Edgar Wright's Cornetto trilogy is one of the most beloved comedy trilogies of all time. Of course, "trilogy" is used in a very loose and ill-defined manner. None of the stories or characters connect. Instead, it's a "trilogy" in the sense that it shares many common themes, jokes, and actors - chief among them Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (not to mention a plethora of supporting players).
Luckily, the stories behind the movies prove just as interesting as the movies themselves. An astounding amount of work went into the creation of these films, and it undoubtedly shows on the screen.
Shaun Of The Dead Was Inspired By An Episode Of Spaced
Long before the Cornetto trilogy, Wright, Pegg, and Frost worked together on a Channel 4 sitcom called Spaced. In one of the episodes, Pegg's character - a lovable dork named Tim - takes speed and stays up all night playing Resident Evil 2. This unfortunate combination causes him to hallucinate killing zombies.
This particular bit was inspired by Romero's iconic Dead trilogy, for which Pegg and Wright had a mutual appreciation. Filming that particular sequence inspired them to create their own zombie movie about two bumbling idiots in the midst of a zombie outbreak.
Shaun's Famous Walk Was Inspired By One Of Wright's
In two particular scenes throughout Shaun of the Dead, Shaun stumbles over to the neighborhood convenience store. In the first, he picks up a Coke before work. In the second, he shambles over while hungover and picks up a Diet Coke for himself and a strawberry Cornetto for Ed.
These walks were inspired by a specific walk undertaken by Edgar Wright. After spending all night playing Resident Evil, Wright shambled over to his local shop. Along the way, he brainstormed ideas for how a quiet, reserved, and weapons-less British person would react to a zombie outbreak.
Wright Was Inspired By The 2001 Foot And Mouth Epidemic
In 2001, the United Kingdom faced an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, resulting in 2,000 cases throughout the British countryside. To halt the disease, roughly six million cows and sheep were euthanized. This particular epidemic inspired Wright when it came to Shaun and Ed's reactions to the zombie outbreak.
Wright hadn't watched or read the news for a couple of weeks, resulting in him completely missing the story. He mirrored this reaction in Shaun of the Dead, portraying Shaun and Ed as clueless imbeciles completely ignorant of the zombie outbreak.
Every Night In The Winchester
At the very beginning of Shaun of the Dead, Shaun's girlfriend Liz chastises Shaun for his lack of ambition and sense of adventure. She doesn't want to "spend every night in the Winchester" and wishes to "live a little."
This particular tiff was partly inspired by Wright's relationship with both Nick Frost and Simon Pegg. Pegg and Frost reportedly visited the exact same pub every time they went out, and this began to tick off Wright. Wright told MTV that Liz's speech to Shaun is "in some respects, me talking to Simon and Nick."
138 Cop Movies
Moving away from Shaun of the Dead, the writing process for Hot Fuzz was quite extensive and laborious. Wright and Pegg reportedly spent a massive eighteen months writing Hot Fuzz, the process of which involved multiple "stages." The initial outline took an estimated eight months to write, and then it was off to the research.
The duo reportedly interviewed over fifty police officers to get a realistic idea of the rigid policing process, and they watched an estimated 138 cop movies to get a sense of the ridiculous. They combined the realistic with the outrageous, resulting in Hot Fuzz.
The Title "Hot Fuzz" Intentionally Doesn't Make Any Sense
Many people may question just what "Hot Fuzz"...means. The joke is that it doesn't mean anything.
In an interview with About.com, Pegg admitted that they wanted to honor the silly, nonsensical titles of '80s action movies: "We just wanted to make a title that really had very little meaning. And also to appeal to the sort of two-word titles of the '80s and '90s action flicks, like Lethal Weapon and Point Break and Executive Decision...All those titles seem to be generated from two hats filled with adjectives and nouns and you just, ‘Okay, that'll do.’" Thus, Hot Fuzz was born.
Hot Fuzz Shot In Wright's Hometown
Wright returned home for the shooting of Hot Fuzz. Wanting to contrast the bombastic Hollywood action with a quiet English village, producers began seeking out peaceful little places for shooting. They had mainly settled on a market town called Stow-on-the-Wold, but the town ultimately rejected the offer.
They finally settled on a little cathedral city in the southwest of England called Wells, located in the county of Somerset. This is where Wright grew up, and he even made a short amateur film called Dead Right in the town when he was 18 years old.
A Massive Cathedral Needed To Be Digitally Erased
As Wells is a cathedral city, it is naturally home to a massive cathedral. Audiences wouldn't know this watching Hot Fuzz, as it needed to be digitally erased from any shot it was caught in. It's suitably called Wells Cathedral, and it was built over hundreds of years - between 1176 and 1450. It's in the Gothic architectural style, and the tower height is a dizzying 55 meters (or 180 feet).
Wright decided not to include the cathedral in the movie, as he wished the Church of St. Cuthbert to be the most prominent building in the fictional village of Sandford.
The World's End Began When Wright Was 21
The World's End was released in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2013, when Edgar Wright was 39 years old. However, he had been sitting on a script much like it since he was 21. The World's End has its origins in a movie Wright had written as a young adult titled Crawl, which followed a group of teenagers on a pub crawl.
Both he and Simon Pegg re-worked the script to have it involve middle-aged characters reminiscing on their teenage years and reflecting on the process of growing old.
Real Pubs
All of the pubs found throughout The World's End are real locations located throughout the quaint English towns of Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth Garden City, both of which are located in the county of Hertfordshire. Most of them are real pubs, including The Gardeners Arms in Letchworth, which stood in for the titular World's End.
Wright and his team got creative with a few others. For example, The Hole In the Wall is actually the Letchworth railway station, and the Mermaid is an art deco theater in Letchworth called The Broadway Cinema.