INTERVIEWS

Interview: Filmmaker Edgar Wright Talks Career, Beer & Growing Up

by Alex Billington
August 21, 2013

Before I knew who Edgar Wright was, I was a die-hard Shaun of the Dead fan. It's one of films that really opened my eyes to the joys of horror; it's still one of my all-time favorites. Throughout most of early 2007, I spent my time chasing Hot Fuzz around the country, searching for ways to catch an early screening and get a glimpse at any footage for Edgar's next movie. Six years later and it's time to finish the Cornetto Trilogy with Simon Pegg & Nick Frost in The World's End. This time around I was lucky enough to be invited to the world premiere of the movie in London, and it's a near perfect conclusion to a hilarious but smart trilogy of original films made by real, movie-loving friends. I caught up with Edgar for a chat on Flipcam last week.

Believe it or not, this is the very first time I've interviewed Edgar Wright despite obsessing over his films the last few years. My focus was on his career, his storytelling & writing techniques, and how he's evolved as a filmmaker over the 10 years since first making Shaun of the Dead (his original feature debut was A Fistful of Fingers). I've genuinely enjoyed all of his movies, including Scott Pilgrim and Hot Fuzz, and love chatting with him (he's a big movie geek). Edgar has been on a worldwide press tour and gave very lengthy answers.

Watch my full interview with The World's End director Edgar Wright, shot on Flipcam in New York:

Timeline of questions: 0:10 - how do you classify yourself: movie geek turned filmmaker, or a storyteller?; 5:28 - where do the concepts of this sci-fi originate, what comes first while writing it?; 13:30 - how much beer was consumed to pull this off perfectly?; 16:35 - where do you see yourself as a filmmaker in 10 years?

"Why wouldn't you want to try and tell lots of different stories?" Exactly. Edgar mentions how hard it is to make a movie numerous times in this interview, and that's true ("especially when they're British films and they're ambitious"). But that's why I love his movies so much - each one is so unique and so different, yet all of them are made with the same brilliant, humorous sensibilities and passion for original entertainment that comes from deep within the cinephile heart of Edgar Wright. It's an honor to know Edgar and to have the chance to interview him on camera. It's always fun to chat with him about almost anything, from making films to seeing films to the amusing life of a British geek, but that's why we all love Edgar as much as we do.

Edgar Wright's The World's End arrives in US theaters everywhere on August 23rd. It's currently playing in theaters in the UK, Ireland and Australia. It's time for Total Annihilation. See the film, then Sound Off.

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