Comic-Con 2010: ‘Paul’ Cast Interviews

If you didn’t see our coverage of Paul panel at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con, then you may still be in the dark about this amusing new movie from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Be sure to check out our own Vic Holtreman’s coverage of the panel.

If you are familiar with Paul, then you already know that the film is setting out to do for the sci-fi alien movie what Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz did for the horror and action movie genres, respectively. And with an impressive lineup of costars (Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Jane Lynch, Jeffery Tambor and more) , the movie has a promising future.

If you aren’t familiar with Paul, here’s a quick synopsis:

Two British comic-book geeks (Pegg and Frost) traveling across the U.S. encounter an alien (voiced by Seth Rogen) outside Area 51.

While at Comic-Con 2010 I had a chance to speak with Paul cast members Simon Pegg, Bill Hader and sci-fi legend Sigorney Weaver on the red carpet. At the time, Screen Rant‘s expert camera man Mike Eisenberg was off with his fancy camera covering big bad events like The Marvel Comic-Con Panel (with all it’s Captain America, Thor and Avengers goodness), leaving your old friend Outlaw all alone on the red carpet, flanked by big bad media outlets with their fancy cameras and pretty hosts .

No worries, though: never one to be daunted I whipped out my handy Android smartphone and shot this whole shabangabang guerrilla journalist style, and the results were pretty fun, if I do say so myself .

Well, fun for the most part . Supporting cast members Hader and Weaver were great to talk to, but Paul star Simon Pegg was a bit of a sour interview -- though he did admit that he was tired, and certainly looked that way.  Check out the stunning chemistry between me and Mr. Pegg below:

Match made in heaven, right?

Next up I spoke to comedian and SNL alum Bill Hader. Many people remember Hader from his famous turn as “Slater,” the most irresponsible cop in the world who helped McLovin’s rise to infamy in Superbad. Well, Hader will once again play an agent of law and order in Paul, this time as FBI agent “Haggard” who is on the trail of Pegg and Frost’s characters and their titular alien companion.

Here’s what Hader had to say about the role:

(Did you catch that bit about the Judd Apatow horror/comedy flick? We’ll get back to you on that when we dig up more.)

Funny story: Hader was on my flight back from Comic-Con, so naturally I assumed that like me he was headed for NYC. I saw him again at the connecting gate in Salt Lake City where there were only two boarding tunnels, one to NYC and the other to Boise, Idaho. As it turned out, Hader was headed to the potato state. Go figure.

Finally, I got to speak with a true legend of the screen: Sci-fi icon Sigourney Weaver. Her presence at the panel was certainly a touch of class, and rather than badger her about her role or anything related to Avatar 2, I thought I’d do a little shameful Screen Rant promotion by telling her that we made here the queen of our female Expendables team. She seemed pleased enough with that news:

Fans of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz will likely be fans of Paul as well. I would’ve loved to have gotten a chance to speak with the film’s director, Greg Mottola (Superbad), but as you can see from my low-rent guerrilla tactics, I was probably lucky they let me harass talk to anybody at all .

We’ll keep you updated on more Paul news as the film gets closer to its March 18, 2011 release date. For more on the film’s Comic-Con debut, be sure to check out our review of the Paul Comic-Con Panel.