Tonight marks the end of a very long wait. It was way back in 2004 that Edgar Wright exclusively revealed to Empire that the follow-up to the mighty Shaun Of The Dead would be a UK-based action comedy: “There's a couple of working titles”, he said at the time, “we're deciding between whether it's going to be** Raging Fuzz** or Hot Fuzz. But it may be neither of these”. As we all know, the latter eventually won the fight, and now, some two and a half years later, London’s Leicester Square is playing host to the world premiere of Messer’s Pegg, Frost and Wright’s big-screen/small-village action spectacular. With the arrivals due any minute, the blue carpet unfurls, the fans begin to assemble, and as Empire munches on one last jaffa cake, the heavens open. Hot Fuzz has arrived. Groovy.
“Can I just say, I think Empire Online must be fucking sick of us!”, laughs Wright as he spoke exclusively to – yes, you guessed it – Empire Online. “Making this film does feel like such a long process from the writing through to the shooting – it’s just nice for it to be finally finished. It feels good”. With firearms, car-chases and a swan all thrown into the Hot Fuzz pie, the director was keen to point out some favourite moments: “It’s such fun doing things that are right there in front of you – explosions, splatter effects, stunts – you watch these things and go ‘wow, that looks cool’. But unfortunately for Edgar, it was only the cast that got to play with the weaponry: “Do you know what? I never even fired one single gun during the whole making of the film. I never had time. In fact, the only time I got to hold a gun and jump through the air was during the photoshoot for Empire!”
Just in case you’ve been in cryogenic hibernation for the past six months and are yet to hear of the delights of Hot Fuzz, here’s a quick reminder. Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is the perfect London police officer – dedicated, focused and boasting a record as spotless as his shiny black boots. Reassigned from his beloved Metropolitan Police force (sorry, service) to the sleepy West Country town of Sandford, Angel’s car-chasing, gun-toting days in the city seem long gone. Compounded by the bumbling behaviour of new partner and cop-movie-obsessed-PC Danny Butterman (Frost), Angel struggles to adapt to Sandford’s quiet streets and small issues. That is, until an unexpected chain of events force the pair to take some serious action…
And here they are – right on cue. As Mr. Wright scuttles off into the theatre, the now very bearded Nick Frost and Simon Pegg arrive: “Well, we were in a people carrier”, explained Frost, “we got out and then there were thousands of screaming people there. To be honest, it made me want to do a big wee…and that feeling still remains”. “We’re doing another big premiere in Wells on Thursday and we hope to invite a lot of the local force”, revealed Pegg: “Someone from the Police said – and this made me laugh – Hot Fuzz was the most realistic cop film they’d ever seen. Now considering the film ends up in a Miami Vice-style shootout, you do have to wonder what sort of service they’re working with”. And they haven’t just been talking to the Police. Experiencing the real thing was essential: “When we did some training with the Police in Somerset, we were in the car when there was an emergency and the officer hand to respond. So Edgar and I just held on tight. It was very, very exciting going down a country lane at 80mph”. Belted up in the back of a Police car is one thing, but trying these sorts of things on set is an entirely different kettle of swan: “You do what you can”, said Pegg somewhat disappointedly, “but there’s actually a clause in my contract that says I’m not allowed to argue with the stunt coordinator”.
As half The League Of Gentlemen, both Mighty Booshs and one Dr. Lucien Sanchez from Garth Marenghi head for the auditorium, it’s left to Nick Frost to ponder the future of Hot Fuzz: “Well, look. We worked our bottoms off. The script is amazing, the cast are great and we’ll just have to see what happens”.