Shaun Of The Dead Interactive And Annotated Script Now Available For Your Perusal
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We are just a few weeks away from the release of The World’s End, the third and final film in the Three Flavours Cornetto (Blood and Ice Cream) trilogy, and director Edgar Wright and star Simon Pegg are taking a look back at the trilogy as a whole. The three films don’t necessarily follow a narrative line, but rather a thematic one working in three separate genres. The latest in the series is steeped in science fiction, while the previous film, Hot Fuzz, takes its cues from action and buddy cop films, and the first, Shaun of the Dead, sits squarely in the horror family.
Released in 2004, Shaun of the Dead has risen to cult classic status, and is a post-modern look at genre filmmaking. Recently, Wright released an interactive and annotated version of the screenplay. The script, written by Wright and Pegg, looks at the entire film, but also adds bonus content such as behind-the-scenes photos and videos, clips from the actual movie, and storyboards of key scenes.
This is a must for any fan of Shaun of the Dead, or anyone who is looking to see how to properly structure a screenplay. While most people take away the blood, gore, and comedy from the horror film, Shaun is one of the best scripts of the 2000s. Wright and Pegg crafted an airtight script that wastes little to no time. Everything introduced in the film pays off by the end. This is a great opportunity to see how the film works on the page before the filmmakers took it to the screen.
Wright included Shaun of the Dead’s original script cover, which has the original tagline: “Get Milk… Ring Mum… Avoid Zombies.” The cover also features a nice pencil drawing of Shaun (Pegg). I’m curious to see if Wright will release similar versions of the screenplays for either of the other films to accompany this one. Of course, this release is to promote The World’s End, and the Three Flavours trilogy as a whole.
The first reference to Cornetto, a preferred brand of ice cream, in Shaun of the Dead happens on Page 69. Shaun buys Ed a strawberry flavored Cornetto ice cream cone as a hangover cure. The strawberry red of the ice cream represents the blood and gore of the horror genre, and a visual theme of the film. If you look closely, there is red in almost every piece of the film (outside of the actual blood and gore).
The World’s End hits theaters everywhere on August 23rd. The player below is interactive and it’s recommended that you put it in full screen before reading the screenplay. Also there’s a handy PDF copy available for download to read on an iPad or other tablet devices.
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