Actor Ansel Elgort of “The Fault In Our Stars” and “The Divergent” series fame, stopped by BUILD Series NYC recently for a discussion about his latest film, “Baby Driver”. During the talk, Elgort opened up about how he was pitched by director Edgar Wright to be in the film as well as what it was like playing the lead character Baby in relation to the other supporting characters in the movie.
When asked about Elgort’s initial pitch to be in “Baby Driver”, the young star told the audience:
“The first thing I got from this movie was Edgar. We had a meeting and we really got along and we talked about music the whole time. We didn’t talk about movies at all. We talked music and I didn’t know why but it was cool to talk about music with him. Then he said ‘I have a script that I think you’re going to like because it has a lot to do with music and the main character, you might be right for it. So you know, you should read it.’ I read it and it was on this iPad. They made this special app for it. I’ve never read a script like this and it had little logos at the top of every page and if you clicked the logo you heard the song that went with the scene. The movie is moving to music at all times. The music that I heard when I read the script is the music that’s still in the movie now.”
Ansel Elgort is all smiles at BUILD Series promoting his role as Baby in the critically acclaimed action crime film “Baby Driver”.
Elgort raved about working with Wright for his original story line and original characters, calling him a “genius” with his precise focus to details throughout the flick.
“Everything is deliberate and that’s why I’ve seen the film FIVE times now and I’m still picking up on things. I was IN the film! I was there every day filming and I’m STILL picking up on stuff! There’s so many details. It’s incredible.”
Elgort’s character Baby has refreshing traits that will get viewers discussing. He went on to describe his intricate, multi-dimensional character as such:
“So Baby when you first meet him with the heist group; the criminals, he’s serious and quiet. But in the very beginning of the movie, the second they go into the bank, he starts singing along and dancing along to the Blues Explosion. And then they come back and he’s serious again. So yes he is a shy character but just around certain people. I think internally he’s a kid who wants to enjoy himself and listen to music. It’s just sort of that his life is a little bit serious sometimes when he has to be a part of a bank robbery. There’s always different sides to characters and with Edgar we spent a lot of time in preparing Baby and finding his different sides. You see him with Joe, his foster dad and you see him be parental. You see him alone in the car. You see him be kind of silly and dancing along to music. You see him with the criminals being shy and you see him towards the end of the movie where he has to stand up and be a man and protect this girl that he has fallen in love with. So you see a lot of different sides to him.”
Backstage photo of actor Ansel Elgort at BUILD.
You can see how the action packed storyline unfolds by catching Ansel Elgort as Baby in “Baby Driver” in theaters now.