By There aren't many film directors alive who can send a shiver through cinema with a tagline that reads: "A [director's name] film." It's a rarefied stratum: a Martin Scorsese film; a Quentin Tarantino film; a Coen Brothers film. There are even fewer British directors who can do that – Ridley Scott, of course. Christopher Nolan. And Edgar Wright.
You know what that "An Edgar Wright film" promises: kinetic, rich, light-footed, witty, and totally in love with cinema. Between his cult, millennium-straddling sitcom Spaced, and 2017's Baby Driver, he made Scott Pilgrim Vs The World and the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, three of the most deeply loved, and deeply British, films of the 21st century: Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End. Then, he headed to Hollywood.
Recently, he returned to speak at the Esquire Townhouse, where we caught up with him before he stepped on stage. Leaning forward on a squishy sofa, he was breezy, boyish and prone to bursts of throaty laughter. When asked about his next film, Last Night in Soho – which wrapped about six weeks ago and up to now has been treated as though subject to the Official Secrets Act – he's coy but clearly very, very excited. He told us what he could about the new project, what it was like hanging out with Tarantino, what's up with Baby Driver 2, and why George Lazenby can't help telling porkies.
Can you tell us a bit more about Last Night in Soho? The details on what it actually entails have been vague.
Deliberately vague! Well, the thing is, it doesn't come out until September 2020. I like the surprise of people finding out what it is nearer the time, really, so there's no great conspiracy. It's funny, I always remember the Baby Driver synopsis that was out there, maybe years before we actually made it. It told the basic plot, but there's no way that a synopsis can get across the style and the tone of it, so sometimes it just seems like those things are a formality.
So I'm not being unnecessarily secretive. I just feel like well, why do we have to get into the plot now? I like it when movies keep you guessing a little bit [as to] exactly what it is. I felt Tarantino's last movie did a great job of that – even when you had the first poster out, it still hadn't told people exactly what it was. And that made it more exciting to see.
In broad genre terms, I've heard 'psychological thriller'.
Yeah that's fair, absolutely. It's an idea I've had for a long time. I didn't start writing it until 2018, but I've had the plot worked out for years. And I knew it was something that, after Baby Driver, I wanted to do something radically different. And so it's set in central London, which is also something I'd never actually done, even though Shaun of the Dead and bits of Hot Fuzz and bits of The World's End are in London.
There's a lot of movies that I like from the Sixties and Seventies that take place partly in central London and it's something you don't really get anymore, because it's not the easiest location in the world to actually shoot. And I guess it's been such a big part of my life, living and working in Soho and Fitzrovia and literally pounding the pavement late at night walking home, starting to think about what these walls had seen.
Does it nod at old Soho glamour?
Oh, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. That's a huge part of it. I just wanted to do something in that kind of realm that was a bit different for me. I think I've always been sort of edging in that direction and just finding the right kind of story to do it with.
You bumped into George Lazenby the other day.
What he said on his on his Instagram about me offering him a part in a movie is totally untrue! I think to be honest when he took the photo he had zero idea who I was. Because David Walliams took that photo and I sent him that post and it said, 'I met Edgar Wright and he offered me a part in one of his films.' And I was like, 'No!'
Having worked with two former Bonds, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, are you looking to pull Daniel Craig in for something soon?
Well, in a roundabout way – in a very, very roundabout way – I have sort of worked with Daniel Craig because I was one of the writers on Tintin, with Daniel Craig in it. But that's indirectly, it's not like I directed him. But yeah, absolutely. In fact I just saw Knives Out by Rian Johnson – it's great, and Daniel looks like he's having so much fun in it. And he'll be out of a job soon as well. Out of a Bond job, at least. Although you never know. He might end up doing another one.
Are there any references in your films which you're disappointed nobody's pointed out yet?
Oh, I didn't think there's anything that's in there that somebody hasn't picked up on. And sometimes those things are sort of subconscious, and then it takes somebody else in a review to sort of point it out. Like, somebody said about Scott Pilgrim that it reminds them of Richard Lester's Sixties movies. I was like, 'Yeah, I can see that'. It had never been a conscious thought, but I did grow up loving A Hard Day's Night and Help! and The Knack and loved that style. But it isn't something that I'd ever mentioned in a production meeting, or ever said to an actor: 'Hey, check out this little known film with the Beatles.'
Speaking of influence, you have a good relationship with Quentin Tarantino. Have you chipped ideas in for each other's films?
Yeah, I definitely read scripts of his before they got into production. In fact, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood was the first one since Death Proof where I hadn't read it, which was really great because I could experience it like anybody else. I deliberately didn't read any of the reviews. So I was as shocked and awed by what was in the movie as everybody else. I've definitely shown him edits of things. I don't know if he's ever taken any of my advice on board, I think he knows exactly what he wants to do. But he hasn't read this one. And I know he's intrigued about it.
I already had the idea for the film, and in fact I was gonna call it something else. The band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky Mick & Tich have a song in Death Proof, and through that I heard this song 'Last Night in Soho' by them and he put me on to that. And then way, way later – years later – I said, 'You know what the new film is called?' and he's like, 'Yeah, Last Night in Soho'. I think, originally, I was going to call it The Night Has 1000 Eyes, because that's also a song, but I discovered there was a film called The Night Has 1000 Eyes already.
Music is an enormous part of your films – are there any pieces of music you've wanted to use for ages but just not been able to?
Not really. It's not something where I look at something and think, 'If only I'd have had that track'. In Baby Driver, there were a couple of instances where I wanted to use remixes and things and I couldn't. And instead, I used the original track where the sample was from, and that in itself was a more interesting musical journey: 'Oh, I can't play this, like, Mr Scruff song, but what's that bit from? Oh, it's from an Alexis Korner song. Okay, well, I'll use that.'
I tend to write to music a lot, and so music is always something that's an inspiration of tone. This film has a couple of songs, which I won't say where they are because they're in the movie. But whenever I would hear them, I would start to sort of picture the movie. And even if I was at the gym or something, and the song would come on, I'd be like, 'Oh, I gotta make that film'. I must get kind of the movie version of synaesthesia. Do you know what I mean? It was exactly the same with 'Bell Bottoms' and Baby Driver. I heard the song and I could see the scene, I know what the scene is. And then it's like, how do I come up with the film to go around that scene?
Spaced turned 20 recently. What are your memories of it and what did you learn from it?
I actually watched some of it again recently for the first time in maybe, like, 10 years and I was really struck by how dense it is with jokes. I even texted Simon [Pegg, who played Tim] and Jess [Hynes, who played Daisy] afterwards because we were talking about something else. I said, 'Hey, I just watched episode two of the first series again, and I'd always thought episode two was one of the weaker ones, but it was so jam-packed full of jokes'. I couldn't quite believe it. Within the space of 40 seconds there were like six jokes, visual and verbal. I think the actual making of it and the show have started to bleed together in my head.
I think one of the reasons that we didn't do a third series is because we'd literally grown out of being those people a little bit. I feel like the show is an extension of us, how we were living at the time, and we did all live in North London – me, Simon and Jess all lived not far away from Tufnell Park. I'm just immensely proud of it. And I feel very spoiled by it in a way because I don't know whether we get the same opportunities now. I don't know if people coming through now would have a show like that, relatively low budget and pretty bold and different, would have it on at 9.30 on Channel 4 on Friday night. It was in between Friends and Frasier – the idea of that happening now seems impossible. I think we were so, so lucky to have been given a platform, even on a low budget, to make a show that was so, so close to us.
Finally: is Baby Driver 2 going to happen?
It could. Hahaha! It depends on a number of factors working out. But yes, quite possibly.
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more delivered straight to your inbox
