Interview Edgar Wright
Chris Lochery meets the man behind 'Spaced', Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and now, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
Interview: Edgar Wright
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Think of the seminal sitcoms of the last 30 years – British, American or from anywhere you please - and then try to think of their directors. You’ll be able to mention any number of the starring actors fairly easily, probably a fair number of the writers too. What about directors?
‘The Office’ you’ll probably know was directed by Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant, but their celebrity is more to do with them having written it and Gervais’ starring role. Armando Iannucci will be on the tip of the tongue of ‘…Alan Partridge’ or ‘The Thick Of It’ fans but, other than that, can you name the director of, say, ‘Blackadder’? ‘The Young Ones’? ‘Peep Show’? ‘Keeping Up Appearances’? Unless you’re a comedy nerd, the chances are that the answer is “no”.
But what about the director of ‘Spaced’? Edgar Wright’s ultra-modern and semi-cinematic style was an absolute revelation when it first hit the small screen in 1999 and though it was excellently scripted and expertly performed by Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson), what was really eye-catching about ‘Spaced’ was the direction. Quite unlike anything that has gone before it, Wright managed to translate his unique approach and put it in the form where it was most at home. The movies.
After enjoying wild critical and commercial success with his first two major features, Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, Edgar has now branched out and left his usual cast of actors back in Britain while he helmed the new comic book blockbuster Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. A conscious decision? “I banned Simon Pegg and Nick Frost from having cameos in this,” he says, speaking of his erstwhile collaborators. “A lot of people asked about that and I just thought that it would somehow demean them if I gave them token cameos. I’d rather people be excited about the three of us working together in a major capacity rather than have them playing Bouncer #1 and Bouncer #2. In fact, I banned all British actors from auditioning, except one fooled me. Satya Bhabha (who played Evil Ex #1 Matthew Patel) – he somehow snuck through.”
While this latest film in undeniably cast from the same mould, it is an entirely new venture for Edgar. Part of the charm of Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz was their quintessentially British nature, whereas Scott Pilgrim marks a move into proper Hollywood. “It was fun. I had about half of my usual crew so it wasn’t a complete change. I took some of the people that I’d worked with on ‘Spaced’ over to Toronto so I had my regular producer and editors that I’ve worked with before and my brother was out there and stuff so it was kind of a mix between half my regular crew and half new people who were amazing to collaborate with. And the cast was a dream. They’re just an amazing ensemble of actors.”
The love between cast and director, it seems, is a mutual feeling. Michael Cera – who stars as the film’s eponymous hero, Scott Pilgrim – could barely keep himself from singing Edgar’s praises in his absence. “I’d seen everything Edgar had done. I’m a huge fan and I would have done anything with him if there was a part for me. It was an obvious choice.” Neither for that matter could any of the rest of the cast – even big Tinseltown names like Jason Schwartzman, Brandon Routh and Chris Evans (no, not the ‘TFI Friday’ one) – all clamouring over each other to say the nicest thing about him.
So now that his film-making career is really reaching its heights, would it be fair to say that Edgar is at the forefront, or maybe ever the creator, of a new genre of cinema? “I don’t know. I think when people ever talk about that, really it always comes down to them just being a comedy. You know, when it’s eventually in HMV or Blockbuster it’ll be in the comedy section. So I guess that it’s a comedy with elements of lots of other genres. And all those elements are from genres we’ve seen before, so I guess it’s just the particular mix that makes it stand out.
“But this was a style specific to this film because Scott is sort of governed by that type of media. So I’m not going to go and do a period drama and then start putting in loads of video game references. Although,” he says, looking up in thought, “that would be kind of cool.”
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World is out now
Posted on Wednesday 1st September 2010
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