Simon Pegg has opened up about the incredible legacy that Shaun of the Dead has left, and why he would be ‘incensed’ by a possible reboot.
The iconic horror comedy, also starring Bill Nighy, Nick Frost and Lucy Davis, was released in 2004, with Edgar Wright serving as director.
The cult classic followed friends Shaun (Simon) and Ed (Nick) as they attempt to survive a zombie apocalypse in London by hiding out in their local pub.
It has been 20 years since it first hit the big screen, but the 54-year-old – who also co-wrote the flick – is hoping that it is never revived.
Speaking in a new interview, the Boys actor laughingly told the Hollywood Reporter: ‘I mean, Universal owns it. If they choose to reboot it, then they can if they want I guess. Although Edgar and I would be incensed.’
‘Shaun of the Dead is incredibly personal. There’s so much of us in that film,’ he continued. ‘There’s so much of our own heart and soul in that film. If someone was to reboot it, it would be a cynical and exploitative exercise. I would hope that people are in love with our Shaun enough to resist a reboot.’
Simon is also not that keen on Shaun of the Dead getting a possible sequel at some point down the line, vowing that there isn’t really a story to tell.
‘I don’t think so,’ he said of a follow-up. ‘I’m a big fan of sequels. Some of my favorite films are sequels: Empire Strikes Back, Aliens. I’m in a couple of film franchises which repeat and reboot, and it’s not that I decry sequels in any way, but I think some stories end. Some stories have a beginning, a middle and an end.
‘If you were to see Shaun again, if the zombies came back, there’s just not a story to tell it. We’d have to reset everything that we created in Shaun of the Dead, the journey that Shaun goes on and completes.
‘He becomes a new person, but we’d have to then dismantle that in order to give him a new arc. Why? The best thing we can do with cinema is to challenge people and get them to see things they haven’t seen before and experience new things. Entertainment is the most overrated function of art.’
Simon and Edgar were inspired by a string of acclaimed films before making their movie, including George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead trilogy and Night of the Living Dead.
Shaun of the Dead was released in April, 2004, and became an instant hit, with fans still quoting some lines today.
In a recent chat with NME, Simon shared how ‘nice’ it is that people are still watching and discussing the movie decades later.
‘It’s kind of never really gone away since we made it…,’ he said.
‘Whenever there was some crisis, that meme of me with the beer popped up. But it’s nice to get to 20 years and realize that people are still talking about it.
‘We always said that we weren’t parodying zombie movies with Shaun of the Dead; we were parodying romantic comedies – if we were parodying anything.
‘Shaun of the Dead is a zombie movie; there’s no satirical edge there aimed at the genre itself. We took it very, very seriously and we abided by the rules laid down by George Romero and we were extremely careful not to take the piss out if it.
What we were taking the p**s out of was – and I’m sure Richard won’t mind us saying this – the Richard Curtis-style British rom-com.’
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