The World’s End Comic-Con Panel Roundup

By
Lauren
on July 27, 2013Posted in: Events, Featured, Film, News
World's End SDCC 2013 panel

At Comic-Con last week, Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost held court in Hall H to promote their new film The World’s End. We didn’t get too much new information about the film itself, but the draw of the panel was really more about the chemistry and sense of humor shared by these three old friends.

World's End SDCC 2013 panelThe moderator, Chris Hardwick, gushed about the film and compared it to Doctor Who. He said there was a Whovian element to it, like how Simon Pegg’s character, Gary, is like a dark Doctor character because he’s never grown up. He’s still stuck in the past and jumping from one crazy adventure to another. Edgar Wright added that if you ever thought Doctor Who would be much funnier if the Doctor were completely hammered, then you’ll love this movie.

Pegg said that Gary is sort of a villain more than a hero, which is a departure from the type of character Pegg has played in the previous two Cornetto films, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. In fact, it sounds like he and Nick Frost switched this time around, with Pegg playing the irresponsible character and Frost playing the more serious, button-down sort of guy. Speaking of the Cornetto trilogy, a trilogy begun by a throw-away line based on a hangover cure, the ice cream flavors used in the movies so far:

  • Shaun of the Dead: Red/strawberry for blood/zombies
  • Hot Fuzz: Original blue (vanilla) for the police
  • The World’s End: Green mint chocolate chip for aliens/sci-fiction

In addition to ice cream flavors, The World’s End will be about friends reuniting, which also applies to Wright, Pegg, and Frost. They say they love working together, and that even though this is the last of the trilogy, they hope to work together again in the future. Of course, they all have other projects that sometimes get in the way of that. Pegg is in the rebooted Star Trek franchise and Wright is working on Ant-Man for Marvel’s Phase Three superhero movies. Wright jokingly said that he’s planning a spin-off of Ant-Man, a buddy comedy with two anti-heroes, Abdo-man and the Mighty Thorax.

comic-con 2013-the-worlds-end-panel with Wright laughingAfter some fun banter, fans got to ask their questions, with the answers often devolving into more banter and jokes. Things we learned from the Q&A:

  • The guys love The Lonely Island, Louis C.K., and Parks and Recreation
  • They have crazy travel schedules where they have to write in time to visit family
  • Simon and Nick do very little improv in the movies, they mostly stick to the script
  • Martin Freeman is very difficult to get a hold of these days, but still managed to fit shooting of The World’s End into his schedule around promoting The Hobbit
  • Making The World’s End into a drinking game will probably kill you
  • Action scenes are the worst to shoot; Pegg even broke his hand once
  • The themes of the trilogy can be explained in the “lofty” terms of Evolution for Shaun of the Dead, Devolution for Hot Fuzz, and Revolution for The World’s End
  • Wright and Pegg think The World’s End is their favorite to work on so far; Frost said his favorite role is still Ed in Shaun of the Dead
  • No, they will not revisit Spaced
  • Wright likes red wine
  • And lastly, some advice to young filmmakers out there: make what you feel passionate about, not what you think other people want

During the Q&A, a mash-up of the trilogy was shown during the panel in lieu of a clip, and supposedly will be released officially online soon. And that about wraps things up.

The World’s End is currently in theaters in the UK and will be released in the US August 23. What would you have asked if you could have been there? Do you feel like eating a Cornetto right about now? Let us know in the comments below!

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