Drive (2011): Neon and muscle cars

The movie Drive (2011), perhaps, is somewhat out of our subject. Everyone knows that this movie is exceptionally good, it’s full of neon and electronic music. It was Drive that gave us Hotline Miami the way it is. It was Drive that glorified the song Nightcall and revived interest in synthwave. The specific atmosphere, the charismatic and silent protagonist and the cool soundtrack are all Drive. But with all this, there is very little rock and roll in it. So why is he here? The answer, as can be understood from the title of the article, lies in cars. For a film with this name, cars naturally become one of the central characters, taking up a considerable amount of screen time…

At least, that’s how it should be. But in fact, the driving process in this film is frankly not enough, and one of the central chases is mounted, I would even say, carelessly. What is only worth the moment when in one frame the action takes place on a four-lane road, and in the next – on a two-lane one, while the silver Ford Focus nearby changes to a blue Toyota Corolla…

But on the other hand, the film is still great, and even the chase looks great, despite the constant editing errors. Let’s put it down to the fact that the director of the film does not have the slightest love for cars. Nicolas Refn does not have a driver’s license and, according to the Internet, has already failed the exam eight times. Nevertheless, the set of cars in the film is the largest. Very iconic for the USA Chevrolet Impala from the 90s, modern at that time Ford Mustang and Chrysler 300C and, of course, vintage Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu, which Ryan Gosling took for himself after filming the movie.

It is not known who exactly assembled such a fleet in one film, but he clearly understood something about cars. This someone, by the way, wanted to pick up a classic 1970 Chevelle for the main character, but comrade Gosling made a firm decision to choose the wheels for his character himself. Not knowing anything about cars, Ryan chose a car from a landfill for two thousand dollars. “And I rebuilt it,” Gosling says, “I did everything in it except the transmission.”

Was it necessary to do this?

“Yes,” the actor replies, “but it depends on the movie. By the way, I do not know how much of the preparation for the film then becomes obvious on the screen. Fuck, I mean, somebody else could have built a Chevy Malibu 73 and you would never have noticed the difference. My character never happens to talk about cars or fix anything in the car, so it doesn’t really matter. But it seemed important to me. And so it is with every character you play: you need to go into it. Sometimes it’s difficult, sometimes you really can’t find the right approach. But it’s important to me.”

Other cars don’t have as rich stories, but it’s worth mentioning that, for example, the Ford Mustang carries a five-liter engine under the hood, which just sounds divine in this movie. The Chrysler 300C from the same scene, according to the original script, was equipped with racing tires, which allowed it to be on an equal footing with the much more nimble Mustang. Unfortunately, it is not possible to discern this nuance in the film. Also in the background flash, for example, a combat Plymouth Roadrunner with a working air intake, Ford Galaxie 500, Cadillac Eldorado, Ford Thunderbird…

So despite the installation errors and other nuances, in general, Drive quite deserves a place on our website. Not every movie can boast of such a set of iron horses of the rock and roll era and gasoline at 36 cents per gallon.