Director Edgar Wright is considered one of the best action-comedy directors of this generation thanks to films like Shaun of the Dead, The World’s End, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Celebrating its tenth anniversary today is Wright’s second film, Hot Fuzz, which is a send-up of action buddy comedies of the ’80s. Everyone has their own personal favorite of Wright’s films, with Hot Fuzz often being overlooked and underrated.
Starring frequent Wright collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the film features a star police officer who must leave the busy streets of London because he’s too successful at stopping crime and head to a much more rural community. While there, he tries to teach the mildly incompetent police department how to be more professional while they try to teach him that things don’t operate the same way in small towns as in big cities.
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In honor of its anniversary, check out some interesting pieces of trivia you might not have known about the movie!
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Convincing Costumes
While dressed as police officers, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were often approached by people in hopes of getting assistance. Instead of revealing that they were just actors playing cops, they went along with the implications and did the best they could to help people out.
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Firm Negotiator
Although Frost had already appeared in Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, Frost apparently only agreed to do the movie if he got to name his character. Another part of the agreement was that he watch action movies Edgar Wright assigned to him, but the only one he actually watched was Bad Boys II.
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[H/T YouTube, SonyPicsHomeEntWorld]
Impressive Cameos
Timothy Dalton might have been the most famous actor to appear in the film, but there are two cameos that are equally impressive. Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, stabs Nicolas Angel in the opening montage dressed as Santa, and actress Cate Blanchettย works a crime scene as Angel’s ex-girlfriend, despite wearing a mask over her face the entire time.
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Mum’s The Word
Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright visited the Brixton Policeย Station in hopes of gaining insight from actual officers to use for the film, but the police liaisonย had incorrectly told the officers that Peggย and Wright were journalists, so the officers refused to offer assistance to the pair.
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Personal Collection
In one scene, Frost’s character reveals his massive DVD collection of action movies to impress Pegg’s character. To build the collection, Edgar Wright, his brother Oscar, and friend Joe Cornish all provided their personal collection to make it look more massive.
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Scenic Route
To get to and from the small town where the movie was filmed (which happens to be Edgar Wright’s hometown of Wells, Sommerset, UK) it was a two-hour drive for Pegg and Frost. When they realized how they were wasting four hours of their day due to the commute, they opted to instead just spend the night in their trailers.
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[H/T YouTube, Movieclips]
Running Gag
Hot Fuzz is the second film in the Cornettoย Trilogy, Wright’s films that incorporate the popular ice cream treat, with the other two being Shaun of the Dead and The World’s End. Another similarity all the films have is they star Pegg and Frost and each film features a scene where a character hops over or crashes through a fence.
[H/T YouTube, Movieclips]
Happy James Bond
Despite having starred in a plethora of films, including starring as James Bond, Timothy Dalton claims that a shootout between his character and Simon Pegg’s was the most fun he had ever had on a film.
[H/T YouTube, Movieclips]
Thorough Research
While writing the film, Pegg and Wright consulted a book written by Roger Ebert in which the critic listed all of the most cliche elements that were repeated ad nauseamย in action films. While most other filmmakers would try to avoid all of these cliches, Peggย and Wright made sure to include as many of them as possible.
[H/T YouTube, Movieclips]
