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Focus Features/Photofest1 of 10
What was a throwaway gag in the "rom zom com" "Shaun of the Dead" - inspired by writer/director Edgar Wright's personal belief in the hangover-curing qualities of Cornetto ice cream - became something of a trademark for Wright and co-writer/star Simon Pegg and star Nick Frost. The trio has even begun jokingly referring to their three films together - "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz" and the upcoming "The World's End" - as the "Three Flavors: Cornetto" trilogy (or the "blood and ice cream" trilogy by those not savvy to the Krzysztof Kieslowski reference). Strawberry for "Shaun" (red = blood), original flavor for "Fuzz" (the blue wrapper = cops), and mint for "The World's End" (green = aliens). Up to speed? Good. Here's a lot more to chew on.
No. 10 - To borrow a gag from "The World's End," there is a "fourth Musketeer" who has appeared in all three films alongside Wright, Pegg, and Frost - Rafe Spall. The son of veteran actor Timothy Spall, Rafe played the snotty, piss-taking electronics store employee who gives Shaun crap about his leaking pen ("You've got red on you" - one of the movie's signature gags), then played snotty, piss-taking Sandford detective Andrew Cartwright (one half of "The Andies") in "Hot Fuzz" before showing up as a potential home buyer being shown around by real estate man Martin Freeman in the beginning of "The World's End" (level of snottiness unclear).
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United Film Distribution Company/Photofest2 of 10
No. 9 - During the opening credits of "Shaun of the Dead" (as the production company logos roll out), the music you hear is actually a piece of the score from George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead." It then blends into The Specials' "Ghost Town" when we get the first shot of the characters inside the pub.
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Universal Pictures3 of 10
No 8 - And the homages keep on coming. Blink and you'll miss it, but the restaurant where Shaun is desperate to score a reservation is called Fulci's (you can see the add in the brief shot of the Yellow Pages). This is a nod to Lucio Fulci, the Italian film director behind gorefests like "Zombie," "The Beyond" and "The House by the Cemetery."
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Universal Pictures/Pinterest4 of 10
No. 7 - The post-breakup pep talk that Ed (Frost) gives Shaun essentially lays out the entire movie:
"You know what we should do tomorrow? Keep drinking. Have a Bloody Mary first thing [they wake up and kill the zombie check-out girl, "Mary" in their garden], have a bite at the King's Head [Shaun's step dad Philip gets bitten at Shaun's mom's house], get a couple at the Little Princess [They rescue Shaun's ex-girlfriend Liz and her friend Dianne from their apartment], stagger back here [the gang pretends to be zombies to gain entrance into the Winchester Pub, where Ed and Shaun are sitting during this speech], BANG! back at the bar for shots [they hole up in the Winchester and use the pub's signature gun to shoot zombies]."
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Universal Pictures5 of 10
No. 6 - Lord of the Fuzz? In "Hot Fuzz," Sgt. Nicholas Angel's (Pegg) girlfriend (who is completely covered by goggles, a dust mask, and full body hazmat suit in her one scene) is actually played by Oscar winner (and elvish queen) Cate Blanchett (who was uncredited). Better yet - during the opening montage detailing Angel's many accomplishments, the deranged Santa Claus shown stabbing Angel in the hand is LOTR director Peter Jackson. Oh, and for good measure, Blanchett's fellow crime scene investigator Bob (the one she'd never date) is played by "Attack the Block" writer/director Joe Cornish.
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Pete Penfold/Wikimedia6 of 10
No. 5 - The seemingly sleepy town of Sandford at the heart of "Hot Fuzz" is actually the city of Wells, Somerset, where Edgar Wright grew up.
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Universal Pictures7 of 10
No. 4 - How can you tell the people of Sandford are up to no good? Besides, you know, the fact that they are played by the likes of Timothy Dalton, Paul Freeman (better known as "Raiders of the Lost Ark's" Belloq), and David Bradley and Rory McCann ("Game of Thrones" Walder Frey and "The Hound")? Check out their sinister (and action-oriented) last names: Hatcher. Skinner. Roper. Reaper. Blower. Messenger. Shooter.
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Focus Features/Photofest8 of 10No. 3 - The character dynamic established in "Shaun" and "Fuzz" (Pegg the straight man, Frost the idiot manchild) gets completely reversed in "The World's End," with Pegg's Gary King being locked in a state of arrested development and Frost's Andy Knightley taking on the role of the successful, socially-adjusted corporate lawyer. Frost, for one, was happy not to play "the stoned idiot" for a change.
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Focus Features/Photofest9 of 10
No. 2 - Like Ed's speech in "Shaun of the Dead," the opening narration/montage of "The World's End" (which looks back at the gang's original attempt to conquer the "Golden Mile" pub crawl as teens back in 1990) essentially spells out everything that's going to happen in the movie. Pay attention...we won't spoil it all here...but locations, pub names, each characters' success or failure during the pub crawl...it all comes back...
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Wikimedia10 of 10Next: A History of Similar Films Coming Out at the Same Time
No. 1 - Not only are the pub names in "The World's End" thematically significant (the events at The Two-Headed Dog, for example, end up making sense), but the signs are, too. The flaming Earth that adorns The World's End sign (which is not only the title of the movie, but also the final pub along the Golden Mile) is a visual homage to the poster for an obscure 1977 sci-fi flick called - what else? "End of the World."
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