One of the more highly anticipated films of the summer has nothing to do with superheroes or giant explosions. Instead, it’s movie about friendship. Writer/director Edgar Wright, co-writer/star Simon Pegg, and star Nick Frost have developed an incredibly fruitful working relationship over the years since their first collaboration on the TV series Spaced, and this summer sees the release of the final film in the trio’s “Three Flavours” trilogy that began with Shaun of the Dead and continued with Hot Fuzz. The story of The World’s End revolves around five childhood friends who decide to re-attempt an epic pub crawl that will culminate in reaching the fabled pub, “The World’s End.” But as they make their way to the pub, they discover that the fate of humankind is on the line.
With a few new posters hitting the web today and a U.S. trailer expected to arrive tomorrow, Wright recently took the time to answer questions about the film on Twitter. The Q&A covers the specific filmic influences, Spaced cameos, the movie’s themes and inspirations, and much more. Hit the jump to read some of the highlights.
When asked about Wright’s inspiration for the film, the writer/director answered via Yahoo!:
Going back to my hometown and finding that nothing had changed, but everything was different.
With regards to the pic’s overarching theme and how it fits into the arc that began with Shaun of the Dead, Wright had this to say:
I think [growing out of an arrested adolescence] is a theme that haunts me and Simon, the dubious dream of perpetual adolescence and the idea that someone is always younger than you. I think we finally finish this arc with this movie. The adolescence is over here.
Wright has previously described The World’s End as social science fiction, and he did so again in this specific Q&A. When it comes to the film’s antagonists, which we’ve only briefly glimpsed in the UK trailer, Wright notes two specific influences:
It will become more clear when you see the movie – but partly from childhood toys and two film posters images that are not in their respective movies (one from 1975 and one from 1982). Guess what the movies are!
Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to the films Wright mentions, but it’s worth noting that 1982 saw the release of a number of sci-fi classics including Blade Runner, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, The Thing, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Tron. However, while Wright and Pegg watched 100’s of action films in preparation for Hot Fuzz, the two movies they revisited for The World’s End might surprise you:
Some of the movies, TV shows and books that inspired us were from our childhood. We didn’t watch them again as the central story comes for personal experience. We DID watch two movies on the theme of friends reuniting; It’s Always Fair Weather and The Big Chill.
Pegg recently told us that he and Wright brought back every actor who appeared in both Shaun and Hot Fuzz for The World’s End, and Wright teases an additional Spaced cameo:
No Jessica [Hynes] in this one. But there are other cameos. Including a man that has yet to appear in the films.
Wright noted that though he and Pegg had been developing The World’s End for a while, but they only recently came up with the film’s third act:
We had the idea for the film in 2007 and had a third act that was difficult to figure out. Then we came up with a different resolution a long time after and it all started to fall into place. The screenplay was relatively easy to write as we had been plotting for a long time.
Head over to Yahoo! to read the entirety of Wright’s responses, and check back here on Collider tomorrow to watch the new trailer. The World’s End opens in the UK on July 19th and in the US on August 23rd.
