by Ian Opaczewski
Edgar Wright was born April 18, 1974 in Poole, Dorset, England. As a child Wright would make short films on a Super 8 camera, one of which won a Comic Relief contest. Gaining him a Video 8 camera, which he used to create several other shorts. He focused many of his attention on creating films that were genre-based comedies such as his action-thriller parody Dead Right. It was inspired by the classic Dirty Harry series featuring Clint Eastwood.
Edgar Wright was born April 18, 1974 in Poole, Dorset, England. As a child Wright would make short films on a Super 8 camera, one of which won a Comic Relief contest. Gaining him a Video 8 camera, which he used to create several other shorts. He focused many of his attention on creating films that were genre-based comedies such as his action-thriller parody Dead Right. It was inspired by the classic Dirty Harry series featuring Clint Eastwood.
Wright took his comedy blend to television when he was asked to direct Spaced, a show about two friends who pretend to be a couple in London. The series starred Simon Pegg, a man that would later work closely with Wright on most of his future projects. For Spaced Wright decided to take a nontraditional approach when shooting the sitcom, instead he chose to use stark camera movements and various editing techniques to for a new style. After Spaced ended Wright was able to make a jump to the big screen with Shaun of the Dead.
Shaun of the Dead starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as two friends who wake up to their town overrun by zombies. Written by both Wright and Pegg the film had great success in the box office. It was the first installment of what Wright would call, “The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy.” Wright took this idea from Polish film director Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colos Trilogy. Hot Fuzz was the next film Wright created, which also starred Pegg and Frost, this time it blended his comedy style with the police action thriller genre. Pegg’s character is a London officer who is transferred to a small rural town. When he arrives things begin to go wrong and citizens start to show their true colors. The Cornetto Trilogy was capped off with The Worlds End, which told the story of a group of friends trying to finish a pub-crawl they started twenty years previously. Things get weird, however, when towns people start to turn into aliens.
After Wright finished his “Three Flavours Cornetto” Trilogy he became a well-recognized writer and director within the film community. He began to work on other projects with Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino. Wright worked as a screenwriter with Spielberg for his film The Adventures of Tintin and directed a faux trailer for Grindhouse series done by Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The trailer took many horror clichés and used them in a satirical way, much like many of Wright’s projects.
Wright also took on the popular comic book series Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, which he co-wrote and directed. He later helped write and was set to direct Marvel’s Antman but left the project due to creative differences. He is now working on his newest film called Baby Driver.
Wright has been nominated for and won several awards from the Empire Awards, BAFTA, Bram Stoker Awards and many others. Some of the awards he won include Best Director for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Empire Awards) and Best Screenplay for Shaun of the Dead (Bram Stoker Awards). Much is his success is attributed to Shaun of the Dead and its genius blend of George A. Romero’s zombie’s with the popular British romance of the time. A style that Wright has perfected within many of the projects he does.
Filmography (Director)
2013 The World's End
2010 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2007 Grindhouse (fake trailer segment "Don't")
2007 Hot Fuzz
2004 Fun Dead (Video short)
2004 Straight 8 (TV Movie)
2004 Funky Pete (Video short)
2004 The Man Who Would Be Shaun (Video short)
2004 Shaun of the Dead
1999-2001 Spaced (TV Series) (14 episodes)
1999 Sir Bernard's Stately Homes (TV Series) (6 episodes)
1999 Murder Most Horrid (TV Series) (1 episode)
1998 French and Saunders (TV Series) (film segment director - 1 episode)
1998 Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round (TV Series) (6 episodes)
1998 Is It Bill Bailey? (TV Series) (6 episodes)
1996 Asylum (TV Series) (6 episodes)
1996 Mash and Peas (TV Series) (9 episodes)
Works Cited
"About Me." Edgar Wright Here RSS. N.p., 13 Jan. 2009. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
"Edgar Wright." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
"Nick Frost, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright Talk MOTY and The World's End." British GQ. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
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