On the 16th of July Melbourne Central played host to some of the funniest blokes in Britain – Director Edgar Wright and stars Nick Frost and Simon Pegg walked the red carpet at the premiere of their new film The World’s End, starring the crème of England’s middle-aged men bringing the hardcore funny.
12 pubs, 12 pints. To round out the Cornetto trilogy the boys are back in town to drink themselves under the table – however things don’t exactly go to plan. Returning to their old haunts the motley crew realize that something’s eerie is afoot with the people…and they all seem to have some serious blue on them.
If Hot Fuzz and Sean of the Dead were their newborn forays to the big screen then The World’s End is the trilogies early twenties older brother – still keen for a good night out but having gained wisdom throughout their erratic teens. Nick Frost touts this one as his favourite of the three as “it feels more mature, and it’s good not to play a stoned idiot. It’s good to play a serious man who flips and becomes like a punching machine or ‘pink hulk’ as we call it.”
From the trailer it seems resident goofball has gone to Simon Pegg’s gothic leading man – but there was certainly no presence of that on the red carpet. Slick, suited and bespectacled, Pegg made Frost and Wright look positively scruffy. Hoards of young girls screamed as he moved across the carpet – a particularly overzealous bunch shouting the question “what do you smell like?” His response? “I smell like Chanel.” Certainly no hint of Sean with red on him here.
Finally British director Edgar Wright circulated his fans and media and there was time for a few quick questions:
Q: Can you explain a bit about the Cornetto theme?
Edgar: It’s very silly, when I was in college I got very drunk one night and I ate a Cornetto in the morning and I felt a lot better. It’s not really been proven that it is a hangover cure – in Sean of the Dead Nick Frost’s character ate a Cornetto on Sunday morning and so it became a theme and a way of getting free ice-cream.
Q: This movie’s based around a pub-crawl – speaking just then about drinking, is it a true story? Did it ever happen?
Edgar: I tried to do it when I was 19 in my hometown and failed miserably so I think this really is me trying to complete the pub crawl.
Q: Some of the fight scenes in this movie are quite intense – how did you handle the action?
Edgar: The stunt co-ordinator in the movie is a Melbournian whose one of the finest stunt co-ordinators in the world and choreographed the fight scenes with Simon and Nick and the others which was fantastic.
So how are we wiser from this experience? The World’s End seems to be shaping up to be a mature, more action choreographed grand finale to the hilarious Cornetto trilogy and that Simon Pegg favours the finer smells in life.
