Tagged: Hot Fuzz

#SDCC: ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ – UPDATED

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Byran Lee O’Malley’s popular Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series came to an end earlier this week with the release of the final volume, Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour. The series has been basking in popularity for quite some time now, especially since word of Universal’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie got out. In fact, the Scott Pilgrim Comic Con panel was all about the upcoming movie.

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There were thirteen members of the panel, plus the moderator: director Edgar Wright, creator O’Malley, Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza, Kieren Caulken, Ellen Wong, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anna Kendrick, Mark Webber, Allison Phil, Brandon Routh, Satya Bhabba, Mae Whitman… and Schwartzman’s amazing mustache. There were surprise appearances by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who both starred in Wright’s action-comedy Hot Fuzz. They are not in the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie, but the audience loved their presence all the same. Oh, and Cera sported a Captain America suit– an obvious homage to Chris Evans, who is off filming Captain America.

The cast discussed how they spent months training for fight scenes, and how some had to learn to play musical instruments. Wright spoke of filming in Toronto, the setting of Scott Pilgrim and home to members of the cast and crew. He also announced that the movie will be in 2D, to which he added, “How do you feel about watching a film with sunglasses on?”

There was talk of Ubisoft’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World video game. The game has a retro style, similar to old school 8-bit games. If you haven’t noticed, there are many tie-ins to video games throughout the film. Sound effects from Tekken, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Zelda can be heard; Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) mentions “getting a life” as he snatches a floating 8-bit sprite version of his face from the air; a tag line for the film was “This summer it’s on like Donkey Kong.”

After introductions, discussions and Q&A, Wright jumped off stage and led hundreds of fans with 1Up buttons to the Balboa Theater for a special screening of the movie. Fans fortunate enough to posses the buttons excitedly marched with Wright to the theater, while the rest will have to wait for August 13, when the film will appear in theaters– unless you catch the showings tomorrow and Saturday.

UPDATED 10:25 7/23: Video, as expected, has started to leak out. Here’s the cast coming on stage from an… interesting angle.

Pegging Pegg

Simon Pegg, star and co-writer of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, describes the current "geek" film climate quite eloquently to Film School Rejects:

"You realize that now the film industry is sort of populated by film fans, by people that appreciate the medium. I think J.J. Abrams is a fan. If you look at the directors now, the current generation, you look at people like Tarantino, Sam Raimi, Edgar (Wright), you know, they’re all film geeks who are now making films. They were all people who grew up with cinema through the video boom and are now making films themselves."

Chalk it up to a class act like Pegg to not lump himself in that category, though he certainly has earned his place. From his cult classic, cult culture-influenced television series Spaced to his upcoming space-traveling adventure in Star Trek XI, Simon Pegg has precariously superglued his precious little bottom to the collective heart and mind of the fan community.

Pegg’s been hard at work promoting his latest film How To Lose Friends and Alienate People. As can be expected, the man’s silver tongued quips have made the rounds on many a Web site, either being misconstrued as fact or just being pointed out as a prime example of absurdity. We’ve gathered a sampling of some of the better Pegg quotes over the past few months regarding his upcoming projects and a whole lot of other cool stuff. (more…)

Updates on ‘Thor’ and ‘Ant Man’ Films

march10ant-4805093Empire Online has the latest news on two Marvel movies currently in development, Ant Man and Thor, straight from the mouths of the directors behind the projects.

Ant Man is being written and directed by Edgar Wright, the English director responsible for Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. In regards to the pint-sized hero’s big screen adaptation, Wright said:

“It’s written and we’re doing a second draft of it,” said Wright. “It’s going to be less overtly comedic than anything else I’ve ever done. It’s more of a full-on action adventure sci-fi film but with a comedic element – in the same spirit of a lot of escapist fare like that. It’s certainly not a superhero spoof or pastiche and it certainly isn’t a sort of ‘Honey I Shrunk The Kids’ endeavor at all.”

Wright was mum on the subject of casting and whether or not the Ant Man in the film will be Scott Lang or fan favorite Hank Pym.

While Ant Man is chugging right along, the god of thunder seems to be stuck in neutral. The film adaptation of Thor, scheduled to be directed by Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Layer Cake), is currently in a holding pattern until the parties involved decide on the future of the project.. The Odinson hath been forsaken.

 

The Boys Goes To Star Trek

Variety reports that, among those cast in J. J. Abrams’ new Star Trek movie is Simon Pegg, star of Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. He’s slated to play Scotty, the role made famous by James Doohan. The same story says John Cho (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle) will be Sulu. The film is scheduled to go into production next month, with a Christmas 2008 release date.

(For those of you who don’t get the image at the right, Darick Robertson based the look of character Wee Hughie on Simon Pegg. So even if you haven’t seen Shawn of the Dead or Hot Fuzz or even that Doctor Who episode he did, you know what he looks like. Simon also did the introduction to The Boys trade paperback, and is a big comics fan.)

The Star Trek movie, co-starring Leonard Nimoy, has been fully cast with one important exception: the role of James T. Kirk. William Shatner holds out hope.

RIC MEYERS: 36th Chamber of Rome

ric-meyers-100-6772298Well, I’m back from the San Diego Comic-Con, and if you’ve been reading ComicMix’s coverage, you can probably guess that it was no place to actually write a DVD review column. Get info, acquire more product, see what’s happening, sure, but actually write reviews of other DVD special features? Fergettaboutit.

   

Between my 8th Annual San Diego Comic Con Superhero Kung-Fu Extravaganza there, which takes up three hours of prime time for a couple thousand hard-core martial art movie fans, and the many DVD companies/people I hobnobbed with, I had no time to tell you that the discs to grab this week are the 300 Special Edition and Hot Fuzz. But I’m hoping you already figured that out.

   

36thchamber-2992162So too late there. But since I was up to here as the “kung-fu guy” at the con, I can use this space to clue you in on some discs I should’ve mentioned weeks ago, as well as letting a monumental box set being released next week bring other recent travels into pretentious, self-absorbed focus.

First off, head to your sales place of choice and get the Dragon Dynasty editions of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and My Young Auntie. When I began this column almost three months ago, I promised myself not to inundate you with kung-fu, samurai, or other such Asian titles. But what can I do? I originally discovered these films thirty years ago, because, to my eyes, they were comic book come to life — with actual people doing Daredevilly and Spidermanny things without the benefit of wires or sfx.

Since then, I’ve discovered, through research, that they’re much more than that, yet the original exhilaration I felt is still being revealed to fresh eyes … hopefully like yours. Especially since companies like Dragon Dynasty, controlled by the Weinsteins, are finally revealing the glory of timeless 1970’s classics in a manner befitting their excellence.

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