I recently had a chance to speak to the Shaun of the Dead boys (Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Edgar Wright) about their newest project, Hot Fuzz which opens Friday. We didn’t really get to hang out or drink beer, things that might have proved to be more fun, but we did talk enough for five good questions.
So then, Here’s five good questions designed to regale and delight!
(Context: The movie Hot Fuzz is a buddy cop movie spoof and draws on elements from Point Break and Bad Boys II quite often. You can read my review of the movie here.)
Nick Frost: Free your mind of all thoughts.
Simon Pegg: You just think one word don’t you?
Nick: Whoa!
Do you worry you went too far?
(director) Edgar Wright: In the 80’s and 90’s they are all really hard R’s. Even Beverly Hills Cop is really violent. Then if you factor in like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Robocop… that’s the apex. They weren’t PG-13s back then; they were really R rated for language, sexual content, and violence. We skipped the sexual content and gave you an extra serving of violence.
Nick: You’re getting two portions of meat and no veg (editors note: except make veg sound like a double entendre – Ha!).
Edgar: If you’re doing comic violence you end up going more over the top because the more over the top you go the funnier it gets. I even think that’s true of like Kill Bill. You’re getting into Itchy and Scratchy territory. At the end of The Last Boyscout the guy gets pushed into the blades of a helicopter which is just like a Roadrunner stunt.
Nick: Well, that happens sometimes doesn’t it?
Did you have to cut anything to get an R?
Edgar: Not at all. We’ve been very lucky. In the UK both of our films are rated 15. Even though they’re violent they’re essentially good natured. Whereas a film like The Devil’s Rejects, even though I kind of liked it, you can see why the censors come down on that like a ton of bricks. The morals are a lot more cloudy.
Simon: Violence is like the “C-wordâ€. If you start putting venom behind it it’s worth censoring.
What are the chances of a sequel here?
Edgar: It would be a tricky one, like Shaun of the Dead would be too. Everything comes full circle in a weird way. Once the character has gone through the journey it’s difficult to start from that point. In a strange way there’s no more journey to make. However, If someone gives me $130m to blow up cars I’m in.
Simon: The sequel to Hot Fuzz would be two hours just like the last half hour of the first film.
Edgar: Maybe it could be one long sequence like Crank, and shoot it all in one shot.
Edgar: I have friends who have enthusiasm for film or music but no critical capacity for it. I was a big Prince fan, but I had a friend who was a much bigger Prince fan and I’d ask him what his favorite song was and he’d say “They’re all good, Prince is amazing, they’re all brilliant, I couldn’t pick one.†I think Butterman (Nick Frost) is kind of like that, he loves all film, they’re all good, and he wouldn’t see any difference in like Under Siege 2 and The French Connection. But Bad Boys II and Point Break would be, if he had to pick them, the ultimate. They are the best in dumb popcorn fun, totally unpretentious, and they value spectacle over everything else. In a sense that’s what the message of the film is. It’s like visual sedatives.
Simon: If there is a message in the film at all it’s that it’s okay to do that. Don’t be ashamed to enjoy a fireworks display. You don’t walk away from a fireworks display and say “That was rubbish, there wasn’t enough subtext.†When you watch Bad Boys II it’s quite fun to watch.
And there you have it. Hot Fuzz is also a spectacle worth watching and I recommend you check it out when it hits theaters this Friday! For more on the film click here, it hits theaters on April 20.
