Even more than two decades after it was first released,\u00a0Shaun of Dead<\/i> is arguably the greatest romantic comedy \u2014 that also includes scenes of graphic disembowelment \u2014 of all-time. But while it may be widely beloved today, not everyone totally understood the project back when director and co-writer Edgar Wright was first pitching it.<\/span><\/p>\n Wright recently guested on the\u00a0Smartless<\/i> podcast, and it wasn\u2019t long before co-host Will Arnett heaped praise upon the zombie-comedy. The\u00a0Arrested Development<\/i> star explained that he showed\u00a0Shaun of the Dead<\/i> to his kids when they were \u201cquite young,\u201d telling them, \u201cThis is my idea of a perfect movie.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Wright later explained that it was difficult to secure funding for the movie, and even to cast it, because the screenplay, co-written by star Simon Pegg, didn\u2019t totally convey what the finished product would look and feel like.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cShaun of the Dead\u00a0<\/i>was a film where \u2014 to just read the script, without knowing how I would direct it, or how Simon and Nick would perform it, I think some actors passed on it because they were just sort of baffled by it,\u201d Wright admitted. \u201cOr studios passed on it, because they couldn\u2019t quite see it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to Wright\u2019s unique directing style, the finished movie was largely defined by Pegg and Nick Frost\u2019s grounded performances. \u201cYou had to see Simon and Nick doing it,\u201d Wright continued. \u201cAnd you had to see the tone of their naturalistic comedy performance, because you could take exactly the same screenplay and make it really broad and silly and it would be an entirely different movie.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Thankfully, the pair could point to their cult TV show as an example of what they were going for. \u201cIt helped that we had\u00a0Spaced<\/i>, and we could show people Spaced<\/i> and say \u2018Hey this is kind of what it\u2019s going to be like,\u2019\u201d Wright noted. \u201cBut it wasn\u2019t an easy sell for everybody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Back when the movie first came out,\u00a0<\/span>Wright similarly recounted<\/span><\/a> how some studios \u201cread the script and passed because they weren\u2019t sure what the tone was and said it wasn\u2019t all that scary and not that funny. They didn\u2019t get it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Presumably they didn\u2019t try to sell any executives on the whole\u00a0<\/span>\u201ctrilogy of films predicated on ice cream\u201d<\/span><\/a> idea.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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