Apocalyptic jest-fest rooted in real world
INSPIRATION: Pub crawl laid groundwork for sci-fi comedy
Director Edgar Wright wanted to hire the best British comic actors in the business for The World’s End.
“But they weren’t available, so he got us,” said Nick Frost at a Toronto hotel with Wright promoting the sci-fi comedy.
Of course, he jests. Fans know that Frost, Wright and Simon Pegg have been a revered comedy threesome since their days collaborating on the British sitcom Spaced from 1999 to 2001. The triumvirate made the transition into film with 2004’s Shaun of the Dead, followed by 2007’s Hot Fuzz.
Now they’re together again for The World’s End, a witty fantasy mashup presented with a little help from their friends.
In the latest concoction, Pegg plays Gary King, a shiftless lush who tracks down his former friends to finish a pub crawl they never completed as teens.
Reluctant at first, Gary persuades grown-ups Andrew (Frost), Oliver (Martin Freeman), Peter (Eddie Marsan) and Steven (Paddy Considine) to return to their hometown. Once there, they discover that Gary continues to be the irresponsible rogue he was as a teenager.
As the lads drink their way through the hamlet, they also begin to realize the citizens aren’t what they used to be and may actually have alien ulterior motives.
High-concept perhaps, but the ensemble interplay between these comic veterans drives the film in a casual but snappy-patter way.
Amazingly, most of the banter was already laid out in the script by cowriters Pegg and Wright.
“It was great fun having all of the actors on set who are friends and who know each other in some capacity,” said Wright. “When you put them together they slip into a very nice rhythm.”
Frost, who has been a buddy of Pegg’s for more than a decade, agreed that the additions of Freeman (who was in Hot Fuzz), Marsan and Considine came together easily.
“Because we’re all friends, there was never any tension about who would be the big dog,” said the actor. “We all knew we would have our moments in the spotlight, so when you have that kind of support, you do your best work.”
And yes, Pegg, Frost and Wright have careers outside of their comedy troupe. Most notably, Pegg played Scotty in the two reboots of the Star Trek film series and he was Benji in Mission: Impossible III and IV.
The movie was partly rooted in a real pub crawl in which Frost and Pegg ended up carrying Wright home after a few too many pints.
The director also confessed that the film’s climax owes a great deal to the British radio program The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy.
“Douglas Adams is definitely an influence,” said Wright of the Hitchhiker’s Guide creator. “He’s the perfect sweet spot between Monty Python and Dr. Who.”