To call Baby Driver one of the most anticipated films of 2017 is an understatement. In a year marked by gigantic tentpole releases and highly anticipated sequels like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Star Wars: Episode VIII, and Justice League, we find ourselves counting down the days until the release of Edgar Wright’s latest. The film premiered at SXSW to rapturous applause and critical acclaim–including a glowing review from yours truly–and is already being hailed as one of Wright’s best, which is saying something because we are huge fans of his Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy. While at SXSW, Edgar Wright and stars Ansel Elgort, Eiza Gonzalez, and Jon Hamm braved the rainy Austin weather to join us at Nerdist’s Backyard Bash for a lively discussion on the making of Baby Driver, what it meant to them to premiere the film at SXSW, and much more. Plus, Jon Hamm became best friends with a corgi.
Image: Emerson Yenokida
As it turns out, Baby Driver is NOT a continuation of the Baby’s Day Out franchise; rather, it is an original heist thriller about a young getaway driver with tinnitus who is trying to untangle himself from the high stakes world of bank robbery. Yet Ansel Elgort, who plays Baby, wasn’t the only one who underwent extensive training for the film. (After all, Wright and his team were committed to doing exclusively practical stunts.)Wright spent time with former bank robber Joe Loya, who not only served as a technical consultant on the film, but took Wright on a tour of the banks he’d robbed in Los Angeles. Our talks with the director and cast came with further surprises still; for Jon Hamm, one of the best things about Baby Driver is that the script came with a soundtrack written into it, which is a rarity in modern filmmaking. Anyone who has seen the film will understand Wright’s choice–every moment, every car chase, every gunshot is intricately edited in time with the music that Baby is listening to in his ever-present headphones.
Baby Driver opens on August 11, 2017.
Are you excited to see Baby Driver? Let us know in the comments below!
Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@Osteoferocious).
