Edgar Wright has been awfully quiet lately. After establishing himself as one of the most exciting up and coming filmmakers with his Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, which consisted of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End – all excellent, by the way – not to mention bringing us the equally as good Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the director had a very public falling out with Marvel, leading him to depart Ant-Man.
It was a big blow for fans of Wright, as he’d been attached to the project for quite some time and would no doubt have been a great choice to direct it. That was about three years ago though and in the time since, we haven’t seen anything from him. Thankfully, that’s about to change, as the filmmaker’s new effort, Baby Driver, is gearing up to ride into theaters this August, with an impressive cast in tow.
Though it’s still a ways away from releasing, the pic made its debut at the South by Southwest festival tonight and to drum up some hype, the first trailer has now arrived, giving us a look at what seems to be another inventive and exciting piece of work from Edgar Wright. An American crime caper that’s cobbled together Hollywood A-listers like Lily James, Jon Hamm, Jon Bernthal, Jamie Foxx, Ansel Elgort and House of Cards alum Kevin Spacey, this new trailer paints a very promising picture indeed, teasing something pretty different than what we’re used to seeing from the director.
The car chases in particular look fantastic, and Elgort could very well steal the show here in what appears to be a great role for the young actor. Then, of course, there’s the music, which will no doubt be a very big part of the film. Speaking about that aspect of it a few months back, the director had this to say.
“I always wanted to do an action movie that was powered by music. It’s something that’s very much a part of my previous films and I thought of this idea of how to take that a stage further by having a character who listens to music the entire time. So, you have this young getaway driver who has to soundtrack his entire existence, particularly the bank robberies and fast getaways that come afterwards,” Wright says. “It’s an action crime film. It’s funny in places but it’s not a comedy. It gets genuinely tense and threatening. That was actually a fun thing for me — to do dramatic or thriller scenes which just up the ante.”
Baby Driver will be headed up by Elgort – he’ll play the titular getaway speedster – our unlikely hero who suffers from tinnitus, a hearing condition that results in a constant ringing sound reverberating through his ears. To combat the ailment, Elgort’s lead calls upon his rock n’ roll soundtrack and perhaps most exciting of all, we understand that much of the film’s action will be choreographed around that soundtrack in question. Which is something that we see glimpses of in the trailer.
All in all, it looks like a very fun ride – pun intended – and one we can’t wait to embark on come August 11th when Baby Driver pulls into theaters.
