That’s something that really works for the movie: Things are always on beat.” … In theory, you could cheat and, in editing, tweak the timing, but we did it for real on set. “You basically had to teach Jon’s beats: ‘You come out and go bang-bang-bang-bang-bang … bang-bang-bang-bang-bang … bang-bang … bang… bang-bang. “Most of the time, you can play the music out loud, but when you’ve got a blank-firing gun, it will wipe out the sound of any playback,” Wright said. You’ll watch in jaw-dropped awe as Jon Hamm fires bullets in perfect time with the guitar riff. You basically break it down like a beat sheet.”
“It’s very precise,” Wright said. “In the parking lot sequence to ‘Hocus Pocus,’ you know this is a guitar bit, so he’s running now there’s this accordion breakdown, so he’s breaking into a car now there’s this other guitar bit, so now he’s driving now there’s this flute solo so they’re firing in time with the music. Not only are the song selections killer, they’re directed and edited in a way that each song beat matches a beat of action, turning over-the-top violence into a stylized bloody ballet. All of the music was clear before we started shooting, so you could rehearse it with the actors, choreographer and stunt guys.” “My relationship to music is similar to Baby’s in that I use it to motivate, inspire and galvanize me,” Wright said. “We’re listening to the songs on set. Wright mines an eclectic mix of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Baby Driver,” Martha & The Vandellas’ “Nowhere to Run,” Golden Earring’s “Radar Love” and Steve Miller’s “Threshold,” aka the lead-in to “Jet Airliner.” Indeed, “Baby Driver” follows in the great tradition of wall-to-wall soundtracks, from George Lucas’ “American Graffiti” (1973) to Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” (1994).
Then I came up with the idea: What if he’s a getaway driver who listens to music? It wasn’t until later that I put the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle together when I was reading Oliver Sacks’ book ‘Musicophilia’ about the condition of tinnitus.” “I was listening to the first track, ‘Bellbottoms’ by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and thought, ‘This would make a great car-chase song.’ So, literally from listening to that song, I would visualize that sequence, then I would think about the character who would fit that. “I’ve had the idea for like 22 years,” Wright said. Can Baby escape his life of crime to elope with waitress Debora (Lily James)? The film follows Baby (Ansel Elgort), an agile-beyond-his-years getaway driver for criminal kingpin Doc (Kevin Spacey), who hires him to squeal wheels for a team of bank robbers: silent-but-deadly Buddy (Jon Hamm), scandalous Darling (Eiza González) and trigger-happy Bats (Jamie Foxx). In this, you start with a gangster who wants to be a Regular Joe.” “In ‘Goodfellas,’ you start with a teen who wants to be a gangster.
“On paper, it’s an action heist movie, but the hero is aspiring to have a regular life, so it’s almost the reverse of ‘Goodfellas,'” Wright told WTOP. WASHINGTON - From “Hot Fuzz” to “Shaun of the Dead,” his flair for stylized violence and slick comedy has defined 21st century cool for a generation of millennial cult followers.īut British writer/director Edgar Wright just keeps getting better, as evidenced by his latest action flick “Baby Driver,” which is one of the most fun and finely-crafted movies of the year.
WTOP's Jason Fraley reviews 'Baby Driver' ( Jason Fraley) Business & Finance Click to expand menu.