Forgive me if I missed anything from this panel, it was my first chance to seriously geek out. Some people have Batman, some people have Spider-Man, I have Simon Pegg. He was joined on stage by series director Edgar Wright and co-lead, Jessica Hynes. The crammed convention room seemed to be as hyped as me and when the host cued up a special STAR WARS themed highlight clip (in honor of Star Wars day at the Con) the room had a minor explosion.
The reason for having a panel about a seven year old television show was it’s long waited arrival to North American DVD shelves. The show was basically only available to us through online downloads and bootlegs for years. The trio was supportive of the life on the web. They said they were just glad people were getting a chance to see the show. However, now that it’s in our stores they would like to stop. So stop it. I personally bought a copy four years ago at the Motor City Comic Con and have worn it out since. A planned American version that has fallen apart (with help from Simon and Jessica) kind of forced BBC America to finally meet demands.
The DVD hosts an impressive collection of new material which includes episode commentary from Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Diablo Cody, Matt Stone, and Patton Oswald. They recorded all the tracks in two days including doing nine in one session with Kevin Smith literally rolling out of bed just before. All were glad to do it and Wright touched on the point of how cool it was to have Tarantino commentary during the scene they modeled after PULP FICTION.
– In the beginning, the show’s main executive producer had no idea what the show was about. She loved it. They touched on how they could film an entire episode about doing ecstasy and not have one higher-up know what the episode was about yet put it to air.
– Wright was pretty vocal about the the antics of Ricky Gervais, calling ‘Extras’ a tirade against ‘Little Britain’.
– All the characters had story arcs for a third season but it just wasn’t meant to be. When asked if they’d ever bring it back Simon simply answered “I’m so old.” They wouldn’t want to tamper with it’s legacy by coming back and making their own version of THE PHANTOM MENACE. CGI backgrounds and unfunny comedy characters included.
– When asked if there was ever any references that were turned down in pre-production, Daisy told us about a GOONIES scene she wrote that got cut. Still pissed after all these years she was happy to get it off her chest.
– Edgar’s inspiration to get into film was in 1987, the year he saw RAISING ARIZONA and EVIL DEAD 2.
– Jessica still goes to the pub from the show every week and Simon lives less than ten minutes away from the flat.
– ANT-MAN is being written right now but Edgar couldn’t really go into any details. As for the third installment of the “Blood and Ice-Cream Trilogy” (which already includes SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ), Simon says it’s two or three projects away and that it’s definitely happening.
– Edgar and Simon are both big ‘Dr. Who’ fans. Simon has already guest starred on the show and would love to do it again.