to Edgar Wright, the director of the recently released Baby Driver.
00:11First of all, thank you so much for speaking with us today.
00:14Thanks for having me.
00:14So to begin with, can you give us a quick logline for your movie?
00:19It is a car movie driven by music. Ansel Elgort plays Baby who is the titular young driver in this gang of robbers and he listens to kind of a soundtrack 24-7 that basically, you know, music is his escape and he uses music to escape.
00:42And so music fuels the entire plot of heists and gunfights and foot chases and close calls and scrapes, etc, etc. Rated R, 112 minutes long.
00:57I started good there and then it became less good.
01:00But you got all the good facts in as well.
01:02Oh yeah. So to begin with, I want to begin really near the beginning, which is with pre-production because everything is so well timed and choreographed in this movie.
01:14So I'm wondering how extensive was that pre-production process and how integral was it to the actual production?
01:21I wouldn't necessarily say it was expensive, more in that I think the movie is made by an enormously long period of unpaid pre-production.
01:31So I wouldn't call it expensive at all. I guess basically in some form, you know, I guess I started kind of like made the decision we were going to make the movie three years ago.
01:43We were going to try and get it made in physical pre-production like 18 months ago maybe.
01:49But going even further back from that, I started writing the script 10 years ago and I had the idea for the movie like 22 years ago.
01:57So in some form, I'd been sort of slowly prepping the movie in my head for a very long time.
02:05But so that said, is that there is one of the things that not a lot of movies do that we did spend a lot of time on,
02:12is that we did like have proper rehearsal time before we started shooting, both with the stunts and the choreographers and the cast.
02:19And that was the only way that we could get through the shoot in the number of days that we did is by having rehearsed every part of the movie.
02:29So that when we came to set to shoot, we knew exactly what we were doing.
02:34I'm wondering, was there any sequence in the film that you still can't believe that you were able to pull off or one that you were particularly nervous for?
02:42Well, all of the cast sequences are difficult.
02:45I mean, I can't really say that one is more difficult than the other, but the cast sequences in general,
02:52and I knew this going in, but they're as painstaking to make as they are fun to watch.
02:58And so that was something that I'd done little bits of car action in my previous films, but nothing as extended as this.
03:05And this film has like three big cast sequences.
03:08So I knew going in that it was going to be a bear, and it was.
03:13But like, you know, we just had a really great team of like, not just the stunt guys who are incredible and second unit and, you know, cinematographers and operators.
03:24Like my cinematographer, Bill Pope, is incredible.
03:27Darren Prescott did an amazing job.
03:29Like the driver himself, Jeremy Fry, and the rig driver, Robert Nagel, and the camera operator, Roberto Angelis.
03:37And then the other thing with the car chases is the other department, aside from the AD department, who are amazing, Walter Gasparovic and co.
03:45But the locations with the car chase film, you can just imagine the actual sheer amount of miles that you have to travel.
03:52So in the opening sequence alone, I think we kind of travel through 30 city blocks before we even get to the freeway and then back off the freeway again.
04:03So that opening sequence was pretty crazy.
04:05And speaking of location, what I love about this movie is that Atlanta seems like a character in the film as well.
04:14And a lot of productions shoot in Atlanta, but we'll try to make it seem like a generic city.
04:19But it feels like you really embrace the city.
04:22And I'm wondering, was that a conscious choice?
04:23Well, the movie was originally written in and for Los Angeles.
04:28And Los Angeles, you know, in the kind of prep, was quickly ruled out as just being, unfortunately, too expensive to shoot in.
04:37If we didn't get the tax break, which was a lottery thing, then there was just no chance of shooting in L.A.
04:42And the irony is, is that initially when the other alternatives came up, Atlanta was one of them, I was initially reluctant about it because so many of the films were filming there.
04:51But that said, once I'd got my head around it, I think that Atlanta is a better location for the movie because it makes it more distinctive than a lot of the kind of classic films in this genre are set in L.A.
05:07Whether it's Heat, Reservoir Dogs, Point Break, The Driver, To Live and Die in L.A., and many others are all L.A. set.
05:14So doing something in Atlanta, there hadn't really been a car chase film in Atlanta, a big one, unless I'm wrong.
05:21It was like Smoky and the Bandit, or probably Burt Reynolds in his heyday back in the 70s and 80s was doing car chase films in Atlanta, Georgia.
05:29A lot of films shooting there, and even some of the fast films have shot in Atlanta, but never using Atlanta as itself.
05:35So the idea of using Atlanta as itself, I just did a lot of research on that.
05:41I tried to spend a lot more time with a local kind of location manager and my location manager, and I said, show me all the places that people don't shoot.
05:49And then on top of that, with the help of some Atlanta natives, I rewrote the script for Atlanta, and I tried to put in as many real locations as possible,
06:00and as many name drops of real freeways and real interstates and real kind of, you know.
06:08So I know that, because I know friends who've seen it in Atlanta, Georgia, and somebody said the greatest thing to me,
06:14they said, oh, our cinema Atlanta flipped out when in the radio sequence he flipped onto the river.
06:21And they knew from the frequency of the radio station what he was listening to, the classic rock station.
06:27And so there's a little attention to detail that makes everything worthwhile, because then people say, oh, my God,
06:31I can't believe they mentioned Bacchanalia or Goodfellas Pizza and Wings, which are real Atlanta restaurants.
06:37Oh, really?
06:37Yeah.
06:38All of the names of places in there are all real.
06:41Ah.
06:42So you were like an original Atlanta native when you were there.
06:46I mean, for that nine months I was.
06:48What I personally loved about the movie that I didn't realize until a second viewing was the technology used
06:57and how incredibly, you know, relatively old-fashioned it is.
07:02You see cassette tapes, you see flip phones used as burner phones, and you see vinyls,
07:09but you don't necessarily see iPhones.
07:11You have iPods.
07:12And I'm wondering, was this type of use of old-fashioned technology, whether music or communication-oriented,
07:19was this a conscious choice in the scripting process?
07:24Yeah.
07:24I think my thought was is that the baby, for the most part, keeps it all analog.
07:31Well, the thing is also, I think, to avoid detection.
07:33If you're a criminal at large, having a laptop and a smartphone is basically a GPS to your whereabouts.
07:42I never thought about that.
07:43So that's why criminals use burner phones is because they're like sort of you're not, there's no name on the account.
07:50You know, you buy them like with, like sort of it pays you go.
07:53And that's why people buy burners is to not be like detected.
07:58So I kind of figured it would be a smart thing if you didn't have a laptop or a smartphone.
08:04And so when we were making those music sequences, this Montreal DJ Kid Koala did the songs for me,
08:10and I said, can you do it analog like you used to make music before, you know, kind of the laptop?
08:18So that was basically the idea, was to keep all of the stuff pretty timeless.
08:22And the other idea I thought was that, I mean, I still use my iPod classic because I like having a dedicated music player.
08:30I hate listening to music on the iPhone and then like a call comes through, you get a text.
08:35It's the worst thing if you've got it on the Bluetooth on your car and a call just wipes out the song straight away.
08:40And when you're mid-singing.
08:41I know, and it's like, it's just like, so I like to have an iPod that's a dedicated drive of music.
08:46So also I kind of figured that if Ansel Elgort's character, Baby, has been stealing cars since he was 12 years old,
08:54the main things he would have inherited from these stolen cars are people's sunglasses and people's iPods.
09:00So when he's got other people's iPods in the film, especially the pink and glittery one that he has in the diner,
09:06that is not his iPod.
09:07That is some woman's iPod that he essentially now owns.
09:10So he has her record collection.
09:13That's the idea.
09:14That's so interesting.
09:15So he's taking on these personas through music in a certain way and living other lives.
09:21And I don't know if enough has been said about the clothing choices in this movie.
09:26I think everyone's clothing, according to their character, it was fascinating to look at.
09:33So I'm wondering, how did you go about deciding the look for each character,
09:37especially in terms of my personal favorite, which is bats?
09:40Yeah, so basically, as far back as the TV show that I did before Shaun of the Dead, Spaced,
09:49I remember somebody saying something about that show which really stuck with me.
09:53They said, oh, the characters are all really easy to draw.
09:56And I was thinking, oh, that's an interesting way to put it.
09:58And from that point on, in all of my movies, and Baby Driver being no exception,
10:03I was looking to kind of color code the characters.
10:06So working with Courtney Hoffman, the costume designer,
10:08we basically picked a color per character so that that character would be somebody that you could track.
10:15Because in a lot of action films, especially like Spy or like Hitman films,
10:21they're always wearing black, and the cars are black, and the goodies and the baddies are in black.
10:26And sometimes, if you get into a fight scene where both of your actors are shaven-headed
10:30and they're wearing all black, it's impossible to tell what's going on.
10:34So my theory with my movies is that to give people a color,
10:37so in this case, Ansel is in, like, gray and black and white.
10:43Jamie is in red.
10:44Jon Hamm is in blue.
10:46Aza Gonzalez is in purple and pink.
10:48Kevin is in sort of gray and green.
10:51You know, he's got green ties and stuff.
10:53Lily James has sort of denim and pops of yellow.
10:56And those are their colors.
10:57And so once you get into action, they become very easy to track who's who.
11:02And their color continues throughout the whole film.
11:06So it was particularly fun kind of picking sort of like, red is a very Atlanta color.
11:12And so that seemed sort of very apt for Jamie's character.
11:17And, you know, some of the, I always thought when, as soon as we saw that,
11:20King of Hearts sweatshirt that he wears in his first scene,
11:25I was like, I could never pull off that sweatshirt.
11:28It's from a place called Atlanta Underground, and it's amazing.
11:32So you're really living vicariously through bats in that way.
11:37Well, we did buy a lot of stuff locally.
11:38A lot of the stuff is like, I mean, a lot of Jamie's stuff is from Atlanta.
11:43But I just thought like he, I mean, you know, there's lots of, it's just fun also to kind
11:47of come up with character touches for the characters throughout.
11:50And so, you know, it was, I mean, and the color coding is something that I've always done
11:56and like doing.
11:57Yeah.
11:59And the car chases are obviously incredible.
12:02But I would like to talk about the smaller love story for a second with Deborah and Baby.
12:08And I know you've talked extensively about your inspirations behind the car chases and the
12:13car sequences.
12:14So I'm wondering, did you have any inspiration for their love story?
12:17Yeah, I think the initial idea was that thing where, which happens frequently when you like
12:23make a connection with like sort of somebody in a diner, if you make a connection with a
12:27waitress.
12:28I mean, this has happened to me many times where you think, wow, is there, is there something
12:32there?
12:32Or am I just imagining it?
12:34Or is it maybe they're just doing their job and being super charming?
12:37And I like this idea, though, that like Baby is actually, it's like she's the first real
12:44person he meets in the movie.
12:45Like he has a particular persona that he puts on as a front with the rest of the gang.
12:52He has his home life with Joe, his foster father, where, you know, they communicate in sign language.
12:59And then when he goes to kind of the diner, which is somewhere he's been many times, and
13:05she's the new person working there, she doesn't know anything about him.
13:09And she sort of immediately forces him into making a connection.
13:13She asks him questions that he has to answer.
13:15So suddenly our hero, who hasn't really said much for the first 20 minutes of the film,
13:20is talking for the first time.
13:22And so I think it's that thing of just the idea of in the world of crime and this, you
13:27know, in this world where people are like sort of kind of creating personas about themselves.
13:32And you get the sense that all of the people in the gang, Baby included, are putting up
13:37this kind of front in terms of this mythical persona around themselves in terms of what
13:44they tell other people.
13:45Even when you meet Ansel, he's kind of like making songs that are like mythologizing his
13:50story.
13:51But then when he meets Lily James, he very quickly both realizes that he can be normal
13:57with her, and also that he actually wants, he starts sort of lusting after a normal life.
14:06I think that's the thing is that she represents kind of like another way in his current environment.
14:12And I think it's not just the kind of personal connection that I have, which is through music,
14:17which I thought was another nice thing that brings a lot of people together is that
14:21a lot of the conversations in the movie are about music, and they bond over music.
14:26And you can kind of see that they're falling for each other, but they're falling for each
14:29other in a conversation about music.
14:31And I think a lot of people have that kind of relationship where you bond over a particular
14:35artist or a song or sharing songs with each other is always like a big part of the early
14:42stages of a relationship.
14:44So I think there's a lot of things that just came from sort of personal experience.
14:48But also I like just the idea that as soon as he meets her, it's in meeting her that he
14:56knows that what he's doing is wrong, because he's smart enough straight away not to tell
15:02her what he does, and that telling her what he does would be a bad thing.
15:05And this movie, like leading up to the release of it, there was an air of mystery around it,
15:13if for no other reason, because it is...
15:16Not based on anything.
15:17Not based on anything.
15:18Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say.
15:21No audiences had any frame of reference to know what it was going to be like.
15:25So I'm wondering, going into the world premiere of this movie, which was at South by Southwest,
15:33what was the energy like in the room?
15:36And what was your reaction to everyone's reaction seeing this original property for the first
15:41time?
15:42I mean, it's incredibly nerve-wracking.
15:44I'd never had a movie play at a festival before, or certainly before its release.
15:51So it's the first time I'd ever had like a festival experience whereby my movie is showing
15:56it at a festival for the first time.
15:59I've shown it at festivals elsewhere, but usually when after it's already opened.
16:02So it's very nerve-wracking, and I mean, I'd already done test screenings of the movies.
16:07So with Sony, we had test screened it three times, and those had all gone very well.
16:14And those people are watching it completely blind, like they know nothing about it.
16:18And they had a very similar response to what the current audience response is, which is
16:23great.
16:23I think it was a bit more nerve-wracking for me showing it at South by Southwest, because
16:26I wondered if some people thought it was going to be a comedy, when it's not really a comedy.
16:31It's funny in places, but it's more of an action thriller.
16:36And in fact, I got Sony to change, unlike Box Office Mojo, it used to say action comedy.
16:41And I was thinking, I don't think it should be action comedy, it should be action thriller,
16:45because it's not hot fuzz, it's different.
16:48And they agreed, and it was just something that I wanted.
16:51I was worried at South by Southwest that people were going to go in expecting a full-on broad
16:57comedy, which it isn't.
16:58But then I was really thrilled with the response.
17:01I mean, any time you watch it with an audience, it's nerve-wracking.
17:05I get nervous watching it now, even though it's, you know, it's kind of, people like
17:09it, you know, so it's always anxious making.
17:13Yeah, and the word of mouth buzz on this movie leading up to it, especially online, there
17:20were just such avid fans that were so supportive and so reactionary and felt so strongly about
17:26this project.
17:27I'm wondering, did you have a favorite reaction now that the movie is a weekend out from its
17:33release?
17:35Um, the movie is, it's out right now.
17:39Yeah, yeah, yeah, now that we're, you know, now that it's been out for a weekend.
17:42Oh, now it's out for, I thought you said, I was thinking, wait, it's still coming out?
17:45Like, it's out, this hasn't all been a dream, right?
17:47Well, I think the reaction from other directors means a lot to me, because I think a lot of
17:52directors who respond to it, I think, not to say that they understand it better than
17:57a member of the audience, but I think they, you know, people who've done similar things,
18:03I think, can see how complicated and ambitious it is.
18:07So I think sort of there are many, like, responses from filmmakers that just meant the world to
18:11me.
18:12I mean, obviously, one of the craziest ones that's amazing is, like, William Friedkin's
18:15response to it, because as far as I'm concerned, like, he, you know, probably directed the greatest
18:22car chase of all time, and probably, you know, and another one in the top five of all time,
18:28because between French Connection and To Live and Die in LA, those are two of the best car
18:32chasers of all time.
18:33So for him to respond so positively to the movie was amazing, and I didn't really, I
18:39happened, when he tweeted about it, I happened to be in Washington in Georgetown in a hotel
18:45five minutes from the Exorcist Steps.
18:48So when he tweeted about it, I went out with my publicist and said, let's go out to the
18:52steps and take a photo.
18:54So I head off of a sign saying, thank you, Billy.
18:56But I was standing on the Exorcist Steps.
18:58I just happened to be there.
18:59So it was a weird, spooky bit of serendipity that I got that message from William Friedkin when
19:09I was in Georgetown.
19:09Yeah, and my final question for you is, you have talked about doing a sequel to this movie,
19:19whether or not it comes to fruition, but just the want to do that, especially from you who
19:24has yet to do a sequel.
19:26So I'm wondering what about this project makes you even consider the possibility?
19:30Well, I think the thing is, I wouldn't do it unless I felt it was absolutely right, but
19:34I think, I haven't done ones to any of the previous movies.
19:40And in fact, there was, certainly with Sean and Hot Fuzz, they were like sort of requests
19:44to do something more with it.
19:46But I think in those cases, I didn't have anything else I wanted to do with the genre.
19:51I mean, the thing with this one is that I'd be interested to see where the characters could
19:54go next.
19:55And also, music and action are like my two favorite things.
19:59So the idea of like taking that one further is intriguing.
20:03That's not to say that it would definitely happen, or even if it would be the next movie,
20:08but I wouldn't rule it out.
20:10I don't know.
20:11Yeah, well, I'd certainly love to see it.
20:13And I'm sure there are a lot of people around that would love to see it too.
20:16And I want to thank you so much for taking the time to speak about this incredible movie.
20:20You freaked me out when you said it was coming out in a week.
20:21I was like, wait.
20:22You're like, oh no.
20:24I'm sure it came out already.
20:25This has all been a dream.
20:27I still have a lot of photos to do.
20:31Well, thank you so much for doing one more interview.
20:33And if you haven't seen Baby Driver yet, it is out in theaters.
20:37It is out in theaters now.
20:38It is absolutely out right now.
20:39And it is rated R.
20:41And what's the run time on it again?
20:42It is 112 minutes long.
20:44There you go.
20:45So go check it out.
20:46And thank you so much for joining us.
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