The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview
July 21, 2020/ 94 min/ Sean Fennessey
Sean Fennessey marks 10 years of 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World' with two segments: a fan roundtable with Jason Concepcion and Van Lathan on why the movie rules, then a long talk with director Edgar Wright about making it.
7 films across 2 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Why ‘Scott Pilgrim’ Ruleswith Jason Concepcion and Van Lathan
Concepcion and Lathan, both self-described superfans, on why it stuck: a mix of comic book, video game and garage-rock musical that drops you in without explaining its rules, with Scott written as both the hero and the villain. They break down the Lucas Lee and Todd-the-vegan fights, the 'bread makes you fat' scene, and argue a sequel would have to de-center Scott and follow Knives Chau and Ramona.
In conversation
Wright on the 100-day shoot (his longest), six fight scenes, and Saturday refreshers to keep the choreography in the young cast's heads. Beck cut the Sex Bob-omb demos in his garage in about 72 hours, mostly single takes, and Wright kept them as-is. He recalls a Universal exec asking at the green-light whether the film would work without the effects and fights, and an abandoned finale where Gideon turned into a giant Toho-style mecha. He thinks the film wouldn't get made by a major studio today.
A 2004 Focus Features screening is where producers Jared LeBoff and Adam Siegel first pitched him Scott Pilgrim, describing it as 'John Hughes meets Kill Bill.'
Scott Pilgrim cost four times what Hot Fuzz did, which made Universal nervous about the budget.
Wright says the music-synced staging he perfected here starts with Scott Pilgrim.
He left the project before shooting. That it still turned out a solid Marvel movie tells him how much of the process now runs like a factory, needing minimal input from the director.
His next film, a horror, which the 2020 shutdown bumped from that September to the following year.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Comic-book movies, by comparison WatchmenIron ManDeadpoolThe Lego MovieSpider-Man: Into the Spider-VerseSpider-Man: HomecomingBright
Martial-arts and action touchstones The MatrixKill Bill: Vol. 1Drunken Master IIFive Deadly VenomsMaster of the Flying GuillotineOne-Armed BoxerFive Fingers of Death
Edgar's 'last great thing' — Max Ophüls films he found in quarantine The Earrings of Madame de...Letter from an Unknown WomanLa RondeLe Plaisir
In passing Phantom of the ParadiseThe GraduateThe GooniesMarie AntoinetteFantastic FourFunny PeopleBlade RunnerThe Thing
Named in a trailer for The Ringer's 'The Connect' Office SpaceScarfaceWhiplashThe Devil Wears PradaContactInterstellarJuiceLady Bird
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Game of ThronesGLOWSuccessionParks and RecreationSpaced
Podcasts / ads The Cam ChroniclesThe ConnectBinge ModeThe Wire Way Down in the HoleHigher Learning