On a more macro level, Ansel Elgort also told me that he had a heavy appreciation for the end of Baby Driver just in that it's a film that features legitimate consequences for its criminal hero's action. I would be like, 'Yo, I fucked up live your life! You don't have to wait for me for 25 fucking years.' And then if she said, 'I really want to,' I would be extremely touched, and I felt that as Baby. I wouldn't expect someone to wait 25 years for me! I wouldn't expect my girlfriend of five years to do that, my current girlfriend. He got into all this trouble, and he's in prison now - he's in there forever, basically.
I really broke down in the prison, because I thought about how much that would mean to him.
we did one take that was very emotional that wasn't in the movie because it was too indulgent. It's that Baby knows that Debora is going to wait for him. Ansel Elgort was not stifled in his thoughts on the matter, and explained during our interview why the postcard is really the key element in the ending:
Instead, it's a fantastical vision of what that eventual reunion may be - hence the use of the black and white.įor the actor, the key element in all of it is the idea of Debora potentially waiting a full two and a half decades for Baby to be given his freedom. I think he makes it pretty clear - 'Don't wait for me, don't worry about it,' but she's like 'I will wait for you, and I can't wait to eventually listen to every 'Baby' song we fantasized about I don't care if you're in prison.' So then he imagines, the black and white, eventually when I get out we're going to ride off into the sunset together.Įssentially, Ansel Elgort thinks that there is a future for Baby and Debora, but that it's not really what we see play out in the final scenes.
At the Los Angeles press day for the film in mid-June, I asked the actor about the ending during a one-on-one interview, and he left no ambiguity regarding his thoughts on the way the movie finishes. It turns out that he is firmly in the "it's not actually real" camp. If you're thinking that the end of Baby Driver showcases the ultimate fate of Baby and Debora, then you're thoughts go strictly against those of Ansel Elgort. and they all surprisingly had very different things to say about Baby Driver's ending. To help clear things up, we asked Ansel Elgort, Lily James, and Edgar Wright all individually about the finale. He spends his time in prison mopping floors, watching TV, and reading a postcard from Debora telling him that she can't wait until they reunite.Īs we saw earlier in the movie, there is then what appears to be a black and white fantasy sequence as Baby is exiting the prison, but the scene fades to color as Baby and Debora are reunited in a red and white convertible - and after the revelation of Baby's real name (Miles) and a drive off toward the horizon with a rainbow in the sky, you're left to wonder if what you're seeing is actual reality. A judge sentences Baby to 25 years of incarceration, with the possibility of parole in five.
A montage then follows Baby as he makes his way through the judicial system - as we not only see him get his mugshot taken and be processed, but also hear the testimony of key witnesses - including the woman whose car he stole, the post office clerk, and his foster father, Joe (with the sign language translator voiced by legendary director Walter Hill).