Just a few days after the 15th anniversary of Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz, a storm in the UK has knocked down a church spire in the same town where the action-comedy was filmed, accidentally almost evoking a classic scene from the movie. The second in Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy, Hot Fuzz is a buddy cop/action-comedy film that follows Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg), an overzealous police officer who is unwillingly transferred from London to the sleepy village of Sanford. As a series of gruesome (and seemingly accidental) deaths occur before the annual ‘Village Of The Year’ competition, Nicholas teams up with hapless but well-meaning fellow officer Danny (Nick Frost) to investigate.
Hot Fuzz was the most commercially successful entry in the Cornetto Trilogy and is still beloved today for its ridiculous action and vibrant characters. In fact, Academy Award-winning actress Olivia Coleman recently singled out her role as PC Thatcher in Hot Fuzz as a career highlight. The 2007 comedy is packed full of iconic scenes, from the epic supermarket fight sequence to the literal wild goose chase. However, one of the film’s most gruesome deaths is also one of its most memorable moments, when local newspaper writer Tim Messenger (Adam Buxton) is crushed by falling debris from the ailing church roof, moments before he was due to give Nicholas some vital information.
Now, one of the strongest storms the UK has seen in decades has caused an inadvertent re-enactment of Hot Fuzz in the very same town where it was originally filmed. Twitter user Steve Day captured the moment that St. Thomas Church in Wells, Somerset, lost its church spire due to the record-breaking powerful winds that are currently battering most of the UK. Though the church isn’t the exact same church as the one used in Hot Fuzz, it is in the same location — the city that is also Wright’s hometown. Watch the video below:
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Wright himself was quick to point out that the damaged church was not the same as the one featured in Hot Fuzz. Taking to Twitter with a playful reference to his classic film's big twist, the director said, "I would like to point out that the spire in ‘Hot Fuzz’ was St Cuthbert’s Church in Wells Somerset and not the nearby St Thomas’s Church. That’s not to say it was all Storm Eunice and not the work of the NWA however…" Regardless, the storm has inadvertently paid homage to the action-comedy just four days after Hot Fuzz celebrated its 15th anniversary earlier this week. Wright filmed on location for the large majority of the shoot, and has forever immortalized the place he grew up as Hot Fuzz’s sleepy rural English village. The ‘Save The Church Roof’ scene is a fan favorite, and the toppling of a church spire in the very same place that Hot Fuzz was filmed is an unexpected but timely reference to the film caused by unusually extreme weather.
Thankfully, no one was hurt by St. Thomas' fallen spire, in a welcome change from Buxton’s violent death scene in the movie. St. Cuthbert’s, the actual church used in the filming of Hot Fuzz, meanwhile remains fully intact. While it’s always great to see homages paid to cult-favorite films, hopefully, any other tributes paid to Hot Fuzz won’t involve strong storms and property damage.
Source: Steve Day/Twitter