Hot Smut

Film Ryan galivants his way past the insurmountable snow to Bristol, to interview Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, stars of Hot Fuzz

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are the stars of high-octane action comedy epic Hot Fuzz. They also happen to be absolute heroes of mine, dominating the sleeves of many of my shiny discs.

A swift introduction and a shake of hands later, an eager Simon greets the dictaphone “Hello Wales!” whilse the lovely Nick Frost makes me a cup of stimulating coffee. The goosebumps and nervous shakes have all but dissappeared.

Like many fans of the boy’s previous work, I was surprised to find an absence of references to Spaced. In repsonse Simon talks about Spaced “Tim and Daisy’s life was comprised of a mish-mash of popular cultural things. There aren’t that many references like that in Hot Fuzz, they’re mainly broader references to the genre itself and the conventions and clichés within the genre”.

It has been frequently questioned about the possibility of a third series of Spaced, seemingly as often as Raimi and Campbell are asked of an Evil Dead sequel. The question is posed, “What about a one-off extended episode where everyone is in their 30s?”

Simon: “I don’t know if you ever want to see those guys when they’re in their 30s. It’s dangerous to go back. I know the temptation is there but I’m starting to think it would be nice to keep them preserved as they were. There was a nice ending to the 2nd series in terms of Tim and Daisy, and I would have liked to see that relationship through to its consummation, but things didn’t work out. So we did Shaun Of The Dead instead and that took us in a different direction’.

Shaun Of The Dead was hailed by George A. Romero, the latter being an inspiration to the former, and similarly Hot Fuzz has its roots in films such as The Departed. The question has to be asked, “as Romero loved Shaun Of The Dead, do you think Scorsese would enjoy Hot Fuzz?”

Simon: “We found out Scorsese liked Shaun Of The Dead as well, which was funny. Yeah, you want all those people you respect, kind of the ones you want to like your stuff.”

Nick: “I should think he would enjoy Hot Fuzz. Also, I’ve never met the guy but he must be a geek like us, right? You know, he must love cinema, he’s one of the first geeks”

Simon: “He’s the geekfather!.”

We start to talk about geeks, and in particular the difference between British and American geeks.

Nick: “There’s something about the British mentality that makes them slightly embarrassed to love something. Americans, if they love Babylon 5, they fuckin’ love Babylon 5, and they don’t care who knows. We went to a couple of collect-a-manias when we started to do the press for this, and I was absolutely amazed at how many people dressed up as things, and I’d never seen that before. I think they’re just starting to become confident and strong as a number, they’re growing”.

Simon ”...the geeks shall inherit the earth” (laughter) ”...it’s good isn’t it?”

A recent fancy dress party saw myself and lady imitate Shaun and Ed. You have to wonder who Simon and Nick would go as, to such a party?

Simon: “I think probably the chaps from Shaun Of The Dead,”

Nick: ”...Gnarls Barkley”

Simon ”...I think we could go as Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro”

Nick: ”...I went once as David Bowie, kind of involved tying a big red sponge to my hair”.

Ryan: “What’s with the Cornettos?”

Simon: ”...Cornetto gave us Cornettos for the film. It’s kind of a product placement, not that they came to us, Edgar came up with the Cornetto idea in Shaun Of The Dead, because one hungover morning he had one, and it worked really well as a hangover cure. We thought it was funny,”

Nick: ”...we don’t live in big tepee shaped wafer houses… yet. It’s basically been offered”

Simon: ”...I mean Cornetto would put one on for us”.

As Cornetto obviously love the Fuzz team, what about the Academy? Do they think they are in the running for anything next year?

Nick: “If we had kids, and then I contracted some awful disease”

Simon: ”...if you died of cooties, and had malingering death, you would have definitely been up for it”

Nick: ”...if for the last hour of the film I was blind and on a ventilator, we would win something”

Simon: ”...that’s the criteria…” (laughter) ”...you’ve gotta have a ventilator…”

Ryan: “What are you guys doing next?”

Nick: ”...well, we do this until the end of April, and then Simon and I have started to write a film, and then this man is going off and doing a film, yeah?”

Simon: ”...yeah” (ecstatic)

Nick: ”...and then were gonna shoot our film hopefully at the end of the year, and then after that, Edgar and Simon I’m sure will…”

Simon: ”...we’re gonna write another film together”

Nick: ”...complete the trilogy,”

Simon: ”...with Nick in it…and then I don’t know, maybe see what comes up”

Nick: ”...but I mean you know, that alone is three years work”.

That leaves us with the final geek question.

Ryan: “If you were to have real life action figure toy, what would your special feature be?”

Nick: ”...I think mine would have a massive cock”. Simon ponders inquistively. ”...I’d have a massive cock…” Brilliant…

Hot Fuzz is out now, go and see it five times.