Edgar Wright Will Only Direct Baby Driver 2 If He Can Make It Fun

Director Edgar Wright has revealed that he would only direct a sequel to his 2017 film Baby Driverif he could make it a fun process for himself. Starring Ansel Elgort, Lily  James, John Hamm, Eiza Gonzales, Jamie Foxx, and John Bernthal, Wright’s Baby Driver follows a young getaway driver torn between the love of his life and his criminal career. Baby Driver was praised upon its release, earning nominations for numerous awards.

Baby Driver followed Elgort’s young getaway driver ‘Baby’, a passionate fan of music and talented driver who suffers from Tinnitus due to a horrific childhood incident. ‘Baby’ falls for waitress Debora, hoping to run away with her from his life of crime. His plans put him at odds with the rest of his criminal crew, leading to him and the team coming into conflict. Inspired by Wright’s love of music, Baby Driver was a passion project of the director’s that took several years to develop while he worked on other films. However, Wright has now revealed he has conditions if he were to return and direct a sequel.

In a discussion with fellow director Cary Fukunaga for Interview Magazine, Fukunaga asked Wright if he felt he would be selling out were he to return for Baby Driver 2. Wright stated he would like to make it fun, and was uninterested in creating a direct copy of the original film. With the production time of a film being a 2-year commitment on average, Wright stated his rule was that he’d have to want to make the film in order to commit to the project, with him saying he and Fukunaga were unafraid of leaving projects if they weren’t invested. Check out Wright’s quote below.

“If I did the sequel—and in fact I’ve already written a script—I’d have to find a way to make it fun for me. The idea of doing a straight Xerox is just not interesting because, as you know, these films take at least two years and in our cases, because of the pandemic, they took even longer. My rule of thumb is you have to really want to do it. We’ve both been in situations where we have walked away from a studio franchise movie because we weren’t feeling it. I know that we share many things in common, and that’s one of them.”

Wright is known for being a creative director who isn’t afraid to try his hand at new things. For instance, his latest film, Last Night in Soho, is unlike anything he’s made in his career so far. So, it makes sense he’d only direct Baby Driver 2 if he found a way for the experience fun and unique for him. That he’s already written a Baby Driver 2 script indicates he’s keen to make the film one day, so it will be interesting to see what happens from here. Wright had previously said he’d direct Baby Driver 2 if it were to happen. Another possibility is Wright passing off director duties to another filmmaker, but that seems unlikely given how Wright’s style and voice is what made Baby Driver so great.

With Baby Driver originally being a passion project for Wright, it is no surprise that the director would like to return to the world and characters he created. However, despite Wright’s former enthusiasm, a possible sequel may have been placed into uncertainty due to multiple allegations coming to light around numerous stars involved, including lead actor Elgort. Wright also has a few other projects in development, including a Running Man remake, and an adaptation of horror novel The Chain. Depending on how those progress in the near future, Baby Driver 2 may have to be put on the back-burner.

Source: Interview Magazine

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