Rogue Pictures
Right now, the words “Edgar Wright” are synonymous with “not directing Ant-Man.” It’s gotta be tough for the director, not only to have sunk so many years into a film only to end up walking away, but to be bombarded by Peyton Reed this and Peyton Reed that any time he opens an internet browser. At least Wright’s moving on in a healthy fashion. Deadline reports that the English film wonder has decided on his next project. The title? Baby Driver. The details? Practically nonexistant.
Here’s an exhaustive list of what we know so far:
- Baby Driver will team Wright with producer Nira Park and Working Title Films (this is superb news, as the same pairing brought us Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End).
- It will probably have nothing to do with Simon Pegg or Nick Frost (they’re busy enough as it is – Frost has a TV show called Mr. Sloane and Pegg has six films in the pipeline).
- The film will be “a collision of crime, action, music and sound.”
If that’s just a smidge too vague, Baby Driver was described in slightly more detail when Wright first brought it up in 2009. So forget the collision thing and instead consider it “a wild spin on the action and crime genre which will be set in the US.” Actually, as far as rampant speculation goes, Wright wrote a script in 2011 that he described as “kind of like a musical.” So maybe don’t forget the collision thing (at least not the “music and sound” part of it).
But all that pales in comparison to Baby Driver’s toughest enigma: what the hell is a baby driver?
Feel free to let your imagination run wild. Babies driving motor vehicles, babies shepherded to and fro in motor vehicles, babies retrofitted with wheels and driven as motor vehicles – the possibilities are endless. Except, according to Wright, that first option’s a no go. Back in that 2009 interview, he fielded a question about baby racers and responded with, “No, you’re thinking of Baby Transporter, which is the Muppet Babies of the Transporter series.”
This might be nothing, but “Baby Driver” is also the title of a Simon & Garfunkel song. And Empire, who conducted that increasingly relevant 2009 chat with the director, now says the film has a “strong musical element.” Keep this tucked away in the back of your mind, as it might become important later:
Deadline hints at some Comic-Con presence for Baby Driver, but given that 2009 interview (that thing is a treasure trove), Wright might be playing his musical non-babies close to his chest. Here’s what he said then, currently embroiled in all kinds of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: “I think when I do that one I’d like to go completely silent for once. Probably because it’s not an adaptation or anything, or a sequel to anything else. I’d like to just make it in private, basically.”
And if Scott Pilgrim made him want to go all recluse on us, there’s no telling what Ant-Man will spur him into.
That’s it for now. We’re in the dark until Wright tells us something new about the project. All we can do is use the information we already know and make the safest assumption possible. Here goes: Baby Driver is an alternate history where Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are criminal masterminds and must smuggle a secret supply of immigrant babies onto US soil. Sounds like a winner to me.
Related Topics: Edgar Wright
