STACK #157 Nov 2017

FEATURE DVD&BD

DID YOU KNOW?

Ansel Elgort has a musical background himself – for a while he operated under the DJ name Ansolo, but now he releases music under his own name. Elgort kept one of the six red Subaru WRX STIs from the set as a birthday present, and he now drives it. The film’s soundtrack peaked at #5 on the ARIA charts.

• Baby Driver is out now

“It was pretty cool because it was the first time I’d done any scenes in a film in a different language – which is really what American sign language is, it’s a different language. Unlike most other languages, you don’t use sound; you use the emotion in your face and the signs on your hands. It’s pretty cool.” The actor initially learned the language and choreography before being coached. “But, like any good dance, it’s about the emotion behind the actual choreography,” he notes. Elgort also recognised how lucky he was to get to work with an actor who had spent their whole life using this language. “Working with CJ, we were really able to make the scenes

It definitely stands on its own, it doesn’t need one, but a sequel could make sense. I also think the really nice thing is that you’re by no means in a rush to do one. People get into trouble when they make a sequel and it’s about money or it’s about timing. Who knows when we’ll do one or if we’ll do one, but if we did, I would be very happy because I love the story and I loved working with Edgar.”

resident choreographer, Ryan Heffington. “He’s the choreographer of Sia’s stuff. The reason for having him on the set was that we wanted the choreography to feel effortless.” Elgort says that the coffee scene at the start of the movie took 28 takes to master – the 21st take was the one they used. “Every step in that scene was choreographed, even the little movements. Everything was in time with the music; where I’m walking and when I’m interacting with my surroundings, it was all to the music. When we showed up to the set it was all rehearsed and we could just do it. “Even for smaller scenes, where I’m just sitting at a table swaying my head or moving my hands, Ryan was there for that too. He wanted everything to feel natural and subtle – we didn’t want people to be like ‘oh, I’m watching a movie where people dance.’” Baby’s foster father in the film – played by CJ Jones – is deaf, and before production began, Elgort didn’t know any sign language. So Jones helped him learn it for their scenes together.

I’m a big fan of Edgar’s and I knew that whatever he did next was going to be pretty special

legit. If he had any problems with the way the scene was written or the signs I was doing, we would change it and make it seem as real as possible.” As complete as Baby Driver feels, the story could indeed continue, so we asked Elgort if there were any plans for a sequel. “The nice thing

about this story is that it sort of does naturally call for a sequel.

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