Edgar Wright admitted it was all a bit “surreal” Wednesday night. The popular filmmaker was on hand at the Peterson Auto Museum in Los Angeles to celebrate the release of his critically acclaimed summer hit “Baby Driver” on DVD and Blu-ray (it’s been available for digital download since Sept. 12). He’d been in town for less than 24 hours and in the middle of a Q&A for “Baby Driver” one of the film’s stars, Kevin Spacey, casually walked up and, um, crashed the party.
Clearly, Sony Pictures and Sony Home Entertainment knew Spacey would be there, but Wright honestly looked shocked. He later noted that Spacey had done the same thing a few months earlier when the director was talking to an audience in Italy and he also didn’t know the Oscar-winner was in town. In “Baby Driver” the “House of Cards” star played Doc, a career criminal who has blackmailed the talented Baby (Ansel Elgort) into being his getaway driver for a series of Atlanta area bank robberies. Like co-stars Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm, it was evident Spacey hadn’t had this much fun on screen in years and it didn’t hurt that Wright handed him a role he could really drive, er, dive into.
Moreover, not only did “Baby Driver” turn out to be the biggest hit of Wright’s career earning $225 million globally, but it’s arguably Spacey’s first hit this century that won over both critics and moviegoers. While Spacey’s character Doc seemed to have met a grisly end in “Baby Driver” Spacey made it clear he’d like to return if a rumored sequel comes to pass.
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“Yes, well I know that some people may think the character doesn’t survive,” Spacey says as the audience on hand laughs. “But we are discussing the sequel which I think should be called ‘Baby Doc.'”
Wright interjected, “I thought you said it was going to be called ‘Doc Holiday.'”
“I like that one,” Spacey said with a smile. “I may be able to get my driving in the next one. That’s my thing.”
The rest of the evening found Wright proclaiming his love for DVDs (he doesn’t buy the digital version of movies), the fact that he dropped a song from one scene because he’d simply played it too many times (he won’t reveal what it is because he may use it in a future film) and how he told the studio “Baby Driver” wasn’t a musical, but now that it’s been successful he can admit it always was one. That’s a nice story for Sony to pitch the HFPA who will likely consider “Baby Driver” for Best Picture — Comedy or Musical at this year’s Golden Globes. Wright also has a shot in Oscar’s very tough Original Screenplay category this year and could be a WGA Awards player as well. And it should be noted the movie is a long shot for a SAG Ensemble nomination (again, long shot) and Bill Pope is definitely an underdog in the Academy’s Cinematography race, but his car hasn’t run out of gas yet.
Throw in potential slots on the National Board of Review and AFI’s Top 10 of the Year and it’s certainly not that last time Wright will talk about Baby, Doc and the gang again this year. And, if the sequel does happen, down the road as well.
“Baby Driver” is available on all forms of home entertainment on October 10.