The movie loved Edgar Wright called “endlessly smart”
Throughout the 20th century, Hollywood was dominated by American cinema, but as the new millennium neared, British movies began to stake their claim. Filmmakers like Richard Curtis, Danny Boyle, Christopher Nolan and Sam Mendes changed the way British cinema was considered in the contemporary industry, but arguably, no one made a bigger impact than the frenetic creative Edgar Wright.
Rising to fame at the turn of the 2000s, Wright released the seminal TV series Spaced with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost after having directed countless episodes for minor programmes. Fizzing with modern cinematic zest, the success of Wright’s series allowed him to make the beloved 2004 horror comedy Shaun of the Dead, a satire of the classic zombie flick that popularised his snappy British wit across the world.
Starring his regular collaborators Pegg and Frost, the film told the story of two long-term friends who are forced to deal with a zombie apocalypse. So popular was the movie and its frenetic visual style that Wright became a significant creative in British cinema, going on to make Hot Fuzz in 2007 before breaking into Hollywood with the adaptation of the comic book Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
His style, which is characterised by second-perfect editing, ingenious camera trickery and well-constructed sight gags, became synonymous with the ever-modernising world of cinema, inspiring countless burgeoning filmmakers eager to copy his form.
A student of cinema himself, Wright is never afraid to voice his opinion on the state of modern movies, taking the time out back in 2019 to discuss his love for Rian Johnson’s Knives Out.
Speaking in an interview with Variety, he stated: “It’s a pleasure to write this particular piece about Rian Johnson as over the last 10 years or so, he’s become one of my best friends in Hollywood…But here’s the thing. Not only do I genuinely love this film, but it’s exactly the type of movie that Hollywood needs and audiences are crying out for. Knives Out is superb entertainment that proves you can please a crowd without ever talking down to them”.
Starring Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, and Ana de Armas, the murder mystery flick tells the story of a detective investigating the death of an old patriarch of a venomous family. Released shortly after Johnson’s critically tumultuous Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, the 2019 flick received rave reviews, even being given an Oscar nomination for ‘Best Original Screenplay’.
Speaking further about the movie, Wright added: “Knives Out is superb entertainment that proves you can please a crowd without ever talking down to them. It’s endlessly smart, fiendishly plotted, and populated with a cast clearly loving every acid-soaked line flung their way…an entertainment for grown-ups that nods to classic studio thrillers but with an invigorating 21st-century overhaul. Rian is making the brainy, big screen crowd pleasers we truly deserve”.
Take a look at the trailer for Knives Out, the film which Wright loves and adores, below.
