Behind the wheels

In Baby Driver, Ansel Elgort stars as Baby, the eponymous getaway driver who — unbeknownst to his girlfriend (Downton Abbey’s Lily James) — is conscripted by Kevin Spacey’s Doc to chauffeur his crew of ballistic bank robbers. Directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) . It features an all-star cast including Jamie Foxx (as Bats), Michael Peter Balzary (aka Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and the gun-toting husband and wife team of Jon Hamm and Eiza González (as Buddy and Darling) . Baby Driver is no straightforward affair. The highly stylised movie delivers the heist-genre staples of high-octane car chases and killer gunplay, while much of the action is synced to a 30-song playlist chosen by Wright, including a song called Baby Driver by Simon & Garfunkel. “That makes the film unique,” says Elgort. “All of it cuts and moves to the music.” Excerpts from a chat with Elgort and Hamm.

What initially attracted you to Baby Driver? 
AE: The script was awesome. Edgar is awesome. The role was really cool. The driving… The music – I just loved everything about it. 

JH: I was a massive fan of Edgar’s body of work – it’s so impressive for such a young man. I remember once being back home in St. Louis and my childhood friend and I were looking for something to do, you know getting away from our families (laughs)... It was rainy and gross outside and we were like, “Let’s go and see a movie.” And so we went to this theater that we went to when we were kids… “Shaun of the Dead? Let’s go check that out.” And it just blew my mind. I was like, “Who is this filmmaker?” Ever since then, everything Edgar has come out with has had this sensibility that is so impressive. His vocabulary is so visual and so filmic. There are very few people that have that, that mind that works in a visual way. I mean, I can direct a movie. I can tell a story. But I can’t do what Edgar does. I just don’t have the capacity. I am both envious of it and fascinated by it. And as an actor I love being in the presence of it.

Tell us about your character
AE: Baby is a guy who was in a car accident when he was a kid. When he was seven, he lost both his parents and developed tinnitus, which is a ringing in your ears. Ever since then, he’s become obsessed with cars – stealing cars and driving cars. And he also has to play music all the time to drown out the ringing in his ears – the music which drives the movie. The story picks up when Baby is working for this crime boss, Doc (Kevin Spacey), who he’s indebted to, and Baby now has to work for him, pulling off heists as his driver, to pay off that debt.

JH: I play ‘Buddy’ who is one of the heist crew. And I love the way that Edgar wrote him. He’s an interesting guy who appears to be sort of avuncular, caring and even mentoring in some ways, and yet by the time it all goes to pieces, he becomes something very different (laughs)... 

Tell us about the use of music in the film.
AE: In this case I have to say it was combined perfectly. I think I probably got this part because of my musical background. You know, Edgar Wright and I hit it off from the beginning. But I think once he realized I also had a musical background and a dance background, that ultimately tipped the scale in my favor, because a lot of this film is choreographed – the action, the gunplay, the cars, or even just subtle movements… In terms of my two careers, though, I don’t see a reason why I’d ever have to choose. I do both acting and music because I love them both.

JH: It’s definitely not a musical in the grand MGM tradition, but it’s an important element. Music is in 90 percent of the film and drives a big portion of the plot as well. I think a lot of people will engage with the film from that perspective as well… I think back to Quentin Tarantino and Reservoir Dogs and everybody having that soundtrack and being like, “What is this?” A bunch of old songs, things that we’d heard, but in a different context. It really is very cool.

What was the biggest challenge making Baby Driver? 

AE: There was a lot of weight on my shoulders, but in a good way. I’ve been the main guy in a film before, where I’m in every scene, but this is a big action film. The scenes take a long time to film and it was a long shoot, a lot of work. The other challenge, the fun challenge, the acting challenge, was being able to bring to life all of the character’s different shades. When he’s around the crime group, he keeps very much to himself, quiet and stoic. When he’s around Doc, he tries to act a little tougher. And when he’s around, Deborah (Lily James), you see his vulnerable side and who he really is underneath it all. 

JH: We had a very ambitious schedule, so the biggest challenge was literally just getting all the shots done. And we didn’t miss anything, which was impressive. My hats off to everyone from Sony and Working Title, and all the producers. 

Why is he called Baby?
AE: Everyone has code names in this crew – Doc, Bats, Buddy, Darling... Because he loves music and there are so many songs with ‘Baby’ in the lyrics… You know, ‘Baby I love you, Baby be mine…Baby, baby…’ He’s decided his codename should be Baby. 

What kind of cars do you drive in the film? 
AE: All kinds. There’s a Subaru STI, which is like a rally car. It’s all-wheel drive, so that’s fun. There’s also a Yukon – Baby wants a bigger car at one point because he knows that he wants to be able to ram the cops off the road. So he drives that one too. But really, they’re all kind of just random cars, because that’s the way bank robbers do these things. You know, they don’t drive Lamborghinis; they don’t want to be overly flashy. They want to blend in. 

You’ve got a pretty distinctive look in your new film. How did you come up with it? 
JH: That was driven by Edgar. He really wanted to play it up. I think there’s that guy who’s a little older, who’s got that girlfriend who’s a little too young. He’s wearing clothes that are a little bit too young for him, and it just doesn’t quite work… You see guys like that in the clubs in Hollywood or Miami. The 60-year-old’s in designer jeans, and you’re just like, “Oh dear. No, no, no.” I think Buddy is very much that guy. He has gone all in on this relationship with this younger lady (Eiza Gonzalez’s ‘Darling’) and he is committed to it. A part of that is the haircut. 

What was your biggest takeaway from the experience? 
AE: There are so many things. But mostly, all the actors I got to work with… The things I learned from Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx… Making this movie was a blast. You don’t know always know that they’re going to turn out great. So when it comes to making movies the most important thing for me personally is having a good time when you do it. I don’t mean partying and being an a**hole. I mean having a good time with the people you get to work with and enjoying the moments - really taking them in. You might have a great movie to show for it. You might not. So your experience on the set is the most important thing. And I made some really great friends this time.  

Is there a moment from the shoot that stands out for you? 
JH: There’s a chase scene early in the film where we’re establishing Baby’s dominance as a driver. He drives up an off-ramp onto a freeway, does a 180, joins the traffic, and then tries to dodge the cars that are following him. That involved us closing down an active freeway on Sunday and bringing in around 100 background vehicles… But you can’t just close a freeway, so normal traffic was always behind us. We would finish and the traffic would continue; and then we’d reset and do it again. That was pretty cool, and it was so much fun. I can only imagine Edgar’s joy watching this thing he’d imagined coming to life before his eyes. 

Baby Driver opens in theatres today.