By 2007, after signing a multi-picture deal with Working Title, and with a clearer vision of the project, Wright met with Steven Price to discuss early musical ideas for Baby Driver. Work resumed immediately after Wright's departure from Ant-Man, when the studio began assembling their roster of actors and technical staff before shooting. In preparation, Wright spent time with ex-career criminals in Los Angeles and London to develop an accurate depiction of a real-life bank robber's work. Another noteworthy aspect of the film's look is Edgar Wright's love of visual puns and the symbolic use of names. He definitely wanted to incorporate real brand names and advertising that spoke to the themes of the narrative.
So during chase scenes, he absolutely wanted to see ads that spoke to a sense of speed or flight or theft or being chased. Whether you approach this from the standpoint of clearance or product placement, it definitely creates a sensitive scenario from the point of a view of a studio's legal counsel. Long story short, we found ways to have signs and banners made that faithfully reproduced the logos of Sprint, and Target, and Boost, and a few others to place in the background during chase scenes. The selection of the pizza delivery company that Baby works for when he tries to "go straight" was another example of this. Unusual as everything is choreographed tightly to the soundtrack. John Hamm does an excellent turn as a fallen stockbroker turned bank robber.
I found the ending following the final heist/chase very disappointing as it petered out and people started acting out of character (in ways I can't divulge without spoilers). Something more dramatic with a proper explosive payoff would have been much better. I took the opportunity to watch the first 3/4 of the film a couple of times, to really capture the clever blend of the music with the action.
Three criminals—Buddy , Darling , and Griff —leap from a car outside of a bank just as Baby cues up "Bellbottoms" by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in his 'buds. Everything from this point on moves in rhythm with the music from the slamming of the car doors after the bank robbers return to the squealing tires of one of the best car chase scenes in years. We've seen countless action scenes scored to pop or rock songs, but how many have you seen in which the action works in unison with the music? And Wright takes this brilliant concept a step further, making even everyday normal activity feel like it's part of Baby's soundtrack. It's fluid and jaw-dropping—the kind of thing you want to see immediately again after it's over to catch all the things you missed. Parents need to know that Baby Driver is an action-packed crime drama about a young getaway driver for a group of Atlanta bank robbers.
There are several mass shootings, with machine-gun deaths choreographed to music; you'll also see several car accidents with splintering glass and bloody dead bodies, sudden deaths, blood, and gore. Many of the characters eventually die sudden, terrible deaths. The main character is a reckless driver who performs over-the-top stunts; parents may want to remind teens not to try this at home. There's lots of swearing, including "f--k," "ass," "goddamn," and more. One man calls another a "retard" and a "freak"; he also calls men things like "ladies" to imply they're weak.
There's some smoking and social drinking; one character has a drug addiction he feeds by stealing. It helps greatly that few people know how to assemble a cast like Edgar Wright. Elgort and James are engaging, charismatic leads with fantastic chemistry. Unlike most Hollywood action movies, the survival of the heroes here becomes something we actively root for instead of just know is likely to happen.
The "villains" of the piece are perfectly cast and directed as well, particularly Spacey and Jamie Foxx as the menacing Bats. Both roles are written and cast in a way that they could have stolen focus with performances that play to the cheap seats but neither actor ever does. Foxx is particularly phenomenal in a role that's both funny and filled with simmering danger. It's one of those films where every single role, from the burly diner chef to the sweet post office employee, feels like it was cast with exactly the right person. It creates a sense of additional magic in a film when you can sense that every single element, even the most minor ones, is working exactly as its creator intended. I think one of the highlights of the project for me was the movie's enormous musical component.
I'm a very big popular music fan in my regular "non-professional" life...a collector of physical musical media, a concert goer, a student of rock history and an avid reader of music bios, etc. So I feel that, rather coincidentally, I was the perfect choice to decorate this movie, being that it is essentially a pop musical wrapped in a bank robbery/car chase movie. It was not a factor in my being hired, but I think the fit worked out very well for all involved. I'm not going to say that I'm the best set decorator in Atlanta, but I do think I'm the best Set Decorator in Atlanta for a movie dealing with record collecting and analog musical equipment and recording gadgetry!
Once we decorated Baby's home recording studio, it certainly didn't hurt that Shun and several members of our crew were also record collectors and former professional musicians and audio geeks. We had a lot of fun gathering and putting together all of those specific elements for Baby's audio pastiches, many of them requested by Kid Koala, who coached Ansel Elgort, who plays Baby, on how to use the analog gear on-camera. It became clear to me from the start that he intended to be able to show all of the songs for the films soundtrack within the sets themselves. So I systematically gathered all of the records on his master list of "must-haves" very early in the prep period. And I say this as a fellow music geek, Edgar's tastes are very eclectic and he came up with a few artists/songs that were completely alien even to me, and there were a few others that proved quite difficult to find vinyl copies of.
All of the music that plays in the Diner, for instance, had to be available in 45 rpm single format to shoot close-ups of the various songs dropping and playing on the jukebox as needed. Likewise, we had fun placing various album covers around Joe's Apartment set. Not all of this made it into the final cut of course, but there are lots of little bits and pieces of this stuff throughout, if you know where to look. Baby Driver is fairly fresh and original movie, it is stylistic fast-paced and attractive viewing enhanced by the songs and soundtrack.
This compensates for the narrative, flat characters and somewhat unappealing, and predictable storyline. It's a bit of a lighthearted alternative to the typical hardcore gangster movies, with a carefree youth romance wrapped up in it. The whole concept, the style and the action leaves a slick impression it sis enjoyable viewing. Yet, it also distracts given the lack of realism in some of the assumptions, the car chase action and character choices.
For example Baby's girlfriend does not question his criminal involvement nor is she moved by the bloody consequences of their choices. He was responsible for synchronizing the movement of the actors and stunt performers in the film's choreographic sequences. Baby Driver was Heffington's first foray into film; he is best known in the music industry for his work with Sia and Arcade Fire, among other artists. Though compelled by the script, the choreographer was unfamiliar with Wright's prior work, which he researched after his initial interview for the job. The two detailed their artistic vision in early conversations, using songs with dramatic tempo changes or structure as templates.
By the first day of shooting, Heffington was already supervising the "Harlem Shuffle" sequence, employing 50–60 extras. Choreographing other sequences was sometimes less taxing because Elgort and Foxx had prior dance experience. The production played the music as the cast rehearsed each sequence, shot by shot.
The last paragraph probably makes "Baby Driver" sound like a music video, and has likely pushed out potential viewers looking for more substance than style. There's enough story and action here to satisfy without the music that drives the filmmaking. Much of the joy of this film is watching it unfold so I'll be brief with plot.
Baby had a brief dalliance with crime, and he made the mistake of robbing from Doc, who now forces him to drive as penance. He has one more job for Doc and then he'll be back to his normal life. Of course, we all know how that typically turns out in crime movies. And when Baby meets a lovely waitress named Debora , he finds a reason to go straight. Joe's Apartment where Baby lives was a favorite of mine and certainly the most character-driven set. There are a couple of terrific choreographed musical sequences that take place in the apartment, as well as the tenderest moments between Baby and his foster parent Joe.
How Tall Is The Tallest Formula 1 Driver The idea was that Joe is an older Atlanta musician, now deaf, who raised Baby once he was orphaned. So the apartment was intended to reflect the life and history of an older black man who came of age in the 1960s and probably achieved some level of success in the mid-'70s. We bought over 200 of them on-line during prep and that was a big deal in and of itself, let me tell you. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and how about a heist movie followed by a long car chase? That's why Edgar Wright's "baby driver" was a box office success when it was released in theaters. Fans have been clamoring for a Baby Driver sequel ever since.
A car accident in his childhood killed both his parents and left him with tinnitus, and he constantly listens to music through his earbuds as a form of catharsis. He is indebted to Atlanta-based crime boss Doc, who employs him as the driver for various heists throughout the city. Baby also cares for Joseph, his deaf foster father, and produces remixes of audio he records throughout the day.
After a bank robbery with fellow heisters Griff, Darling, and Buddy, Baby is informed by Doc that he is one heist away from paying off his debt. Baby Driver was a longtime passion project Wright had been developing since 1995, when the writer-director was a struggling 21-year-old filmmaker living in suburban London. He had relocated to London to finish his first professional film, the low-budget western comedy A Fistful of Fingers, and to contemplate his future in entertainment.
Wright's repeated listening to Orange , the fourth studio album by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, provided the impetus for Baby Driver. At first he envisioned a high-speed car chase, which then evolved into a full sequence where the getaway driver dances to "Bellbottoms" in his car before the ensuing chase. Though this was ultimately written into the script as the film's opening sequence, Wright's nascent vision was far from a fully realized project. As a child he survived a car crash, which killed his parents and left him with tinnitus, and he finds catharsis in music. Baby typically uses one of many stolen iPods to soothe his tinnitus with music. Baby ferries crews of robbers assembled by criminal mastermind Doc as recompense for the theft of a car containing Doc's stolen goods.
Between jobs, he remixes snippets of conversations he records and cares for his deaf foster father Joseph. At Bo's Diner, he meets a waitress named Debora, and they start dating. LanguageEnglishBudget$34 millionBox office$226.9 millionBaby Driver is a 2017 action film written and directed by Edgar Wright.
It stars Ansel Elgort as a getaway driver seeking freedom from a life of crime with his girlfriend Debora . Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Eiza González, Jamie Foxx, and Jon Bernthal appear in supporting roles. Eric Fellner and his Working Title Films partner Tim Bevan produced Baby Driver in association with Big Talk Productions' Nira Park.
Sony and TriStar Pictures handled commercial distribution of the film. Baby Driver was financed through a partnership between TriStar and MRC. From the moment Edgar Wright's heist movie-meets-extended-car-chase "Baby Driver" accelerated onto screens in 2017, fans have been clamoring for a sequel.
At its core, "Baby Driver" recalls decades of movies that anchored their narratives on criminals and the art of the car chase. "Baby Driver" is a high-concept film that never underwhelms detail, and it's those charming little beats within the overall tune that hold it together. Whenever Elgort's Baby is behind the wheel, this movie is a ballet of stylish automotive mayhem -- but the minute everyone gets out, things quickly slump into stereotypes. A hero whose Tragic Backstory includes a Poetically Ironic orphaning (his parents died in a car accident -- Baby drives a car!)? Exactly two female characters, including a manic pixie dream girl and a gun moll with supermodel looks who's killed to give a villain murderous motivation? Baby Driver goes exactly where you expect it will, and it has the exact same beats you've seen plenty of times before.
One of Doc's thugs responsible for the security of his heist crew. Bernthal believed criminals were too often stereotyped as incompetent in news media. Therefore, to prepare for his role, the actor consulted with real-life career criminals to get a better grasp on his character and the inner workings of organized crime.
At least, that's the name he gives people when asked, although he's more often ignored. He's the nearly silent getaway driver for a robbery syndicate managed by Doc , who organizes the crime, hires three criminals, and then puts them in Baby's car. After a car accident as a kid left him with tinnitus, he spends the vast majority of his waking hours with ear buds in his ears to drown out the ringing. And the world around him moves to the music on one of his many iPods—he has various ones for different moods. Sometimes the world seems to respond to his choice, sometimes his choice seems to influence the world around him—either way, music is as essential to the success of "Baby Driver" as it was to "La La Land," maybe more. We do so much work here in GA that stands in for somewhere else, it was a blast to be affiliated with a project that celebrated our town as much as it did.
Initially it was scripted as "Undecorated Loft" and later "Abandoned Loft" and was meant to be rather empty. One of the very first things I did before my buyers even started was go out and find old industrial sewing tables to rent for the space. From there, the look of the Loft just kind of evolved through research and one or two conversations with Marcus.
Mannequins and suit-forms and other items of haberdashery came along a bit later. We filmed at Central Atlanta Props and Sets , an awesome local prop house, and the business was nice enough to empty out 3 very full rooms for us to dress prior to our prep there. It also was pretty great working in a prop house, since they were able to help me with many items of dressing we needed anyway and were able to just add them to our rental right there on the spot. We did most of the constructed elevator scenes there too, and we dressed an additional room that didn't get used much at all in the final cut. It's quite good fun and, as others have said, the editing with the soundtrack is exceptional. It's acted fine (it's an action movie) and the car chase sequences are really well done.
It's got a bit of humour and the lead and his love interest are adequately charismatic. Get the beers and crisps out and have fun, but don't expect anything revolutionary. Laser focus editing timed to the beat of an all time great soundtrack, this is everything cool in movies and more. Incredible cast, thrilling action and for Edger Wright fans a new direction and a new depth in his commitment to blending film and music into a seamless whole. In April 2016, your writer visited the Atlanta set of Baby Driver, writer-director Edgar Wright's thriller about a tinnitus-afflicted getaway driver who continually blasts music into his ears. He records conversations had around him on an old-fashioned mini-cassette recorder, and then mixes them into songs with some wonderfully antiquated keyboard and rhythm equipment.
The first one we see him create is called "Was He Slow," using a question asked by an accomplice about Baby's mental capacity as a hook. "Baby Driver" feels both influenced by the modern era of self-aware, pop-culture filmmaking and charmingly old-fashioned at the same time, which is only one of its minor miracles. It's as much fun as you're going to have in a movie theater this year. Ansel Elgort started his professional career right after he graduated from high school, just after his 18th birthday.
He played the lead role in a Broadway production of 'Regrets' in 2012. His first movie was a remake of Carrie, which released in 2013. He got major recognition when he played an important role in the movie Divergent. His career took a long jump after the movie became a major hit. Written and directed by Edgar Wright , BABY DRIVER stars Ansel Elgortas Baby, an emotionally damaged young man whose youthful mistakes landed him in debt to mysterious crime boss Doc . Now Baby is a getaway driver for Doc, and he's so good at what he does that he seems unstoppable -- and stylish, since he always selects the perfect song for each caper.
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