Edgar Wright technically made his directorial debut with a western spoof entitled A Fistful of Fingers, but that movie didn’t get shown in a lot of theaters and it’s currently unavailable, so many fans consider the director’s first feature to be Shaun of the Dead, the zombie-infested romantic comedy that kicked off the fabled Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy.
Many of the hallmarks of Wright’s now-iconic filmmaking style first appeared in Shaun of the Dead. Actually, they first appeared in Spaced, but they were given their big screen debut in Shaun of the Dead. The zom-rom-com established Wright as a unique new voice in filmmaking.
Affectionate Genre Homage
Edgar Wright has always been reluctant to call Shaun of the Dead — or any of his movies — a “spoof,” because that would imply that he’s making fun of his chosen genre. Shaun grew out of a love for zombie movies, so the homage is affectionate.
There are plenty of laughs in Shaun of the Dead, but it also delivers the goods as a zombie movie, following George A. Romero’s familiar structure and providing a couple of genuine scares along the way.
Kinetic Editing
Wright is famed for his kinetic editing style. He can make a thrilling cinematic sequence out of something as boring as buttering a piece of toast or stirring a cup of tea with choppy cuts through a bunch of extreme closeups.
This style was established in Shaun of the Dead, in which quick cuts and deafening sound design are used to make Shaun’s morning routine a lot more exciting than it really is.
Carefully Chosen Soundtrack
Like many great filmmakers, Edgar Wright’s films are defined by their carefully chosen soundtracks, which play on their own like a playlist handpicked by the filmmaker and pair perfectly with every scene in the movie.
In addition to remixing Goblin’s Dawn of the Dead score, Shaun features songs by Queen, I Monster, and the Specials. Hot Fuzz had the Kinks, T. Rex, Sweet, Supergrass, and Adam Ant; The World’s End had Primal Scream, Happy Mondays, and the Doors; and Baby Driver, of course, made its soundtrack a central plot point.
Syncing Action To Music
When a zombified version of John the barman emerges in the Winchester, Shaun, Liz, and Ed take up pool cues and start hitting him. Meanwhile, the randomized jukebox starts playing Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
Hilariously, the zombie beatdown syncs up with the rhythm of the Queen classic. Wright has continued to sync action to music, especially in Baby Driver.
Recontextualizing Lines Of Dialogue
Edgar Wright’s screenplays, particularly those co-written with Simon Pegg, introduce recurring lines of dialogue whose meaning changes throughout the movie. When Shaun first bumps into Yvonne and they say they’re “surviving,” they mean it in the metaphorical sense; later, after the zombie apocalypse has claimed their friends’ lives, “surviving” takes on a literal meaning.
Other examples from Shaun include “You’ve got red on you,” while examples from the rest of Wright’s filmography include “Nobody tells me nothin’,” and “WTF, Gary!”
Celebrity Cameos
Wright often features cameo appearances by celebrities in his movies. In addition to the handful of Spaced cast who pop up in Shaun of the Dead, the movie features cameos by Trisha Goddard and Chris Martin as themselves, as well as a long line of Easter eggs as Yvonne’s friends.
Since then, Wright has featured cameos by Peter Jackson, Cate Blanchett, and Steve Coogan in Hot Fuzz and Jon Spencer, Killer Mike, and Flea in Baby Driver.
Subtle Foreshadowing
Edgar Wright’s movies are rife with foreshadowing. This began with Shaun of the Dead’s masterfully constructed screenplay. In an early scene, Ed unintentionally spells out the entire plot when he makes plans for the following day.
The director has continued to foreshadow all his movies, like “It’s just the one swan, actually” in Hot Fuzz and the pub names signifying each plot point in The World’s End.
Creative Scene Transitions
Edgar Wright uses creative transitions to keep the energy of his movies flowing from one scene to the next, like cutting on a person moving through the frame or cutting from one door closing to another door opening.
These transitions made their debut in Shaun of the Dead, but would later appear in every subsequent Wright movie.
Steadicam Tracking Shots
One of the most iconic moments in Shaun of the Dead is a Steadicam tracking shot that copies an earlier Steadicam tracking shot of Shaun walking to the shop, but with the added context of a post-apocalyptic environment. A hungover Shaun is, of course, oblivious to the undead.
Wright has continued to use Steadicam tracking shots throughout his career, from Nicholas’ first jog through Sandford in Hot Fuzz to Baby’s perfectly choreographed coffee run in Baby Driver.
Simon Pegg & Nick Frost
Just as John Ford was closely associated with John Wayne and Martin Scorsese is closely associated with Robert De Niro, Edgar Wright is closely associated with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, thanks to their work on Spaced and the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy.
Plenty of other familiar faces from Shaun of the Dead would continue to pop up in Wright’s future films: Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman, Julia Deakin, Rafe Spall — the list goes on.
