Baby Driver

Baby Driver is a 2017 action film written and directed by Edgar Wright. It stars Ansel Elgort as a getaway driver seeking freedom from a life of crime with his girlfriend Debora (Lily James). Eiza Gonzalez, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal, and Kevin Spacey appear in supporting roles. Eric Fellner and his Working Title Films partner Tim Bevan produced Baby Driver in association with Big Talk Productions’ Nira Park. Sony and TriStar Pictures handled commercial distribution of the film. Baby Driver was financed through tax subsidies from the Georgia state government and a co-production pact between TriStar and MRC.

Wright developed Baby Driver for over two decades. He devised the idea in his youth, and his early directing experience further shaped his ambitions for Baby Driver. Originally based in Los Angeles, Wright revised the film’s setting to Atlanta, integrating the city’s ethos into an important storytelling device. Principal photography took place in Atlanta over four months, from February to May 2016. Production involved the planning of meticulously coordinated stunts, choreography, and in-camera shooting. Thematic studies of Baby Driver examine patterns of color symbolism and Baby’s evolving morality.

In Atlanta, Miles, self-named “Baby”, is a young getaway driver who lost his parents in a car crash that left him with tinnitus, and finds catharsis in music. He ferries crews of robbers assembled by kingpin Doc to pay off a debt as recompense for theft of a car containing Doc’s illicit goods. Between jobs, he remixes snippets of recorded conversations and cares for his deaf foster father Joseph. At Bo’s Diner, he meets a waitress named Debora, and they start dating.

His next robbery goes awry after an armed bystander chases them down, but Baby evades him and the police. Having paid his debt, Baby quits his life of crime and starts delivering pizzas. Doc interrupts Baby’s date with Debora and insists he join a post-office heist under threat of retaliation. The crew consists of easygoing Buddy, his sharpshooter wife Darling, and trigger-happy Bats, who takes a dislike to Baby. While the crew attempts to purchase illegal arms at a rendezvous, Bats recognizes one of the dealers as undercover police and opens fire, resulting in most of the dealers being killed. Afterward, Bats makes Baby stop at Debora’s diner, unaware of Baby and Debora’s romance. Baby, aware of Bats’ homicidal habit, stops him from killing her to avoid paying.

Doc is furious, revealing that the dealers were dirty cops on his payroll. He decides to cancel the heist, but Bats, Buddy and Darling disagree. Doc lets Baby decide; he chooses to go through with it. Baby attempts to slip away late that night, hoping to take Debora and leave. He is stopped by Buddy and Bats, who have discovered his recordings and believe he is a police informant; when they and Doc hear his mixtapes, they are convinced of his innocence.

During the heist, Bats kills a security guard. Disgusted, Baby refuses to drive away, causing Bats to hit him. Baby rams the car into a rebar which impales Bats, killing him. The three flee on foot. After the police kill Darling in a shootout, Buddy blames Baby for her death and vows to kill him. Baby steals a car and flees to his apartment. After leaving Joseph at an assisted living home with his heist earnings, Baby rushes to Bo’s for Debora, where Buddy is waiting. Baby shoots Buddy and flees with Debora as police reinforcements swarm the restaurant.