The Fault in Our Stars’ Ansel Elgort is in early talks to take the lead role in the Edgar Wright car chase action movie Baby Driver after beating out Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ John Boyega for the role, reports Variety.
Details of the film first emerged in July after Wright’s highly-publicised departure from Marvel comic book film Ant-Man. Back then it was described as a “wild spin on the action and crime genre” by Empire magazine. Sony-owned TriStar is teaming with Wright’s regular production partners Working Title on the project, along with US indie studio MRC.
Producer Tom Rothman of TriStar said: “We’re delighted to be riding shotgun as Edgar Wright takes the wheel of his next film. TriStar is in the business of backing original voices, and he is all that. Working Title are great producers and MRC great partners. They and Edgar are making the ultimate rock’n’roll car chase film, and together we’re buckled up and ready to go.”
The British director of the Three Cornettos trilogy — Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End — first intended to put Baby Driver into production in 2010 following the release of Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Variety says the plot “follows a talented, young getaway driver who relies on the beat of his personal soundtrack to be the best in the game. But after being coerced into working for a crime boss, he must face the music when a doomed heist threatens his life, love and freedom.”
Baby Driver is also the title of an album track from the iconic 1970 Simon and Garfunkel album Bridge Over Troubled Water. The lyrics tell the story of a boy who lives a comfortable life in a protected home until he decides to have his first sexual experience.
Speaking to Total Film in 2011, Wright revealed: “I’ve written a script which is kind of like a musical. A departure for me in some ways.”
It is not known if British duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who starred in all three Cornettos films, will appear in Baby Driver. However, casting directors appear to be skewing towards a younger dynamic. As well as Boyega, 22, 20-year-old Elgort has also reportedly beaten 22-year-old Percy Jackson star Logan Lerman to the lead role.
