Summary
- Simon Pegg's character jumps over a fence in each movie but often fails hilariously.
- The protagonist in each film starts as a flawed individual but learns to become a better person through their journey.
- A Cornetto ice cream appears in each movie as an Easter egg, representing different themes and genres.
Although the movies that form Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy don’t follow a continuity, they are connected by a couple of fun things that happen in all movies. After his film debut in 1995, Edgar Wright returned to directing in 2004 with the horror comedy Shaun of the Dead. This movie marked the beginning of various collaborations between Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost, as well as the beginning of a trilogy that would (unofficially) become known as the Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy or, simply, the Cornetto Trilogy, as each movie covers a different genre that represents a Cornetto flavor.
Shaun of the Dead follows Shaun (Pegg) and Ed (Frost) as they lead their friends to safety during the zombie apocalypse. Hot Fuzz reunited Wright, Frost, and Pegg in a buddy cup adventure where police constable Nicholas Angel (Pegg) and Danny Butterman (Frost) teamed up to solve a mystery. The World’s End is the closing chapter of the trilogy, and it centers on Gary King (Pegg), who returns to his hometown and convinces his friends, among them Andy (Frost), to reattempt a pub crawl they failed two decades earlier. As mentioned above, there are details in each movie that connect them, and here are nine tropes that happen in all three movies in the Cornetto Trilogy.
9 Simon Pegg Jumps Over A Fence
Throughout the Cornetto Trilogy, there’s a running gag of Simon Pegg jumping over a fence, but he didn’t always succeed at it. In Shaun of the Dead, Shaun suggests they take a shortcut and jump the fences, but he’s very clumsy and falls on his side when the fence collapses. In Hot Fuzz, Nicholas is chasing a shoplifter and tells Danny they are taking a shortcut through the gardens. Nicholas successfully jumps the fences, and Danny, sure that he can do it too, ends up running straight through it. In The World’s End, Gary is forced to jump a fence when he’s being chased by Blanks, but he falls flat on his face.
8 The Hero Learns To Be A Better Person
The Cornetto Trilogy is all about comedy, but it makes space to address serious issues and for some character development for its protagonists. In each movie, the hero starts as not exactly the best or most enjoyable person to be around, but after going through a whole journey, he ends up learning to be a better person. Shaun is a young man with no direction in his life that doesn’t get along with his stepfather and his relationship with his girlfriend isn’t going well either, but he reconciles with his stepfather before he becomes a zombie and learns to value his girlfriend.
Hot Fuzz’s Nicholas Angel is a high-achieving police officer who has to confront his ego when sent to a small town, and his friendship with Danny teaches him to loosen up and enjoy life. The World’s End’s Gary King is an alcoholic struggling to let go of the past, but in order to get better, he opens up to Andy about his struggles. At the end of The World’s End, Gary has become sober, and leads the Blank versions of his younger friends into a pub – recovery, after all, takes time and isn’t linear, but Gary definitely isn’t the same person he was at the beginning of the movie.
7 A Cornetto Appears
The name of the Cornetto Trilogy comes from a very specific Easter egg in each movie: a Cornetto ice cream, with each movie featuring a different flavor. Shaun of the Dead sees Ed eating a strawberry Cornetto, with the colors of this flavor representing blood and zombies; Hot Fuzz features Danny and Nicholas eating a Classico Cornetto, with its blue color representing the police; and The World’s End has its Cornetto moment at the end, when a mint Cornetto wrapper flies by in front of Andy, and this flavor’s green color represents sci-fi and aliens.
6 Simon Pegg & Nick Frost's Characters Are Best Friends
The chemistry between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost is one of the strengths of the Cornetto trilogy, and it’s thanks to them being friends in real life. Their friendship was translated to the big screen in every movie in the Cornetto Trilogy, with each one also representing a different type of friendship. In Shaun of the Dead, Shaun and Ed are roommates, with Ed being the slacker of the house and Shaun covering for him and defending him when their other flatmate, Pete, complains about Ed’s presence. In Hot Fuzz, Nicholas eventually warms to Danny and they become best friends after working together and getting to know each other.
The World End has the most complex Pegg/Frost friendship of the trilogy. Gary King refused to grow up while Andy (and the rest) moved on with their lives, and it took a fight (both physical and verbal) for them to open up to each other about what had happened to them. Gary and Andy cared for each other, but they had a lot of unresolved stuff to address together.
5 A Character Always Spoils The Whole Plot
The Cornetto Trilogy has some truly brilliant moments of foreshadowing, and they are so well written and executed that the viewers don’t notice how the whole plot is spoiled in the first act until they rewatch the movies. In Shaun of the Dead, Ed’s plan spoils the whole movie: “we’ll have a Bloody Mary” happens when they kill a zombie named Mary, “a bite at the King’s Head” is Shaun’s stepdad getting bitten in the head, “couple at the Little Princess” is when they pick up Liz and her friends who are a couple, “then stagger back here and bang, back at the bar for shots” is when they act like zombies to get through them and to the pub, where they shoot zombies.
In Hot Fuzz, the plot is revealed when the Chief Inspector transfers Nicholas to a small town, with Nicholas saying “With all due respect, sir, you can’t just make people disappear”, to which the Chief replies “yes, I can. I’m the Chief Inspector”, and that’s exactly what happens in the town Nicholas is transferred to. In The World’s End, Gary’s retelling of their first attempt to complete “The Golden Mile” pub crawl is exactly how the second attempt goes, and the name of each pub also foreshadows what happens when they get to each one.
4 Edgar Wright Cameos In Every Cornetto Trilogy Movie
Director Edgar Wright had a sneaky cameo in every move in the Cornetto Trilogy. In Shaun of the Dead, Wright appears in uncredited cameos as Rabid Monkeys Newsreader, Prat-falling Zombie, the voice from the Italian restaurant, and Noel’s friend on the phone. In Hot Fuzz, Wright has voice cameos as a shelf stacker and Dave, and in The World’s End, he also has a voice cameo, this time as a construction worker.
3 Shared Secondary Actors In The Cornetto Trilogy
In addition to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost starring in each movie in the Cornetto Trilogy, other secondary actors also appear in all movies. Julia Deakin played Yvonne’s mother in Shaun of the Dead, Mary Porter in Hot Fuzz, and B&B Landlady in The World’s End; Martin Freeman played Declan, a Sergeant from the Metropolitan Police in London, and Oliver Chamberlain; Bill Nighy played Philip, the Chief Inspector from the Met, and voiced The Network; Rafe Spall played Noel, DC Andy Cartwright, and a “young man”; Patricia Franklin played Spinster, Annette Roper, and the Upstairs Beehive Lady; and Garth Jennings played a “Fun Dead” zombie, a crack addict, and a man in the pub.
2 One Of The Main Character Is Forced To Grow Up
In addition to the hero of each movie learning to become a better person, one of the main characters in each Cornetto Trilogy movie is forced to grow up. In Shaun of the Dead, Shaun has to grow up after understanding that he had been wasting his life doing nothing along with Ed; Danny is too childish at the beginning of Hot Fuzz, but working with Nicholas helps him mature; and Gary King is forced to confront his inner demons in order to finally move on with his life and grow up. Gary King’s case stands out as it addresses serious issues like addiction, trauma, and mental health, and The World’s End makes sure to show that the path to recovery isn’t linear and takes time.
1 All Cornetto Trilogy Movies Include A Fight Down The Pub
Although the Cornetto Trilogy movies cover different genres, they all made sure to include a fight set in a pub. In Shaun of the Dead, Shaun, Ed, and Liz fight zombies at the Winchester pub while Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” plays; Hot Fuzz has Danny and Nicholas leading a shootout at a pub; and The World’s End sees Gary, Andy, and their surviving friends fighting Blanks at the pub.
