Ansel Elgort, who plays Baby in Baby Driver, the awaited multi-starrer blockbuster, talks about blending talent, performing stunts, changing driving habits and takeaways from his seniors
The highly stylised chase film, Baby Driver, is among the most awaited mid-year releases. The film delivers not only the heist-genre staples of high octane car chases and killer gunplay but an aesthetic all its own. Much of the action is synchronised to a musical beat from a pre-selected 30-song playlist, handpicked by director Edgar Wright himself.
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 chauffer his crew of ballistic bank robbers as they set about accepting a series of cash donations from the financial institutions of Atlanta, Georgia. Directed by Wright, the film features an all-star cast including Jamie Foxx (as “Bats”), Michael Peter Balzary (aka, Flea, from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers) and the gun-toting husband and wife team of Jon Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez (as “Buddy” and “Darling”). Best known for his breakthrough in The Fault in Our Stars, actor-musician and native New Yorker, Ansel Elgort has also enjoyed prominent roles in Carrie and the Divergent film series.
What initially attracted you to Baby DriverIJ
AE: The script was awesome. 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 and driving them. 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. He has to pull off heists as his driver to pay off that debt.
Why is he called BabyIJ
AE: Everyone has code names in this crew like Doc, Bats, Buddy, Darling and so on. The protagonist loves music and since 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.
You’re a musician as well as an actor. How do you combine the twoIJ Do you ever find it hard to know which one to prioritiseIJ
AE: In this case, I have to say it was combined perfectly. I probably got this part because of my musical background. You know, Edgar Wright and I hit it off from the beginning. But once he realised I also had a musical and a dance background, the scale tipped in my favour. Much 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.
How did you go about preparing for this filmIJ
AE: I actually did a lot of prep for this film. I had to learn how to do American sign language for starters. Baby’s foster dad is deaf. So that’s how he speaks with him, through sign language. The actor I’m working with, CJ Jones, who’s just incredible, is actually deaf. I also learnt how to really drive, how to do all the drifting, tricks. Then there was the choreography.
What was the biggest challenge making the filmIJ
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. 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 acta little tougher. And when he’s around Deborah (lily James), you see his vulnerable side and who he really is underneath it all.
What was your screen test with lily James likeIJ
AE: Edgar knows what he wants; he doesn’t need that kind of stuff. I’ve never worked with somebody who had such a clear vision of what he wanted. He met both of us and I guess he thought, “Okay you guys are going to look good together.” There was no screen test (laughs)… lily is extremely sweet to work with. Very open and very professional too — just a great person to be with, really. I hope we get to do a sequel because I’d like to work with her again.
Will there be a sequel to Baby DriverIJ
AE: I don’t think it’s in the pipeline but I wouldn’t count it out. You never know, rightIJ
What kind of cars do you drive in the filmIJ
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.
Did you get to meet any real getaway drivers before filmingIJ
AE: No but we did meet someone who had robbed 15 separate banks. Amazing rightIJ But what’s really amazing is what he told us: If you’re a bank robber and you get caught and you go to prison, you’re the man. Everyone thinks: “You rob banksIJ That’s awesome.” It’s a really cool crime.
Did you get to do any of the driving stunts in the filmIJ
AE: I got to do a couple though I wanted to do more. I did do a lot of the parkour stunts though — jumping over fences, over cars, sliding down escalators… I did all of it. But the car stuff was too dangerous. So they built this pod car; there’s someone on the top who’s really driving. They then put the camera inside the car and had a shot of me. That said, I did ten five-hour sessions with a stunt driver, learning how to drift, how to slide the car around, how to do J-turns… Basically every major stunt in the movie, he taught me how to do. So that way, when we film the inside of the car, I knew what I was doing, whether or not I was actually doing the stunt. It never looks fake because the moves that I make behind the wheel are the right ones.
Do you do better in los Angeles traffic now as a result of Baby DriverIJ
AE: Oh man, I can’t stand lA traffic. I like New York traffic. In New York traffic, you really have to weave and move. In lA, you just sit and get sunburnt in a convertible (laughs)…
What was the weirdest moment on setIJ
AE: We actually shot in a real maximum-security prison, which was weird and scary. At one point we were locked in the kitchen, there were prisoners walking by and there were guards… It was crazy. You’d walk by places where you’d see prisoners inside and they’d start banging on the glass and stuff…. I’m glad we only had to do two days of filming there.
What was your biggest takeaway from the experienceIJ
There are so many things. But mostly, all the actors I got to work with. I learnt a lot from Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx. When it comes to making movies, the most important thing for me personally is 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.