Nick FrostShaun Of The DeadSimon PeggEdgar WrightGeorge A. RomeroHot FuzzBad BoysPoint Break
SuperbadGreg MottolaPaulSteven SpielbergSeth RogenPaulE.T.AliensBack To The Future
PaulGene RoddenberryPaul six sci-fi movie recommendationsPaul
Complex: Paul is the first movie that you and Simon Pegg have starred in together without your pal Edgar Wright sitting in the director’s chair. Do you and Simon feel like you have to prove yourselves a bit on this one?
Nick FrostScott Pilgrim vs. The WorldLaughs.
Did you guys start writing Paul after Hot Fuzz, or is this a project that’s been in your heads for a really long time?
Nick FrostShaun Of The DeadLaughs.Shaun Of The Dead
Scott PilgrimPaul
Paul is actually your first screenwriting credit—Simon and Edgar wrote both Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. Did that just naturally happen?
Nick FrostShaun Of The DeadHot Fuzz
couldShaun Of The DeadHot FuzzClose Encounters Of The Third KindE.T.Star WarsIndiana Jones
Was the writing process quick?
Nick FrostneededRun Fatboy RunLaughs.
Are the characters you and Simon play close to how you guys are in real life? Meaning, are you guys huge nerds who wear Star Wars shirts?
Nick FrostShaun Of The DeadSimon PeggEdgar WrightGeorge A. RomeroHot FuzzBad BoysPoint Break
SuperbadGreg MottolaPaulSteven SpielbergSeth RogenPaulE.T.AliensBack To The Future
PaulGene RoddenberryPaul six sci-fi movie recommendationsPaul
Complex: Paul is the first movie that you and Simon Pegg have starred in together without your pal Edgar Wright sitting in the director’s chair. Do you and Simon feel like you have to prove yourselves a bit on this one?
Nick FrostScott Pilgrim vs. The WorldLaughs.
Did you guys start writing Paul after Hot Fuzz, or is this a project that’s been in your heads for a really long time?
Nick FrostShaun Of The DeadLaughs.Shaun Of The Dead
Scott PilgrimPaul
Paul is actually your first screenwriting credit—Simon and Edgar wrote both Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. Did that just naturally happen?
Nick FrostShaun Of The DeadHot Fuzz
couldShaun Of The DeadHot FuzzClose Encounters Of The Third KindE.T.Star WarsIndiana Jones
Was the writing process quick?
Nick FrostneededRun Fatboy RunLaughs.
Are the characters you and Simon play close to how you guys are in real life? Meaning, are you guys huge nerds who wear Star Wars shirts?
Nick FrostLaughs.arePaul
Attack Of The ClonesNew HopeLaughs.Laughs.Oh, I love you. I love you for saying that. Look at me—I could be this guy in 30 years
Nothing wrong with that—we’re all huge geeks around here. When you guys were writing this script, did you have anyone in mind for Paul’s voice?
Nick Frostin an exaggerated Rip Torn voiceLaughs.
It also helps that the effects used to create Paul are pretty damn effective. Often with computer-generated characters in live action movies, they look cheesy and not at all realistic, but Paul looks really good.
Nick Frosthas to
Little Miss Sunshine
The idea behind Paul is that he’s been on Earth for over 60 years and has secretly guided both pop culture and the government’s philosophies toward aliens. That set-up allowed you and Simon to write a scene in which Paul basically gives Steven Spielberg the idea for E.T. over the phone. How fun was it to get to tweak the history behind one of your all-time favorite movies?
Nick FrostTintinPaulTintinLaughs.
Check out Nick Frost’s 6 sci-fi movie recommendations after the jump.
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Nick Frost says: If you watch Paul, it’s obvious that, for me at least, Close Encounters is the one film I’d absolutely swear by. There are a bunch of films that I can watch again and again, but this is the one that, if I’m feeling a bit sick, or I’m not sleeping so good, that’s the one I’ll put on and just watch it over and over again.
Unlike a lot of people who are massive Close Encounters fans, I don’t really have a distinction between what version I like. I like different things about different versions. So I’m not a purist in that sense, where I’ll only watch the original and that’s that. I just love it any which way.
Close Encounters was the first sci-fi film—I think apart from Star Wars—I saw for the first time and immediately knew it was a complete game-changer for me. I thought, “Wow, this is fucking real! This is happening right now somewhere.”
The Thing
THE THING (1982)
Director: John Carpenter
Nick Frost says: I definitely prefer the John Carpenter version, though the original black-and-white one is pretty good, too. But Carpenter’s version just starts out so damn great, and it keeps getting better and better and more insane as it progresses.
And there’s no happy ending, which I think is so fabulous. I love it. A movie as dark and graphic as that one doesn’t need a happy ending at all, and Carpenter didn’t even hint at anything positive with its ending.
The Day Of The Triffids
THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (1981, TV series)
Director: Ken Hannam
Nick Frost says: It’s not a film, but back in early ’80s there was a series on television called The Day Of The Triffids, which was based on a John Wyndham book, which is my favorite book. It’s definitely sci-fi, and I’m a big fan of end-of-the-world things, and that one just ticks all the boxes for me. It’s fabulous. It’s a great book.
It’s weird now, though, watching it, because I remember watching it as a kid and I was just terrified. It’s about these big plants that blind you and then slowly eat you. They did this amazing set-up where, essentially, if humans were blind, plants would be higher up on the food chain, and that is weirdly what happens. The plants would communicate by rattling these sticks and making a noise that sounded like a sprinkler. I remember being a kid and thinking, This is the most terrifying thing in the world.
It’s funny when I watch it now, because it doesn’t scare me at all. [Laughs.] But there’s still something in it. It’s still pretty clever. They actually made a big remake back in England, and it wasn’t bad—it was alright. But I think I was just bitter that I wasn’t asked to be in it. [Laughs.] I’d always say, “Oh, I’d love to remake The Day Of The Triffids,” and then there it was.
The Core
THE CORE (2003)
Director: Jon Amiel
Nick Frost says: I was quite interested to see the other day that NASA called it the “most inaccurate movie ever,” but The Core is a film you must see. That is a guilty pleasure if I’ve ever seen one. It’s a massive guilty pleasure, but it’s a lot of fun for all of the wrong reasons. It’s one of those films where I can’t tell whether it was made to be bad or that’s how it turned out. [Laughs.] I can’t tell the difference.
Sleeper
SLEEPER (1973)
Director: Woody Allen
Nick Frost says: Sleeper is a very cool film, and I consider it to be sci-fi. Despite being an amazing comedy, I think it’s a little look into potentially what our futures could look like, and that’s a great sci-fi kind of theme, isn’t it? They’ve got that great scene in there with the “Orgasmatron.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that was the forerunner to the Fleshlight—you know, that crazy little sex toy.
The Andromeda Strain
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN (1971)
Director: Robert Wise
Nick Frost says: I was back home in England recently and I had a chance to sit down and watch some TV. I managed to watch The Andromeda Strain again, which is fantastic! It’s just got the best sets and stuff, and it’s just so friggin’ bleak. At the end, they’ve got this kind of Cention computer that fires a laser beam through a man’s cheek, and that’s just amazing. It’s just a lot of fun to watch.
