Edgar Wrighthas revealed himself as a soothsayer today, after sharing an Instagram post of his second draft of the movieBaby Driver. In it, he makes specific mention of the movie being nominated in a sound category for the Academy Awards. “I don’t mind which,” he added. That draft was written in 2014, when Wright was eyeing a 2016 release, so it’s notexact. Plus, beyond Wright’s expectations,Baby Driverwas nominated intwosound categories: Sound Editing (Julian Slater) and Sound Mixing (Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin, and Mary H. Ellis), not to mention Editing (Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos). Well done!
If you’ve seen the movie, then you know that (as Wright noted in the script draft, which you can see below), music is integral toBaby Driver. It is designed as a “full audio visual experience,” and the way the action is so purposefully set to the soundtrack allows it to (sorry) drive the visual aspect really beautifully. It’s rare that a movie so wonderfully embraces sound in that way, which is a shame, because when it works it’s fantastic.
I still maintain a pet theory that, while I do really enjoyBaby Driver(as an ATLien, I mean, how could I not love the rep?), the one thing that I think would really have made it perfection for me is if Baby had been black. I think it just makes the movie come together in such a different way than with Baby being white. Just think about it! But in any case, what we canallagree on (maybe?) is that Jon Hamm’s look in that movie is of national importance, and frankly, there’s not enough conversation about it happening at all times.
Check out Wright’s Instagram post below (not 100% sure of the functionality of multiple pages when it’s embedded, you may have to go to the source for that):
Ok yeah, thatisa little spooky. ButBaby Driverdeserved what Wright hoped for it and more, and I’m really happy to see it represented with those nominations this year.
Be sure to check out thecomplete listof this year’s Academy Award nominations, as well as Adam Chitwood’s look at thesnubs and surprises. Plus, there are still too manygreat actors without an Oscar nomination.
