Great news for fans of Edgar Wright’s blood and ice cream trilogy: The World’s End has officially been greenlit!  The concluding film to the trilogy that started with Shaun of the Dead and continued with Hot Fuzz will once again feature the team up of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost with Wright behind the camera.  Universal Pictures has given the go-ahead on the film, which is currently in pre-production and will shoot in the UK this October.  The sci-fi comedy was written by Pegg and Wright and features five childhood friends who reunite to complete a pub crawl they never finished in their younger days.  Hit the jump for the full synopsis and a look at a Comic-Con exclusive poster.

In 2004, there was Shaun of the Dead. In 2007, there was Hot Fuzz. Now, if Twitter is to be believed, there will soon be The World’s End. Writer/director Edgar Wright posted a picture on Twitter today titled only “Hard at work.” Next to him was writer/actor/super-spy-extraordinaire Simon Pegg, pondering the inevitability of The World’s End. Along with Nick Frost, the two have worked together on the above-mentioned films and have long-expressed the desire to complete the so-called “Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy,” due to the presence of bloody violence and Cornetto ice cream in each movie. (It’s also called the “Three Flavours Trilogy” as red strawberry is featured in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz referenced a blue Classic flavor. The World’s End is said to showcase green mint chocolate chip.) While plot details are short at the moment, fans will want to hit the jump to check out the dynamic duo hard at work.

With Roland Emmerich’s period drama Anonymous opening this weekend, I recently got to speak with Rafe Spall about playing William Shakespeare.  While Emmerich is known for his big-budget disaster movies like 2012 and Independence Day, Anonymous is quite a departure, as the story centers on a conspiracy to cover up the true author of Shakespeare’s plays.  There are no monsters or aliens.  Instead, Emmerich has made a really entertaining political thriller wrapped in a conspiracy theory that also stars Rhys Ifans, Jamie Campbell Bower, David Thewlis, Joely Richardson, Xavier Samuel and Vanessa Redgrave.  Here are some clips and the trailer.

During a very fun interview, Spall talked about the sexual favors he gave Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg for casting him in both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, karaoke, video games, does he think Shakespeare wrote the plays, and the research he did.  In addition, Spall talked about what it was like to work for Ridley Scott in Prometheus and who he plays in the film. Hit the jump to watch.

I have to give Edgar Wright credit for consistently giving audiences movie marathons.  Whether he’s showcasing his own movies or programming at the New Beverly, if you’re going to an event hosted by Wright, odds are you’re seeing more than one movie that night.  On August 26th, Wright will be hosting a triple-bill of his films Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (“plus numerous odds and ends from his oeuvre e.g. the Grindhouse trailer ‘Don’t'”) at San Francisco’s Castro Theater.  Wright will be on hand to introduce each film and do a Q&A and tickets only cost $15.  That’s a steal.  If for some reason you need more convincing, you can buy a limited edition poster that artist Alex Pardee drew up for the event.  Pardee will sell any remaining posters at his website, Zerofriends.

Hit the jump to check out Pardee’s poster and click here to buy your advance tickets.

With director Joe Wright’s (Atonement) action/survival film Hanna opening this weekend, I recently got to speak with most of the cast.  Starring Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, and Eric Bana, the film tells the story of a 16-year-old trained assassin (Ronan) whose perpetual fleeing an intelligence agent (Blanchett) takes her across Europe. Like I said when I posted the clips, I thought Hanna was fantastic and the music by The Chemical Brothers fits the movie perfectly.  Definitely recommended.

During my interview with Blanchett, we discussed why she got involved in Hanna and who she plays.  We also talked about how Wright directs on set, what’s her karaoke song, and I asked her what’s up with The Hobbit and how she prepared to play the police investigator in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz. Since she wore a mask during her brief scene, you may not have known she was in it.  But I’d argue her performance is the only reason the film works.  It was that important.  Hit the jump to watch.

Earlier today I got to speak with Cate Blanchett for director Joe Wright’s new movie Hanna.  While I’m embargoed from saying what I thought about the film, I’m sure it will surprise no one that I thought Blanchett was fantastic as a ruthless intelligence operative.

While I’ll have the full interview online the week of April 8th, I had to post what she said about two of her most famous roles.  As most of you know, Blanchett played Galadriel in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies.  With production now underway in New Zealand on the two Hobbit films, I asked her what kind of part she has and when does she start filming.  Unfortunately, she has yet to see a script, and wasn’t sure when she starts filming.

However, for fans of Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz, we discussed the tremendous research she did in playing Janine (the police investigator that’s Simon Pegg’s ex-girlfriend).  Since she wore a mask during her brief scene, you may not have known she was in it.  But I’d argue her performance is the only reason the film works.  It was that important.  Hit the jump to watch:

Artist Lloyd Stas has drawn up an awesome set of posters based on the work of Edgar Wright.  Not only did Stas make posters for Wright’s feature films Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, but also for his terrific TV series Spaced and his fake trailer Don’t that was part of Grindhouse.  You need to get a look at these posters and Stas needs to start selling these bad boys.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.

Edgar Wright is re-teaming with popular theater The New Beverly to present a new line-up of some of his favorite films.  Wright will be on hand to introduce all of the films (schedule permitting).  This is an awesome collection of films and if you live in Los Angeles and don’t attend at least one of these double-features, you’ll be missing out.

Hit the jump for the schedule.  The Wright Stuff 2 begins January 14th with a triple-header of Wright’s films Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: three films in, and Edgar Wright has yet to falter.  Wright’s distinct visual style is a major part of his appeal, so unsurprisingly, the three play well together in a tw0-minute clip.

Joel Walden has assembled a mashup of Wright’s films — Scott Pilgrim vs. Hot Shaun, if you will — and it carries the approval of Wright himself.  Check it out after the jump.

Everyone makes movies, but Edgar Wright makes movies with sprinkles on top. I wish I could take credit for that line but that’s how the director of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World described many of the video game references in his action comedy which will be released August 13. Collider talked to Wright on several occasions, and in this roundtable discussion he talked not only about Scott Pilgrim but also Seinfeld, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, a decided lack of Ant Man updates and even how Nintendo’s resident genius Shigeru Miyamoto got to see some of the film early.

Hit the jump to read all about it, including some spoilers. And don’t forget to look for the sprinkles on top.

I’m walking into an auditorium wearing a Comic-Con badge.  I can see many extras sitting in seats and I also notice the crew setting up for a shot.  A production assistant tells me to keep walking towards the stage.  Eventually I’m stopped.  An assistant director tells me to sit in a specific seat in the middle of the second row.  If I had walked in a second later, I’d have been told to sit somewhere else.   At this moment I had no idea I’d just won the lottery.  A little while later, more extras are shuffled in and the other seats are filled up with visiting journalists.  The setting is a Comic-Con panel and we’re the crowd the camera will be focused on.  Eventually Simon Pegg and Nick Frost walk into the auditorium and I realize the two empty seats in front of me are going to be their seats and I’m going to be in the movie!  As a huge fan of both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, I’m beyond excited.  A few moments later I’m handed a digital camera and told to look at the stage and to pretend someone like George Lucas has come out and to start getting excited.  I really don’t have to act.  Hit the jump for a lot more:

While on the set of director Greg Mottola’s Paul last August, I was able to participate in a roundtable interview with Producer Nira Park.  While you might not recognize Nira Park’s name, I promise you have seen some of the things she’s produced: Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and she’s also producing Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.  So…like I said…you’ve seen her work.

As you might imagine, when you’ve produced everything that Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have made together, you’re going to get an interested group of online reporters.  So when she had a break, we sat down with her to talk about how the project came together, how was she dealing with going back and forth to Toronto on Scott Pilgrim, how have the guys changed, working with a CGI component, and so much more.  Hit the jump to either read the transcript or listen to the audio:

Last night was an awesome event at the Los Angeles Film Festival.  Billed as “Edgar Wright Saves the World,” the event featured writer/director J.J. Abrams and Edgar Wright on stage together and it was two hours of Abrams asking Wright questions about his career.  You could have called the event “Edgar Wright: This is Your Life” and it would have worked.  Either way, it was very cool to watch two directors that I love talk in front of a packed house.  What made the night even better was Wright world premiered 9 minutes from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and a very cool viral clip for the movie.   While I hate using the words like awesome or cool when describing something…the clip looked awesome and very, very cool!

Of course the two hour discussion was not just about Scott Pilgrim, as Abrams had Wright talking about how he got into making movies, how did he first hook up with Simon Pegg, how tough was it to get Shaun of the Dead made, and so much more.  For a complete recap, hit the jump!

One of my big films in 2010 is director Edgar Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”.  As the director of “Spaced”, “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz”, Edgar Wright has proven that he’s one of the best directors working today.  While I’d be interested in whatever project he chose to do as his next film, the fact that he’s making the fantastic comic book series by Bryan Lee O’Malley is just awesome.  Anyway, people have been shown footage from “Scott Pilgrim” and the mini-reviews have been crazy.  Director Jason Reitman pretty much lost his mind after seeing 30 minutes.  And I’m beginning to figure out why.

I think the reason people are so excited for the film is Edgar Wright is pushing the boundaries of narrative storytelling.  While every movie has moving cameras and interesting shots, I’ve heard rumors that “Scott Pilgrim” is going to use a lot of split screens and animation to help tell the story.  And after speaking with Jason Schwartzman the other day, I can now confirm it.  While I do not know how many scenes use split screens, I think it’s a big part of the movie. Perhaps it’s all about trying to make comic book frames work on a movie screen. Anyhow, if you’d like to see Jason Schwartzman talk about seeing the first 19 minutes of the movie, working for Edgar and with Michael Cera, and what’s up with “Bored to Death”, hit the jump to see the interview.

I knew that once the triumvirate of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost were all on Twitter, it would yield great comedic rewards and so it has.  Yesterday, the three happily skipped down the road of slash fiction.  For those that don’t know (and it is more than okay if you don’t), “slash” is the process of taking two characters from any property and writing a story where they fuck.  It can be any two characters.  Hell, it can be one character or more.  Some really creative folks know how to take an inanimate object and transform it into an erotic masterpiece.

But once Wright, Pegg, and Frost got in on slashing their own characters, the fun truly began and below the jump, I’ve included some of their best tweets.  I think the campaign and the vision for “Hot Fuzz 2″ began today.