The World’s End Comic-Con Panel Highlights The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy And Frienship
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With only a month out until the third and final film in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy hits U.S. theaters, anticipation reached a fever pitch after Universal Studios and Focus Features presented The World’s End in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con. Moderated by Nerdist‘s Chris Hardwick, the panel was full of fun, excitement, a fondness for the trilogy as a whole, and the friendship between director Edgar Wright, and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
According to Cinema Blend, Hardwick mentioned that The World’s End has a Doctor Who feel to its storytelling. Wright picked up on that comment and added that if you ever want to watch an episode of Doctor Who where the Time Lord is completely hammered, then The World’s End is definitely the movie for you. He went on to joke about running up stairs to get away from Daleks, though Hardwick pointed out they hover now.
Pegg interrupted the tangent to offer some insight to his character in the new social science fiction film.
Pegg says his character Gary was fun to play. There’s a dark truth about him that explains his “dickishness.” He’s stuck in 1990. He never got out of 1990. Pegg says Gary’s friends have all moved on and he’s trying to drag them back. Pegg says the Tardis in the film is beer.
While the trio talked about their friendship, which has now spanned 20 years, and hope that The World’s End won’t be the last time they work together. Wright revealed that the idea for their latest collaboration came to him while they were all on the press tour for Hot Fuzz back in 2007, and joked that he won’t have another good idea until the next U.S. press tour.
When the floor opened up to the audience, the most interesting questions and comments centered on the biggest challenges they faced during production. The answer was unanimous when everyone answered that shooting the film’s action scenes and fight sequences were the most difficult parts. This was something also touched upon in the recent conversation between Peter Jackson and Wright, Pegg, and Frost. Pegg commented that they created a new martial art called “pub-fu,” and that at one point he broke his hand and still did six more takes.
Talk eventually turned to the Three Flavours trilogy as a whole, and how The World’s End fits in with their previous spoofs, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and the idea of “evolution, devolution, and revolution.” When asked which is their favorite, each said they couldn’t decide, though to hear them talk, The World’s End is definitely at the forefront of their minds. Though Pegg loved playing Shaun, he says that his latest character, Gary King, is more layered and one to watch out for. Frost also said that his most recent character, an angry man they nicknamed “The Pink Hulk,” was more of a stretch as an actor than previous outings.
When asked if the team might ever revisit their sitcom Spaced,
Pegg said he feels like if they added to it now, it could ruin it. Sounds like he prefers to leave it as it was. He doesn’t think it’s going to happen again. He’ll hopefully work with those people again, but that was a specific time in their lives and that time is gone. Frost says they couldn’t afford him.
I really hope The World’s End has a healthy showing at the box office. I’d hate to see a repeat of what happened to Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World after it premiered at Comic Con in 2010. Despite all the buzz surrounding that film, it failed to connect with general audiences and bombed when it was released that August. With the positive early reactions and all of this year’s Comic-Con buzz, The World’s End is in a similar position. Let’s hope things work out better for Wright this time around.
Gary King is a 40-year-old man-child who refuses to grow up and act his age. Twenty years after he and his childhood friends failed an epic pub-crawl called The Golden Mile, he gets the gang back together to once again make it to the last bar, The World’s End. As they stumble from pub to pub, they soon realize the dark truth beneath the sleepy hamlet of Newton Haven. Killer alien robots have invaded and they’re looking to destroy all humans. Can Gary and his mates save their hometown, while at the same time completing The Golden Mile?
The World’s End also stars Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike, Eddie Marsan, David Bradley, and Paddy Considine, and hits theaters everywhere on August 23rd.
Keep up with Cinema Blend’s continuing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2013 here.
