If you haven't heard yet, Baby Driver is a seriously cool movie. It's the best crime thriller musical about getaway drivers you'll ever see! What separates Baby Driver is that the entire movie is cut in rhythm with the soundtrack (which is quite good on its own), so when characters fire guns or slam doors, it's on the beat. It's a terrific idea from writer/director Edgar Wright and one that took a lot of work to get off the ground. Wright had been toying with the concept for years and remembers when he first got the idea for the original thriller. He recently revealed,
Twenty-two years ago I was listening to the [Jon Spencer Blues Explosion] album Orange a lot, before I was even really a director. I was like, 21, [living] in a flat in North London, completely broke. I had made my first no-budget movie [A Fistful of Fingers], but I didn't know how it was gonna do and I didn't really know what was next, but I always had a strong reaction to music. I don't have synesthesia or anything, but definitely when I'm listening to music I start kind of visualizing images. And listening to 'Bell Bottoms' I just start to see this car chase. And I didn't even know that it was a film or what the story was or what it was about, but it basically is pretty much the opening of the movie that you see.
In Baby Driver, the music playing in every scene is just as vital as the plot or characters. The soundtrack is so heavily tied into the film it's easy to wonder what came first when Edgar Wright conceived the idea: The music or the movie? As it turns out, it's a bit of both. Wright came up with the idea that would become Baby Driver 22 years ago while listening to "Bell Bottoms" from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Wright started to see a car chase while listening to the song and it all just took off from there.
As Edgar Wright said to Uproxx, he had no idea at the time what this car chase was for, but eventually, it took shape into the movie that is now storming theaters. Wright would tinker with the idea and pour through song after song to build his movie over the following years, all the while gaining more and more clout thanks to Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End (plus nerd cred for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). Of course, it is also worth noting that Wright first partially explored the idea directing the music video for "Blue Song" by Mint Royale, which you can watch below:
Baby Driver follows the titular Baby, a music-obsessed getaway driver who does jobs for a local crime boss in order to pay off an old debt. However, Baby seeks to leave this life behind and run off with the love of his life, but that's easier said than done. The movie stars Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Jaimie Foxx, and Eiza Gonzalez, and it's a crazy bit of cinematic fun. We highly recommend heading to your local theater to check out a screening this weekend, and afterwards be sure to play your music as loud as possible on the car ride home.
