Edgar Wright texted James Gunn about each other’s movie playlists

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

You know, I liked, but didn't love BABY DRIVER. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the car chases, and some performances were fun, but the love story (that the film's plot hinged on) was wafer thin, and the script was just a cliche crime caper with a single coat of Wright-style paint over it. Not a bad film, but not the best of the year either.

However, one of the main strengths of the film was its playlist (with many of Wright's picks from the original draft making it to the final film). However, another big film this year dealt predominantly with playlists – one GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 2 directed by James Gunn – which apparently worried Wright, according to this interview with The Washington Post:

Earlier this year, before Guardians 2 had come out, I suddenly had a panic. I thought, “Oh, what if one of my Baby Driver songs are in Guardians 2?” So I texted him and we had this funny text conversation where I said: ‘Hey man, I was just panicking that some of my Baby Driver songs are in Guardians 2.’ And he goes, ‘Well, do you have any ELO?’

And I was like, ‘No. Do you have any Queen?’

He said, ‘No. Do you have any Sweet?’

And I said, ‘No. Do you have any Barry White?’

And he goes, ‘No. I was going to use a Barry White song but I didn’t.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m using Barry White.’ Neither of us divulged what the song was… we just went back and forth, and then we figured out that neither of us were using the same songs.

This is delightful. Now I can't stop thinking about what each director's ringtone is. I imagine 90s pop-EDM for Wright, and some classic 70s pop song for Gunn.

Meanwhile, BABY DRIVER is in theaters right now, while GUARDIANS will hit streaming/VOD August 8th and DVD/Blu Ray August 22nd.