So, just got home from an advance screening of Shaun of the Dead – with director and stars in attendance – and here’s what I thought:
First, great film. It looks fantastic on the big screen, balances the laughs with the horror elements perfectly and drew big laughs and huge applause from an overwhelmingly appreciative audience. This buzz on Shaun just keeps growing and for good reason – this is a film that truly deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Army of Darkness and Brain Dead aka Dead Alive. This will absolutely stand as a classic of the genre.
Second, see this with an audience. Yeah, it’ll still be fun on video but this is the sort of thing where the audience feeds off of each other. It’s important to be in a room jammed full of people to really appreciate the full effect of those jump moments.
As promised I also went on a bit of a fact finding mission and here’s what I learned. Their next film will indeed be an action / crime film. The script is underway and Edgar has been jamming as many classic action film viewings into his travel itinerary as he possibly can to feed the fire. They’re also already starting to work up some ideas around a third feature that’ll apparently have some sort of tie in to DJ culture. The reports of the Little Britain guys being involved are greatly exagerated. The British mag that reported that they would appear – along with Alfred Molina and others – had asked Simon who he would hypothetically like to work with in the future and took his list of friends and people he admired as being somehow written in stone for this next film. That’s not to say that they won’t be there, just that nobody knows much of anything specific yet what with the script not actually being written yet. Nick’s new tv show is in the works but is still in the writing phase, so don’t expect to be seeing it any time soon. And for you Spaced junkies, or people who really should be, there’s a new Spaced box set due to release in late September. Season two will be largely unchanged from the old edition, but season one will include a greatly expanded set of special features – including a homage-o-meter and another ten minutes of cut scenes – and the set will include a third disc of special features, built largely around a feature length documentary. You can find that spiffy new set available for pre-order on Amazon UK here.
Finally, I’ve got to say that these are some quality people … the risk of going out and meeting people that you know and admire through their art is that when you actually meet them in person they turn out to be assholes. It sucks when that happens. Edgar, Simon and Nick: definitely not assholes.
yeah for me, while you guys were entertaining celebrities, I was at home puking. though I did smile while watching the christmas special of League. Now I’m gotta drag myself on a bus to NYC tonight at 11pm. I look forward to not being sick next time. next time gadget.
You’re a good man Charlie Brown!
Thanks again to Bubba for arranging passes to this screening. I am still grinning ear to ear from the festivities.
Foolish man. I took care of it before going to bed last night.
What an awesome night! Shaun of the Dead rules like lords. The perfect date movie perhaps? September 24th cannot come soon enough so I may pump some money into this franchise. Lots of money! It whole-heartedly deserves every amount of praise that you can heap onto it! You will see this movie. JOIN US!
I would also just like to say how awesome it was to meet Edgar, Simon and Nick last night after the show. Same thing with me. Worried that they were going to be complete knobs. Also worried that Simon was as knackered as he said he was at the end of the screening and I wouldn’t be able to meet him. But they were the nicest guys. I mean c’mon, what was I worried about? They’re British!!! It was almost surreal that I was standing in the same sky bar and geeking out with Simon, Nick and Edgar. What a great night! Thanks for the man hug Edgar!
David: Simon has written the first four epsiodes with Nick but due to other obligations has now backed out. Nick is looking for someone else to finish the last two episodes. So it is Nick’s project now. Which is fine because Nick’s a bang-up bloke too. So look for La Triviata in the future. In the meantime we also have some of Nick’s other work – Cliff Yeager’s Lil’ Nibble of Britain [a cooking show with a Alan Partridge tilt] and the DVD release of Danger 50,000 Volts.
Excuse me if this is back to front. The alcohol was working quickly last night [Thank you Odeon Films!!!]
And now I go back to sleep. The dump truck woke me up and it’s only been four hours since I went to bed. Bubba! That disc Edgar spoke of last night? See what you can do.
On a slightly different note,(But still Brit Com related) The final two episode DVD (known as the Christmas specials) of The Office is released here in Blighty on the 25th October 2004. Take a gander at Amazon UK. This DVD will be a great edition to your Brit Com collection, seating nicely next to Spaced (see I did link Spaced, although somewhat tenuously).
Looking forward to Pegg’s next project, a sitcom about a pub quiz team for the UK’s Channel 4 called La Triviata. He is currently writing it with Nick Frost, his real-life best friend who played Mike in Spaced.