Watch ‘Baby Driver’ Test Run: Edgar Wright Made Music Video 10 Years Ago to Try Out Idea (Video)

J.J. Abrams encouraged filmmaker to adapt short into feature

Can’t wait to see “Baby Driver,” the new Edgar Wright film? Get a feel for the hit action pic by watching the music video for “Mint Royale” by Blue Song.

The video is conceptually simple. A getaway driver, played by British comedian Noel Fielding, waits for the bank robbers — played by Julian Barratt, Nick Frost and Michael Smiley — to come back from their heist. He gives them the length of the song to get in and get out.

In the meantime he encounters a number of obstacles. A man in a suit walks by and peaks in. A security guard approaches the vehicle. A bird poops on the car and Fielding has to clean it.

The entire video takes place in and around the car and is moved along by the highs and lows of the song. “Baby Driver,” similarly, is about a getaway driver who uses music to do his job. A similar scene takes place at the beginning of the film.

“Baby Driver” was conceived of in 1994. Wright tested out some of his vision in the video, released in 2003, which he said some people in the industry knew about.

“We had a little screening and people came with whom I had been talking about ‘Baby Driver’ for years,” Wright told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s funny when you see them and it’s like, ‘This is it! This is the thing I was telling you about!’

Wright said that director J.J. Abrams had been a fan of the video and had encouraged Wright to show it at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

“While we were showing it to the audience, J.J. leaned over to me and whispered, ‘You know, I think this would make a great movie.’ And I whispered back, ‘I am way ahead of you! I started writing it already!’”

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Even people in the comments noted the resemblance.

“I firmly believe this video is the inspiration for Edgar Wright’s new film ‘Baby Driver,’” said one commenter around two years ago.

You can watch the full video above. “Baby Driver” is out in theaters.

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