In July 2009, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel to the Toronto-based set of Edgar Wright‘s upcoming action-comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. As you know from reading the site, I’m a huge fan of the comic book series written by Bryan Lee O’Malley and have been very excited to see it adapted to the big screen by Wright.
After the jump you can read a transcript of the roundtable interview a few members of the press and myself conducted with director Edgar Wright during his lunch break. Stars Michael Cera and Jason Schwartzman also join in for a few minutes as well.
All this week we’ll be publishing interviews our press group conducted on set with the cast and crew. Read the Edgar/Jason/Michael interview now below.
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How awesome was the teaser trailer for Edgar Wright‘s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World? I know I’ve watched it at least six times now. I’m surprised at how many cool visuals Edgar and Universal were able to cram into under 90 seconds. There is certainly a lot of cool visuals which are worth pressing the pause button to examine at length. Check out all 66 screencaps, after the jump. Click on through to see the images in high (near 2000 pixels wide) resolution.
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Universal Pictures has released their 2010 movie preview which includes the first two official production photos from Edgar Wright‘s big screen adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The photo above appears to feature Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim, wielding a red Flaming Katana (George Lucas is gonna sue somebody…) in a futuristic nightclub, as Jason Schwartzman, who plays evil ex Gideon Gordon Graves and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers watch on in the background from atop a pyramid. Check out both photos after the jump.
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A couple of unusual interviews have hit the web today.
The is first from our friends at FilmSchoolRejects, who talked to director Jason Reitman, not about his new movie Up in the Air, but instead quizzed the filmmaker on the pie chart he keeps of all the questions asked while on his press tour. Rejects Managing Editor Dr. Cole Abaius wrote the following: “Instead of asking the usual, boring questions that have clearly been retread as much as 83 times, I decided to take the one word or two word codes for each entry and base my questions off of those. Even though he’s a talented director, and I’m a complete moron, Reitman was magnanimous enough to play along.”
The second of which was conducted by MoviesOnline.ca, with Fantastic Mr. Fox star Jason Schwartzman pretending to be director Wes Anderson, in a movie website first — an interview which was conducted entirely in stop-motion animation. The great thing about this interview is they don’t even talk about Fantastic Mr. Fox… at all.
I love both of these interviews because they are both funny in their own way, the participants seem to be willing (even if they didn’t know entirely what they were getting themselves into), and both go uncomfortably awry near the end. Check out both interviews, embedded after the jump.
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As I watched Fantastic Mr. Fox and gradually sensed the darkness of the theater lose out to the autumn-colored, classy, stop motion shenanigans on screen, I began to accept that every silhouette in the audience—fat and small, rich and me—was dressed in ship-shape, semi-formal attire. I pictured moms silently imagining themselves speaking in snooty English accents and serving cups of Earl Grey. And kids ages five through nine on the verge of zzz’ing in handsome jackets of tweed and corduroy; mildly stimulated by what equates to a visually dazzling hipster Sunday School lesson taught with Adderall on its gums and Tryptophan in its belly.
In contrast to Spike Jonze‘s Where the Wild Things Are—itself a furry and visionary 2009 adaptation of a famous kid’s book about nonconformity—Wes Anderson‘s Fox focuses foremost on family via adult characters. Whereas Wild Things united male Eighties Babies with its look at psychological distress, a side effect birthed by so much of that decade’s parental divorce and separation, Fox unites families of the aughts with an increasingly rare and welcome air of sophistication. One is a film about adults-as-wild-animals suitable for families, the other is a film about a child amidst wild animals suitable for would-be adults.
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Last month, while I was in London, I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to Jason Schwartzman about his new film, voicing Ash in Wes Anderson‘s stop-motion animated adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox. I talked to Jason briefly about Edgar Wright‘s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, because he had revealed off camera before the interview that he had seen a bunch a footage the night before. We also talk about the attraction of working with Wes, a constant collaborator in Schwartman’s career. And we also talk about how Anderson imposes a set of rules for every production, and how the rules for Fantastic Mr. Fox resulted in a very unique process of voicing the feature film “on location”.
This was filmed as a TV interivew at the London Film Festival junket, so it’s much shorter than I’m use to, and a much different pace than a normal one on one print interview that has appeared on the site previously. Also of note, the interview was filmed at the Roald Dahl museum in Great Missenden in front of a replica of Roald Dahl’s writing chair and office, which would be found in the writing hut where Roald Dahl wrote most of his books.
Watch the interview embedded after the jump, and check out Fantastic Mr. Fox, which hits theaters nationwide today.
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Well it looks like Edgar Wright has been showing a few close friends rough cut footage from his big screen adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. When I was in London last week, I had a chance to talk briefly with Jason Schwartzman, who told me that he had screened the opening 20 minutes, which he seemed very enthusiastic about. I tried to sneak my way into the UK editing bay, but unfortunately had no luck (believe me, I tried my hardest). And earlier today on Twitter, director Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Thank You For Smoking, Juno) posted a mini glowing review of his thoughts on 30 minutes that Wright screened for him in London.
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Fox Searchlight has released a second movie trailer for Wes Anderson‘s animated adaptation Fantastic Mr. Fox. When the first trailer was released, I’ll admit that I didn’t quite think Anderson’s visual style translated well to stop motion animation. But the more I’ve seen from clips, featurettes and tv spots, the more I’m beginning to come around. Do you agree? Watch the trailer embedded after the jump, and leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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