Edgar Wright discusses the “diamond-tight, minimalist masterclass” ‘The Driver’
As much as the British filmmaker Edgar Wright is one of the finest directors of modern cinema, helping to shape the pace of contemporary comedy with his idiosyncratic style, he is also a passionate purveyor of the craft. A lover of 1960s cinema, the director has previously named the likes of Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Powell as some of his most inspiring figures.
Though whilst Wright’s style may have been informed by such filmmakers, the British filmmaker has managed to carve out a niche of his very own, crafting one of the most distinctive styles in modern cinema. The result looks a little like a mix of Quentin Tarantino’s snappy editing and the vibrant creativity of such French new wave artists as Jean-Luc Godard, with films like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World being utterly unique works.
When it comes to the ‘60s, Wright names Eyes Without a Face, Head, Peeping Tom and Le Samouraï as some of his all-time favourite movies, but he doesn’t limit his view to merely the decade of peace and love. In the following decade, he names Walkabout, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and Two-Lane Blacktop as three of his other favourites, but also holds a nostalgic love for the 1978 Walter Hill movie The Driver.
Sitting down with Empire back in January 2022 to discuss the legacy of the movie alongside director Walter Hill, Wright recalled the first time he ever watched the movie at home in his lounge.
“I first saw Walter Hill’s second film, The Driver, as a teenager, late at night on the BBC, quite possibly sitting too close to the telly,” Wright explains, adding, “91 minutes later, I was totally spellbound by this diamond-tight, minimalist masterclass, which stars Ryan O’Neal as a getaway driver (known only as The Driver) and Bruce Dern as the cop (known as The Detective) out to get him”.
A cult crime movie that directly influenced Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 film Drive, starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, as well as the works of Michael Mann, James Cameron and Quentin Tarantino, The Driver is recognised as a seminal American movie of the late 1970s. Wright also rightfully asserts that the movie also had a significant influence on the 2017 movie Baby Driver, with Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx.
Later in the article, Wright asks director Walter Hill about the fact that the iconic American movie star Steve McQueen was originally approached to take the lead role of The Driver. “I thought he could play it tremendously well, absolutely,” Hill states, revealing that the actor was close to taking on the film, before McQueen replied, “Nah, I don’t want to do another car thing”.
Explaining the jump from McQueen to Ryan O’Neal, Hill explains, “There was a list. There’s always a list. Because he was a big star and I had done a successful film with him, we had to go to Charlie [Bronson]. Charlie was quite mad at me, so it didn’t get very far…Ryan was an interesting idea, and I was delighted when he said he’d do it. I thought we pulled it off, but I’m sorry to say people didn’t see that, particularly at the time”.
Take a look at the trailer for the movie, below, which is getting a re-release in the UK later this November.
