Filmmaker Edgar Wright revealed Monday the death-defying extremes he went to for heist thriller "Baby Driver" -- strapping himself to the outside of a speeding car to get the right shots.
The British writer-director said he would normally direct his bank robbers from the safe distance of a "command van" but found he had to get closer to the action when the satellite feed failed.
"I took to strapping myself to the car, on the outside of the car like Mad Max," Wright, 42, told an audience on the opening night of the CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas.
"I was genuinely suffering for my art, so I could see the actors' faces... I now know what it is like to go backwards at 70 miles per hour."
The hotly anticipated crime caper was showcased as part of Sony's presentation at CinemaCon, an annual event in which Hollywood decamps to Sin City to show theater operators the movies it has planned for the coming 12 months.
"Baby Driver" stars Ansel Elgort ("The Fault in our Stars") as a gifted getaway driver who suffers from tinnitus -- ringing in his ears -- and has to play music on an iPod to concentrate when he is behind the wheel.
'Baby Driver' stars Ansel Elgort as a gifted getaway driver who suffers from tinnitus - ringing in his ears - and has to play music on an iPod to concentrate when he is behind the wheel
'Baby Driver' stars Ansel Elgort as a gifted getaway driver who suffers from tinnitus - ringing in his ears - and has to play music on an iPod to concentrate when he is behind the wheel
Wright ("Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz"), Elgort and Jon Hamm took to the stage at Caesar's Palace to show off the opening minutes of the movie, which also stars Lily James, Jamie Foxx, Kevin Spacey and Jon Bernthal.
Hamm ("Mad Men") revealed that the high speed action filmed over three months on the highways of Atlanta last year was all real, with no help from green screens or CGI.
"It is very real and very exciting to be in a car that is going the wrong way on a working interstate being driven at 70 mph by a kid from New York who kind of just learned how to drive," the 46-year-old said.
"There's not a lot of acting in the back seat, where I'm looking terrified and visibly sweating."
"Baby Driver" has become one of the most eagerly awaited films of the summer after scoring an average of 8.5 out of ten from more than 20 early reviews collated by movies website Rotten Tomatoes.
In a sign of Sony's growing confidence in the high-octane action film, the studio revealed it had moved the release date forward more than six weeks to June 28.
The new date puts the crime caper on a collision course with "Transformers: The Last Knight," and "Despicable Me 3," both of which will hit cinemas in the first weekend in July.
But the competition is unlikely to faze executives after a triumphant debut at the South by Southwest festival in Texas this month, where "Baby Driver" received rave reviews.

Source: AFP