The always kinetic, passionate and detailed-oriented writer and director Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Shaun of the Dead) has added another fantastic movie to his filmography with BABY DRIVER.

During a press day in Los Angeles I asked a couple of questions to the British filmmaker, and Mexican actress Eiza González. The film also stars Lily James, Kevin Spacey, Jon Bernthal, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, and Ansel Elgort.

BABY DRIVER is now playing in theaters nationwide.

BABY DRIVERS

DH: To me it feels that this story takes place in a more real fiction than, for example, Pulp Fiction. Do you agree with that? Is this the most “realistic” film that you have done?

Edgar Wright: I am not sure that this is a more real world than Pulp Fiction. Obviously, there are no zombies or robots. In theory Hot Fuzz could happen. I think that Hot Fuzz is becoming real right now on the UK [Laughs]. But yeah, I wanted to make this one feel more realistic and grounded. The whole point of the movie is that you start with the fantasy of being a getaway driver. Increasingly through the film, you are shown the nightmare that it is to be a criminal. So, all of the glamour that could be associated with that job, in terms of Ansel Elgort being this cool kid driving fast cars, are replaced by the amount of stakes and consequences as the story goes on, to the point that you can’t keep running and you must face them. That was very intentional. I read a great review that said something like “The first half is a great action comedy, but then it gets really dark,” and I am thinking like “Yeah, that was kind of the point!” I think that there are many films today that are just capers, and there are no consequences for any of the characters. I love those gangsters movies where people must make strong moral decisions.

BABY DRIVER

DH: After making these very personal and rewarding films, are you open to consider directing a franchise movie, superhero adaptations, or blockbusters in general?

E.W.: I would never say never about those kinds of stuff. But if a studio wants to give you money to make an original movie, you have to do it. The world doesn’t need more franchises or connected universes. While I was getting this film financed, I was offer two franchise movies, and I said “No. I have to make this original movie. It’s important.” There are examples of great franchise films, even this year, but making an original one is so difficult that if you are giving the opportunity you must do it for the sake of film history.

DH: In the film we see two very different relationships: Baby and Deborah’s innocent romance, and a more twisted dynamic between your character Darling with Buddy. In your personal view, which one is “truer love”?

Eiza González (Darling): I don’t think that one is better or worse. We all have experienced both, sometimes in the same relationship. I think that is a great way to put it on-screen, what love means: Love will make you do crazy things. We have two extreme versions of it.

BABY DRIVER is now playing in theaters nationwide.

After being coerced into working for a crime boss, a young getaway driver finds himself taking part in a heist doomed to fail.