The Director's Chair Network

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[Music]
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Welcome one and all to the All the Right Moves, a limited series from the
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Director's Chair Podcast Network about the filmography of Edgar Wright. I'm your host, Trucker Andy, and with me
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today is the founder of the Director's Chair Network, Ryan Rebulk. And Ryan, thank you for being here today.
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Dude, an absolute pleasure to be on, and I just got to say, I'm so excited you're tackling this and uh being a part of the
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network. Thank you so much, Andy. Yeah, we were having a lot of fun talking about the films of Michael Man,
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specifically Collateral. Yeah. Over on uh your channel. and I offand
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made a comment that I wanted to talk about Edgar Wright and you were uh nice
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enough to allow me to do that. So, here we are. Well, and I appreciate that. In fact, if anyone's listening to this, this is my
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little plug here. You want to be like Andy and you think there's a director that you want to tackle and added to the network because that's what happened. It
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was a natural like, oh, I like Edward Edgar Wright. I want to do his films. I'm like, are you serious? And we talked offline. You were. So, if you're
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listening to this and there's a director you want to tackle and add to the network, please contact myself or Ry. We'd love to have you on. There is there
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is no limit to the directors that we'll cover. Yeah. And I I thought this was a perfect
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fit because the the catalog is not two. I was willing to commit to the amount of
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films that Edgar Wright has made and a lot of them are beloved to me. But this
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one, we have to start at the beginning. And I had never heard of this. And when
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I went to look at where to start, I found this and I went and watched it.
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And I have a lot of thoughts about it. I know you have watched it as well.
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Um, this is 1995's Fist Full of Fingers, which I, again, I
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had no idea this even existed. And I think maybe I know why it doesn't come up in a lot of conversation, but uh have
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you heard of this before I no talked about it? No, I I I thought Sha of the Dead was his
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first film. I like film proper. Maybe it is. If you want to argue this, you could say Fistful of Fingers might be like his
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lost long demo tape that's resurfaced after he's become a big- time director. But I yeah, I look forward to talking
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about it's an important demo tape, though. It's a it it is a one worth investigating.
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Exactly. This seems to be a a resume builder that this is what a lot
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of director the way that Ryan Reynolds made that little Deadpool short uh to
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convince studios that of what the movie would end up becoming. This is Edgar
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Wright's uh proof of concept or proof of knowledge to show case to producers or
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collaborators that he knows how to pace a film. He knows how to block a shot. He
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knows how to write and edit and all of these things. The only problem I feel
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like is that it is a an amate it's it's amateur hour basically from front to
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back is how and I had to keep telling myself watching this. It's like what are
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people looking at this and going this kid's got got gumption and and uh
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like promise that and what what am I seeing here on this screen that made
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somebody a producer decide to take a chance on Edgar Wright? Well, I don't know if I can answer that per se because
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now we're retroactively looking at it as someone who is a very accomplished director and has directed some of my
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favorite films of all time. Uh, of course, Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I mean, those are just his trilogy uh of
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films. What's it called? The Cornet, what's it called again? The the Cornetto trilogy. Yeah, that's right. It makes no sense
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other than he it's the same two actors, but I don't know how they exactly tie together. I'm not an Edgar Wright like
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nerd though. Shan the Dead when it came out it blew me away and I can't wait to hear people's thoughts on it when you
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cover it. But I'm excited to cover this early demo film per se like you. I was
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like what are we watching here? It's a YouTube link. I found the YouTube video cuz I when you said we're doing this
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film I thought is there a way I can rent this film? Can I Luckily somebody put it up on YouTube? I don't know if you had
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another place to find it. Like what how are you going to watch it? That I was concerned about that when we
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decided we were going to do this. I I started going to Amazon Prime and Netflix and it's unfindable, but luckily
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maybe a a fan is hosting it somewhere on YouTube and that's exactly how I
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can't buy it. Yeah. Nor should you. Okay. Well, you sounds like and I'm not
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trying to be like, oh, this is an amazing film. Okay. Take off take off how it I don't know how should I
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actually ended up enjoying it much more than I thought I did. 5 minutes in, I was like, what are we watching here? This does look like obviously what it
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looks like. It's a VHS tape. It's filmed in 1995, which was 30 years ago. But I
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have to say, I'm impressed with 20-year-old Edgar putting this together with his teenage friends. And I laughed
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out loud at parts. I'm not I truly thought some of the gags were quite I
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was almost jealous that a 20-year-old could come up with some very funny stuff. And granted, he's he's my age.
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He's a year older than me. So, we we come from the same school of film, comedy, MontiPython, Naked Gun. So, this
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guy is obviously a Montipython Naked Gun uh fan. You you nailed it. That that was one of
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the things that was in my notes as well. And just to back up just a little bit,
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if you're watching this episode one of this limited series, the the director's
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chair is more of a discussion. We we're approaching this with the uh presumption
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that you've gone to YouTube and watched this already. So, this isn't a a channel
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where we're going to explain the plot of Fingers to you, even though we will talk about specific things in the movie. So,
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if you're watching this now and you haven't watched it, just go find it for free on YouTube and then come back and
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you're going to have a better understanding of what we're talking about here. But it's very interesting to
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me that it's most fledgling directors I would say cut their teeth with lowbudget
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horror and that is not what right and a lot of these people that I
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feel like are sister or like spiritual successors or contemporaries of Edgar
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Wright do operate in in that genre. People like Robert Rodriguez I feel like
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is a onetoone comparison to maybe Edgar Wright's the way he cultivated his
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career and okay but well Robert Rodriguez made El
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mariachi and then and then that he I I read his
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autobiography and he subjected himself to medical trials
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where he was sequestered to in a room and taking experimental
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drugs and being tested whether he was placebo or not while he was sequestered
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doing these medical trials to get money to make his movie. That's how he wrote
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El Mariachi. Oh wow. Is the story of Robert Rodriguez who and
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unfortunately I feel like Robert Rodriguez went on to make a slew of shitty shitty movies. How dare you? Spy
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Kids 2. Spy Kids 3 was Stallone, Shark Boy, and Lava Girl, anyone?
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Oh, that was a that was a love letter to his children. That was their story. Okay. Well, save it for them because I I
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hate those movies. Whereas Edgar Wright went on to make movies. I like just
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about all of them in one way or another. So, he's got a pretty good track record. I mean, we are This is the premier
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episode, so to speak. So, I don't mind if you know I'm not going to give my thoughts and feelings cuz people are going to cover it. But if you just look at his filmography, it's a pretty good
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run of films. Uh, I mean, the Hot Fuzz, of course, Sean of the Dead, The World's
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End, and then he then they're like, "Hey, dude, you're a pretty fun filmmaker. Do you want to dabble in Ant-Man?" Though he only wrote it, but
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the idea that they tagged him for that. Of course, Baby Driver, I feel like he
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he doesn't take like he takes his time to do films, which I think it shows on the screen in the script. What do you
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think? Agreed. And let's not forget Scott Pilgrim, which is arguably one of my
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all-time maybe top three favorite films. Just okay. That speaks to my soul on so many
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levels. And um I don't know how I'm going to be able to talk about it in only one episode when we get around to
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Scott Pilgrim. This is instead of it being a horror film where a lot of people seem to get their feet wet, this
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is a parody of spaghetti westerns, right? Allah Sergio Leon and like Clint
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Eastwood style films, but well, it really is a Clint Eastwood parody at the end. This is there's no
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bones about it. This is alternate universe Clint Eastwood, right? And if it's Sergio Leon meets the
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Looney Tunes, it meets Bugs Bunny. You know, it's funny they bring up Looney Tunes. There was a couple scenes like, "Oh my
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gosh." Obviously, again, we're the same age. He was raised in Looney Tunes. So, this he editor and I I think if we were
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to sit down and have a conversation about our growing up years watching TV and we'd have so much ven diagram of
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what we enjoyed because there was there was definitely Bugs Bunny type behavior in this. Right. So you mentioned Monty Python,
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you mentioned Naked Gun, Zucker brothers type of things. No, Brooks. Yeah, these things are right. And that's
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that's really where I struggled with watching this and I had to keep
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reminding myself that it was So you struggled. I got to I got to interview you a little bit. So you str
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See, that's where I embraced it. Yeah. Well, that that's that's why I
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gave it so much of a pass. But I wouldn't not to skip to the end, but I
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can't see myself ever watching this ever again. Okay, that's okay. Well, yeah. I don't
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know if I'm gonna punch in the YouTube address. Yeah. And watch this again. I'm glad I did,
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though. I'm glad I did cuz now I can say that I'm one of the few fans of Mr. Wright that I've said I've seen his
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first official film. I'm curious though, and you know better than me because you're going to talk about space I think at the end, but why the big break
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between this student film of sorts and then how did he get Shawn of the Dead because it seems that
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movie is so well done and it it almost feels like someone who's been doing movies for 20 years, right,
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is Shawn of the Dead. So, how did he get from 1995 to 2004 in that?
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It's because of Spaced. Okay, which is why we have to talk about space and we will
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once we get through the slog that was fistful of fingers.
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Nice day. Say that again. Nice day. Once more for the cheap seats. Nice day.
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I I know you're being like you're such a nice guy. You're to give people the benefit of the doubt and I just
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I don't know if that's it. I Okay, I'll say this. There was some really good gags that I guess I envisioned. Okay,
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I'm going to pretend I I was a multi-millionaire producer and it's 1995. I've got money to burn and I'm
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let's say at this time I'm 50 years old and I'm watching this in 1995. I see this young kid and he gives me this
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film. I kid you not, I would have said I want to see this film done proper with
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proper film. Give me the right horses. Give me all the things. And that's the
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thing is I get it. The quality is the home video quality. I I I watched it for
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the gags. I thought this should have been on the big screen. There's some legitimate gags in this film that are funnier than your naked gun films. That
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is some some of it's funnier than your Monty P. I kid you not. I actually genuinely laughed out loud. I thought, "Oh, that's clever. That's too clever
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for teenagers." I I had that thought as well, but mine was more when it comes to
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the humor of the film and there it is joked dense, but my reaction to a lot of
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it was, "Oh, that's funny. I get it." And not actually laughing, which is if
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you tell a joke and somebody goes, "That's funny." And that instead of actually laughing, that that's a
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different version of humor. That's more like my wife being polite when I tell a joke as opposed to somebody actually
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thinking what I said was funny, which was the the way that I digested a lot of
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this humor. And but to to what you were saying about let's take this let's make
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let's go from Evil Dead to Evil Dead 2. Yeah, I guess that's what it is. Yeah, sure. Let's go from El Mariachi to Desperado
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with this. Let's do it with all the right equipment, all better writing,
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better editing, and better a better cast because I didn't like the lead. I liked
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I thought the the villain and the and the hero should have switched. But that
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was more like a good a good villain a good movie needs a good villain. So
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maybe they just like a Katon Nicholson Batman kind of dynamic
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where the strength of the movie was in the the the antagonist.
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Yeah, the lead I kind of agree. I I like Squinty and Okay, this is Do we want to
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talk about the controversial psychic subject? Yeah, we I mean we can bring it up, but
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it remember this is 1995, not 2025. Okay. Why? I'm not going to be an
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apologist and that's not my intent and I'm not going to say yes. Of course, yes. Yes, folks. White people don't put
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on brown face paint and become a different nationality. Like, we know that. We Let's get that out in the open. We understand that you don't do that.
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Um, but what I will say is they did it on like it was so obvious. They they had
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this young actor. The gag was he he was only painted brown
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from his neck up. The rest of his body was white. Yeah.
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Sorry. I think that's part of the gag because they you Here's the thing. They're gagging. What was Hey, look.
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This was before Tropic Thunder. So, I I think they should get a not they should get a pass the same way Robert Downey got a pass because they're m This was
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pre-tropic thunder. Uh, this is where I give Edar some real credit here for some originality because they are making fun
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of a time when actors did put on darker makeup to become Native Americans in
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western films. This was a real thing. And then other nationalities, it was it was so common that nobody batted an eye.
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Okay, we have an American actor playing an East Indian, you know, person. We have was that Jerry Lewis playing the a
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Chinese person or whatever it was like David Keredine and kung fu right so but that's what they were doing
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that was the commentary is like here we have a very obvious white person with putting on the uh cliche Native American
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voice and then throughout the film throughout the film he has the it's the
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classic like mystic ability. Yeah. Sorry, I there was a scene where
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uh they're having the big shootout at the end and there's a sign that says like caution loose rubble and he starts
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doing the uh the war cry with his mouth in hand. Totally. Yes. Inappropriate.
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The idea that he's going to make the rocks fall like he's one with nature but nothing fell. The whole world shook but
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no rocks fell.
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[Music]
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This is I see you're laughing. I was watching this thinking this is actually
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is it it's very high brow and c but that's the commentary is we are this is
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wholly inappropriate to the sense but this is what films do did like native Americans were one with
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earth and they had this like and they are always so calm and they come in the last moment they're kind of guiding the
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poor stupid white man through the wilderness and that but I don't know I thought that was pretty smart com again
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from somebody like Edgar who I guess watched unforgiven given and the and the these movies and Dances with Wolves and
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and they took the mick out of it with this commentary. Sure. And we have to remember that this
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is 1995 England. There's not Native Americans in England for a 20some Edgar
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Wright to cast in this film. So you you it also leans into that sort of version
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of the joke. So but if they did it today if they did it today, yes, they would Yeah, that's the thing. would then cast somebody who was
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actually a Native American taking the mick out of stupid white people doing
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this with their roles, making them seem mystical and you know all that stuff. So you you could do this film today, but
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you'd have to cast obviously appropriately, right? And and there it's a lot of
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cleverness that goes into well our lack of budget. What are we going to do? Let's parody the horses from Monty
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Python and a lot of the signage and the Bugs Bunny stuff. And one of the things
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when you said this is it's almost too clever that when the horse runs goes off
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the cliff and it says edge of cliff and then it pans to the right and it says edge of frame. It's like that's it's a
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movie making joke that's almost too clever to be in this movie. But that that was maybe one of my favorite jokes.
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And I knew they were going to do the Monti. I knew it. I said, "Oh, they're going to go on a horse. They're going to do something nod to Montipython." And I
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will give this showcases Edgar's ability as a filmmaker. So, even though they're they're running with the like the
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horses, they're in a horse costume and the characters or the actors are running. I squinted my eyes a little bit. Hear me out. I like I kind of like
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blurred my vision to watch their angling or Edgar's angling of the
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horse riding chase with him and squinty eye uh was actually really well done. He
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had a at an early age he has a knack for direction and setting up the frame. What do you think of it? So even though
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they're it's a funny horse chase. I actually en again envisioned real horses here and it's like he actually has a
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knack for doing this. I really hope he reinvestigates this film. That would be interesting if he did.
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Maybe I wonder how what he thinks of this if cuz I'm sure when he talks about
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recommending things from I mean maybe he never does but if somebody was like his uh a relative that doesn't know anything
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about him and they're like well where should we start with your catalog he's never going to say this but I so I
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wonder if he does romanticize the the production of this film as a young man
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and like what he would would do different now if he to make it better when he
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watches this because he he wants it to be Blazing Saddles. And yeah,
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there's another movie called Hundreds of Beavers that came out uh in 2024 that is
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virtually silent and virtually all green screen except for the actors who are in
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like mascot costumes as beavers. And it's it's really
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insanely good. And when I when I watched this, it reminded me of that. but not as
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good. So that that is and that's a problem. That's my fault for assigning
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um expectations to something that I shouldn't. So, and I'm also going to say
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this that might chase a lot of people that are watching this away if you're a fan of Monty Python. I never was. I I I
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don't. Okay. Well, that's it's not my thing. And uh so a lot of
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the the gags where I was just like, "Oh, this reminds me of Monty Python, something I don't enjoy." Okay. Well, no, no, I I appreciate and
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then I think the listener would appreciate your your angle and that's fine. That's your journey as a as a
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comedian and or comedy movie stylings. Uh I I was raised on Python. So that's
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my kind of humor. Absolutely. That British humor. It's it's absolutely ridiculous. And I I kind of like the
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ridiculousness of the naked gun of the Montipython. It like it should it shouldn't be funny and that's what it's
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funny. And I don't know why that makes me laugh cuz it's like I get the joke. I like I see why you did that joke, but
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it's so bad. It's good, but it's also very clever. Like I there's so many jokes. I got halfway through the film
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like I should have started writing things down. Uh because there's like Oh, remember that joke? Remember that joke? There's one that stuck out to me that
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was really good when uh what's it oh the Native America's name is running R running sore I love his ex-girlfriend's
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name was the Yanks with fist good god it's Yanks with a fist you know
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her I've been out with her that's terrible see
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well because that's a play on words for the uh dances wolves was stands with fists that's the joke it's okay anyway
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So, uh, when he's being taught how to shoot shoot shoot a gun, and he's doing practice, and we see him quick drawing,
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he's missing the, uh, the props that they're putting up, like it's a watermelon head or whatever it is. And then we see him like he draw, you see
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the the watermelon explode. Oh, he's improved. And the guy with no name says, "Well, that's, you know, you got to go a
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little bit further back next."
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And again. Fast enough.
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Good one. Now just a little further away. You see
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now he's standing right next to the watermelon as he like the idea that he was right there when he blew up the watermelon. I love those clever little
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gangs who were led to believe his viewer. Oh, he's getting better at his aim. But no, we find out later he was literally standing right next to the
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watermelon. That it's stupid. Why is that funny? But it is. is I found myself constantly surprised by
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obvious humor working so well. Maybe it's just been a long time since I've seen that kind of slapstick comedy that
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I enjoyed growing up with. Sure. And I'm a big fan of Looney Tunes and
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Sure. Fair enough. Did you happen to see the new Naked Gun? I I I heard that you went uh about it.
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Is it good? It is there. Okay. I I look forward to it then because I love the Naked Gun films.
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I mean, say what you want about OJ, but he was really funny in those films. It's true because he really killed that role.
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Yes. I I OJ's beloved, you know, that's why
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that's why things took out for OJ the way they did because he here in Buffalo,
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upstate New York. All right. Yeah. I like to believe that OJ covered for his son, that his son
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committed the murders and OJ took the fall for him. That's that's the narrative I go with to to so I can still
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watch the naked gun, right? And if you enjoy that type of
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humor, if you enjoy Monty Python and you enjoy Looney Tunes, you will find value
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in this film and a lot and obviously a lot of people did see the potential and
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the value in it and that and that's great, right? Otherwise, we wouldn't have shot in the Dead, we wouldn't have Hot Fuzz. So the this is it's definitely
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cuz this is another thing that I realized why this is findable. Why maybe
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people cuz when Space came out for two seasons and then Shaun of the Dead
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exploded in popularity then you're people are anxiously awaiting uh hot fuzz and in the meantime
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what is there what is there to find other than after I've watched Space
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twice or three times and watched Shawn of the Dead 10 times, what's left except this when the when that was the only
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other thing as an Edgar Wright fan to go and find. I'm sure a lot of people saw
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this and so it was nice to have in the catalog for that reason. There's just
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one more thing to maybe as a a hidden track in the filmography of Edgar
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Wright. You can go see him at his roots and how he got
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how he cut his teeth in making films. How did he do you know how he connected
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with Simon Peg? Hm. I have to I don't mean to put you on the spot, but
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I I don't know that specifically except that Simon Peg I mean this is probably a
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good time to start talking about spaced because this is
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the Edgar Wright players is uh where the the pedigree of spaced versus Shauna of
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the Dead. Um, I I I'll just say as as let's wrap up
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our thoughts about Fistful of Fingers and then we should probably start talking about space at this point
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because um that's really where the popularity
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and of Edgar Wright starts. It's certainly not with this, but I did I
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just to talk about the end of the film a little bit. Sure. They do a reference to Once Upon a
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Time in the West and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And when they started
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bringing up those movies, I was like, "Oh yeah, those are cool movies. I should go watch those." Um, so you could
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see the influence of the westerns there. You could see the influence of Monty Python and where Edgar gets all of his
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comedic sensibilities and he's very funny. He's very clever and you that's
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really what shines through with fist full of fingers. Okay, I'll also add regarding the end
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sequels because they're talking about how the final shootout between Butch Cassie and Sun get like how that ended
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and they had these characters come in with the faces of of the actors and from that film and they got shot within this
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film. But what it showed me is Edgar Wright comes from the school of and you
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could almost argue this was he wrote andor created this
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around the same time Pul Fiction was released in '94. Now this was released in '95. But I dare say I I I think this
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movie would exist without Quent Tarantino ever existing. I want to make this clear. I'm I'm 99% sure that this
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was an independent thought thought exercise and creation of Edgar independent of on the other side of the
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pond with QT and his journey with his he's another independent filmmaker who
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loves movies and his love of movies showcases in his films where you have that fourth wall dialogue about films
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and movies and the screen franchise is also not that like I'm I love horror
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films I'm making a horror film about my love of horror films and now that's Edgar doing this And that's what makes
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Edar a pioneer is he is breaking that fourth wall throughout this whole film
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talking about what makes these other films so great but he of course parodies it and that's his love letter is through
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humor is you can tell that he truly loves spaghetti westerns that he loves the Clint Eastwood films. You can't
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parody something that you don't enjoy. It's not making fun of like mocking oh
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stupid western tropes. The idea is is he's seen so many of these films that
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that's his love letter to the films with his humor and clever writing you know from all these jokes and gags or things
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that he's enjoyed. So he's incorporating and I'll give him credit too for taking that town or sorry an area of England.
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I there was there was there were legit moments where I allowed myself to be in the West. Like he was able to really
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tell a story or or a setting in England and make it at times seem like I'm
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having a story in the Old West. And I think that just again now with his the way he is now, he's gonna do Running Man
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coming out. I can only imagine with the budget that he has now, the kind of stuff he can pull. So, I'm really excited to see what he can do in this
29:35
bag of tricks with almost an unlimited budget and crew and and camera work and stuff. Yeah, I I guess I have a I don't
29:43
know. I I this movie endeared me. I legit was I enjoyed it much more than I
29:49
thought I was going to enjoy it. And I truly laughed. I was ready to say, "Oh, this is going to be self-indulgent. Look at me. I'm going to be a film guy." You
29:56
know, but I was like, "Oh, yeah. He he has a vision and a love of film."
30:01
Oh, back to the Butch Cassidy is what I'm getting at. He's talking about the film within the film that Quentyn does.
30:07
And so, it's the same idea of you can tell he loves film and that shows in his
30:13
film making. I think that's the key. He is like, I want to make a good film because I like films and I want people to like films. So, I think yeah, I I'm
30:20
I'm becoming a bigger fan of Edgar just because of a fistful of fingers. That's fantastic.
30:26
And you're right, the these are the category of contemporaries that are
30:33
lovers of film. We talk about Grindhouse and why his short for the trailer for
30:41
don't is included in that along with Eli Roth and right Rob Zombie to a lesser degree. But uh
30:48
these guys are Robert Rodriguez, Quinton Tarantino, right? all a lot of I this is
30:54
the kind of stuff I loved watching when I was a kid and this is this Fistful of
31:00
Fingers is definitely a a kid make to making a movie because
31:06
he's compelled to make movies because he loves movies so much and these are the
31:11
things that have influenced him and what and the type of film that he would want to see. He's making something that that
31:19
he wants to see on the screen. So that's and that's the value of a fist full of
31:24
fingers is the potential and the passion and uh the writing these these charming
31:32
little things that prompted everybody to take note of what Edgar Wright had to offer. So
31:38
awesome. All right. So tell me tell me about space. I mean and I should have I'm surprised I never watched this cuz a
31:44
I love Star Trek. I love science fiction and I love comedy, but I wholly missed
31:49
this series. That's uh clear because it's not about
31:55
outer space. Oh, I thought it was. Yeah. Right. Tim and Daisy are on the outs
32:00
with their respective significant others. Meeting by chance in a coffee shop. They bond over their similar
32:05
circumstances and the wantads with a lack of opportunities professionally, romantically, and financially.
32:20
They hatch a thre's company style plot to rent a flat pretending to be a
32:25
professional couple with neighbors and friends like Mike, Twist, and Brian. It's all Tim and Daisy can do to keep up
32:32
the charade and stay one step ahead of suspicious land lady Marsha. Whether it's botched house warming parties or
32:39
will they won't they awkwardness. Quirky Daisy and Sardonic Tim have no choice but to become unlikely friends.
32:47
I'm an idiot. It's fine. But the first thing I would say is if you're enjoying early Edgar
32:54
Wright and you're enjoying all of these films that he's done that are seemingly
33:00
um is it a western? Yeah. like almost categorically all good
33:08
with some critical exceptions. I enjoy virtually all of the movies and Spaced
33:15
is a beloved British sitcom that a lot of the things
33:22
we've already talked about why like like what makes Edgar Wright's voice as a
33:28
creator and an artist are on display in spaced spaced being the it's called that
33:36
I believe because yeah in England they call apartments flats and Oh, you know,
33:42
there there's different terminology. I I could be wrong about this, but spaced is like there they're sharing an apartment
33:49
because the the concept for the show, um, if we're just
33:56
talking about the the series overall, you have Tim, who is played by Simon
34:01
Peg, okay, and Daisy, who is played by Jessica Hines. And a lot of people that you will
34:10
end up seeing go on to be in Shaun of the Dead and some of the other specifically Nick Frost and Edgar,
34:16
right? Or Simon Peg. Yeah. You know, these guys are it spaced is basically those movies done
34:24
half an hour at a time for two seasons. I thought, you know what's funny? I I'm such an idiot.
34:30
No, you're not. You haven't seen it. I haven't seen it, but for some reason, because I I just always associated Simon
34:35
Peg, his love with sci-fi, of course, being in the Star Trek films, I just thought for some reason, well, I did if
34:40
you asked me 10 minutes ago, I thought it was a like group of characters in space, and it was sort of like,
34:48
well, I'm telling you, I I can't recommend it enough. This is really a beloved series. It a lot of
34:54
people are all about it. And if you like that style of comedy that it's Shaun of
35:00
the Dead, you if you just take the zombie the zombie apocalypse out of Shaun of the Dead,
35:05
right? I got you. A lot of beats in that movie that are straight taken right out of space.
35:13
How did they meet? That's what I don't because it says here the show was Yeah, it says here the show was created by
35:18
Simon, but it is directed by Edgar. So, I wonder how they Okay. Well, they they probably got paired up by a production company and
35:26
the Simon said, "I wrote this concept and the like, let's see who we could
35:32
find to direct it." Oh, here's this guy that has a lot of Moxy and Promise that made this Fist full of fingers film.
35:39
Let's see what he can do with he did like an episode here and there of other things that I'm sure where he proved
35:46
that he could handle directing a whole series before they handed this whole you know showrunning project over to him. So
35:53
he did this episode of that and and a and a music video or something like that proved that he could handle this and
35:59
then they're just like okay let's see what you can do with Simon Peg's project and then they teamed up for the next 15
36:06
years or more. Okay, so it says here I I was going to say I sure wish there was some sort of tool that we could use
36:12
where we I know I I hate googling on the fly, but it's driving me crazy. So I'm
36:17
like how do these two like meet up in the business? So because what they childhood friends No. So in 98, writer
36:23
actress Simon Peg and Jessica were in the early stages of developing their sitcom Space for Channel 4 and they
36:29
thought of asking Wright to direct having fondly remembered him work sorry having fondly remembered working with
36:35
him on the 1996 Paramount comedy Asylum. So they met on the show Asylum.
36:41
Ah okay. So they were so Simon Simon just girl hey this is great who do we think of you
36:46
know we're gonna act and write this but who's gonna who's got the vision for this comedy then? So I guess Edgar, he
36:53
worked on this show called Asylum, which was created by Edgar, Wright, and Simon Peg wrote for that show as well. There
37:00
you go. Okay. Well, that makes sense. Well, we were talked uh in the episode about
37:06
Collateral, how Michael Man enjoyed working with Jamie Fox and Jada Pinket
37:12
with the with Ali or one of a movie that he did right before he made Collateral. And
37:17
then when he decided to put that together, he wanted to work with people that he enjoyed working with. And that's that's how a lot of things get made.
37:24
Well, there at the end of the day, if you get along with somebody and you're like, "Hey, that's the thing why you shouldn't burn bridges, right? Like,
37:30
hey, we're getting along and who could we collaborate with? Who do we trust behind the camera?" So, it's that's
37:35
great. So, good for this is interesting though. So, Edgar does that fistful of fingers and had Simon never existed,
37:42
that's what I that's what I wonder about these things. Edgar is a very visionary guy. He has a great he has a great
37:48
aesthetic behind the camera, but without Simon's writing prowess.
37:55
Yeah. Like what would have happened? That's true because I I have to assume they probably wrote
38:02
Shawn of the Dead together or Simon Peg wrote it. Simon wrote it. That's what I mean. I think Edar is the visionary guy,
38:08
but Simon So like you've got u who's the writer for Elton John, you know, like whatever that you know, like the
38:16
Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, one guy's writing the music,
38:21
the other guy's singing it. Meatloaf. Meatloaf. He's the singer. The other dude's the writer.
38:27
Yeah. So, spaced I think get derives so much of its charm. Well, well, it's very
38:34
formulaic blueprint in the sense that the first one starts with uh the the main
38:40
characters breaking up and goes into kind of a who's the boss. Will they
38:46
won't they? Won't they kind of territory now that they're living together even though
38:52
they're pretending that they're not together? Will they actually end up together? And
38:57
that is a cliche concept and the breakup in the first episode like Rachel on
39:04
Friends running out on her wedding or there's a another show called Happy Endings where two of the main characters
39:10
who they get one of them leaves the other one at the altar and now they're friends. Yeah. So this these this
39:16
classic concept, but where the writing and the the style of the show becomes
39:26
unique is from Simon and Edgar. It there's a lot more.
39:31
Let's say I I don't know this to be true but in
39:37
this came out in 99 spa the series season of spaced and
39:44
in 94 and 95 you get clerks from Kevin
39:49
Smith all rats and I can't help but assume that Edgar a
39:56
younger Edgar Wright saw what Kevin Smith was doing with dialogue and fandm
40:05
as a personality with like the characters from clerks and
40:11
m rats talking about how much they love Star Wars and how much they love comics and if you don't know anything of you
40:17
like what you know and and your pop culture references are your personality
40:23
and almost all that matters to a lot of people that hang out in music stores and hang out in record shops and that it
40:30
just becomes a voice of a generation and that is kind
40:36
of what Simon Peg's voice is in spaced. Okay.
40:42
And a lot of a lot of it is pop culture
40:47
reference dense and I think that people like that. People want to hear, "Oh, I've seen that. I enjoyed it as well.
40:53
I'm cool for liking that." And that is something that I feel like Kevin Smith
40:58
cultivated also as a guy that was bootstrapping making films. And
41:04
I I have to think that Edgar Wright saw that happening and saw what Robert
41:12
Rodriguez was up to and decided that he was going to just I want to be a
41:17
filmmaker. I'm you. That's something that Kevin Smith said in one of he does a lot of those TED talk kind of
41:23
appearances. His sister said to him, um, you know, why aren't you making a movie?
41:29
Well, I don't know where to start. And he's, if you start writing a script, you're a screenwriter. If you start
41:35
making a movie, whether you're successful or not at it or not, that's that's what you're doing. That's who you
41:42
are. That's what I'm a podcaster, not successful. Look at me. I'm
41:47
a podcasting genius. Um, so when somebody's you look at somebody doing
41:54
that, it's inspiring and I feel like that he got a lot of inspiration from
42:01
those kind of creators like Quinton Tarantino and um so on everybody that
42:07
we've discussed up until this point and I should note and it's interesting the two directors that I've done on the
42:12
network so far, Ed Edward Zwick and Michael Man, they both for for the most
42:19
part have written the movies they've directed or their key writers if not Michael Man
42:25
for sure. Uh Edward Zwick was definitely did a few of them but he had a collaboration or he would you know even
42:31
if he didn't get the credit he was a big part in the writing. Mhm. So it's just interesting that that's the
42:36
same with Edgar Wright is Yes. He has written every one of the films that he
42:41
directs he is credited as a writer/cco-riter whether it's with Simon Peg or it seems
42:46
like uh Michael Beall is one of his writing partners cuz him and Michael did
42:51
Scott and Pilgrim and they're doing the Running Man uh for example. So they're they're writing partners with Peg as
42:57
well doing a lot of lot of these films. I just find it interesting that yeah, to Edgar's credit as a director, he's also
43:04
the storyteller, you know, screenplay or or dial. I bet he does the dialogue and stuff like that. He definitely has that
43:09
comedic type ability. Yeah, I I'm going to pay attention to this as we start digging
43:16
further and further into this catalog about who he worked with on specific
43:21
projects because it does seem like people just have uh a certain chemistry
43:27
when they work together that uh is what goes on to make projects successful.
43:34
Rick and Morty comes to mind. Uh Dan Harmon and Justin Royland.
43:39
Thank you. Thank you. Uh Justin Royland has this manic high concept type of
43:47
thought process that leads to a lot of scenarios that allow Dan Harmon's
43:53
writing to shine. like Harmon has a lot of strong
43:59
um like grasp of what the the writing process is and what makes a good story,
44:04
a hero's journey as well as a brilliant sense of humor and a brilliant uh voice
44:11
to to write with. Whereas Royland has this high concept manic energy and when
44:18
you put those two things together it creates you know the you know magic and
44:25
that is probably true of Edgar Wright and Simon Peg and some of these other
44:30
people that you that you've just brought up that he works with. So, I want to keep an eye on the certain projects that
44:36
have those ingredients that add up to successful aggre things or maybe like
44:42
some of the other ones that help get to when we start getting into the the other stuff. Maybe
44:47
I can't wait. I can't wait to get our Oh, no. I keep thinking he directed Ant-Man, didn't I? So, I can't wait to get our first Marvel film on the
44:53
network, but that's not true. He only He only wrote Ant-Man. He didn't direct it. I wonder what the first Marvel film will be on our
44:59
Can you imagine? That would have been so amazing if I mean I Ant-Man did go on to be
45:04
pretty popular. Yeah, it it turned into a a street level
45:12
hero with a different tone. Not godlike powers, but it was more of a caper
45:18
movie. And it was definitely a different thing that probably allowed them to greenlight Guardians of
45:23
the Galaxy. You know, it's like people don't need to know that it's Spider-Man
45:28
and Captain America and all these highle things for this to be a successful movie, right? But I really would have liked to see
45:36
Edgar Wright direct that. I I have to think that a lot of the work that he did on it did
45:44
go on to be included in that movie and be why that was successful. They just
45:51
had some kind of professional falling out where they he just couldn't maybe it
45:56
was scheduling. Maybe it was Yeah. Or he was working on Baby Driver right after. So he might just been busy with cuz that was his next film right
46:02
after writing that. He works on Baby Driver and then Right. It's so fickle that the big
46:08
blockbuster like big studio stuff when contracts come into play and suddenly
46:14
Paul Rudd's not available till this date and Edgar Wright's already committed to Baby Driver. So, he just physically
46:21
can't be there to helm the project because of contract negotiations, but they're they take all of the
46:29
pre-production stuff that he did, pay him for it, but take his name off of it cuz it does seem like an Edgar Wright
46:36
movie when you watch that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He was supposed to You're right. Sorry. He was supposed to direct it. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. So,
46:42
Oh, I want Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Well, yeah. It would have been interesting, but I'm kind of, you know,
46:48
it's kind of like it keeps him pure a little bit if that he hasn't done it official, if that makes sense. Like, you
46:54
know what I mean? Like, yeah, a lot of a lot of people it's turned a corner where a lot of people so sick of
47:00
it and it it would be a shame for everybody to think of Edgar Wright the
47:05
way they think of maybe. Sorry, I totally forgot. My apologies. I totally forgot that he was originally
47:10
signed on to direct. That's right. Yeah, because that was another point I wanted to make about space. Do you see at what
47:17
Edgar Wright could do with that show and then you look at the Russo brothers who
47:24
did a lot of their earlier work with the show Community Right. Not to tie everything into Dan Harmon
47:29
again. I was going to say, yeah, the Russo brothers are directing Dan Harmon's writing and then suddenly
47:35
they're quarterbacking all of the most successful Avengers stuff that everybody
47:40
loved. And um so maybe it would have been good for a right to do that, but
47:47
yeah, he'd be directing uh you know, Black Panther 3 or something. Nobody wants
47:53
that. Nobody wants that. I'm glad we're getting I'm actually um I want to kind
47:59
of hear your thoughts before we close on your excitement if any about his covering the running man.
48:04
I I couldn't be more excited. I when I initially heard that they were redoing
48:09
it, I didn't think it was a good idea. And one
48:16
of the things I know about the Schwarzenegger film versus the novel
48:23
which is Stephen King's pen name Bachman. Richard Bachman Richard Bachman. Yeah.
48:28
But is actually Stephen King. I know that there are huge departures from the
48:34
plot of the book to the plot of the film. And I saw the film first not
48:40
knowing any of that. Okay. and I learned about the novel much later. So, I feel like there's a way to
48:49
make another version of that plot in a new way with and I think that
48:56
Glenn Powell, the star of the new movie, is probably one of the more compelling
49:02
leading men that is making films right now. So, yes, I think that is a good
49:07
choice. I think Edgar Wright directing is never a bad choice, right? And I'm I'm very excited for that
49:14
movie. So I agree. I haven't watched the trailer because I'm I'm one of I don't watch trailers. So yeah I don't watch trailers
49:20
unless I'm at the I sit down and I'll just put on a a a
49:26
YouTube channel that is all trailers and just what's coming out in the fall and I
49:31
just watch all the trailers for like a half hour straight. But that's just me. I can see I know a lot of people don't
49:36
want things to get spoiled for them. Yeah. It's not so much the spoiled person like I not so much the spoiled
49:41
but yeah that like I don't know what the like I haven't seen a naked gun trailer so I don't I actually don't know any
49:46
gags zero. So when I go and see it I don't know one single gag. Uh I just saw
49:52
weapons in the theater recently. Never saw a trailer. Didn't even know what it was about. All I heard is that it was
49:58
good and you should go see it. So I'm like oh I heard it's good. I want to go see it. And I did and it's good. You should go see it. Okay. I do want to see it and I haven't
50:05
seen it yet. I don't really know a whole lot about it, but I have seen the trailer. Yeah. And then same with um uh The
50:11
Running Man. I was like, "Oh, I'm a big of course Arnold fan." This was it came out when I was young. So, I was like, but I I say all this knowing that it was
50:18
I'm a huge Stephen King fan, too. So, I'm betting without seeing the trailer, I'm betting it's more faithful to the
50:24
novel. And I'm also betting when Stephen King wrote the story, he didn't have Arnold
50:29
Schwarzenegger in mind. like that's not that's not that's not the character that he wrote or the physical description. It
50:36
was this huge hulking mass of a man. So Glenn Pal is a great actor, great leading man. And so I'm very curious to
50:42
see uh how it's done and I'm curious and hopeful that it falls closer to the
50:48
source material. So you're not re you're not re This is what I hate when people say, "Oh, they're redo." No, they're not redoing The Running Man. You can almost
50:54
argue they're doing The Running Man maybe proper from the book. Yeah, that that's not a bad uh way to think about
51:01
this new one. I I I think that it's going to be good, but I do have a a
51:06
special place in my heart for the original. Of course, Arnold's always fun. But
51:12
as since we're still talking about Edgar, Wright, you look and maybe this is why he decided to do this and I don't
51:18
know if it's going to be I don't specifically remember
51:23
the how close to the book the movie is, but the the way that Scott Pilgrim has
51:28
the different boss battles with X's and the uh the hitmen of the Schwarzenegger
51:36
running man, all those gimmicks that each of the villains had a fireball
51:41
time. Yeah, that's be fun to watch his version of that. That's right. Yeah. So, it seems like it's right up
51:47
Edgar Wright's alley. Good call. I didn't even think of that. Yeah, there's all these different kind of like levels of a video game almost
51:53
that the characters go through. So, I think Ed Edgar is going to have a fun time visualizing that on the screen, I think. Yeah.
51:58
Yeah. So, we can look forward to that. And if you are watching this now, the
52:04
series is planned so that this limited this limited series of Ed movies is
52:12
going to conclude with the release of The Running Man. So this that will be
52:18
the last movie that we talk about this right after for now. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Until he makes
52:25
another movie. Absolutely. So, I am very excited about this. I very
52:32
glad that you allowed me to you came up with the idea for me to do this and that
52:39
the director's chair network is giving other people a chance to talk about movies that they love. What What other
52:46
uh Why don't you plug some more of those things that people are adding to the channel? I certainly will, Andy, and we did not
52:53
plan on that, but thank you. So, right now what we have on the network is I've completed Edward's Wix
52:59
films, but it was just announced that he's doing a western, which I'm thrilled about. Yeah. So, I'll be covering that. But his
53:04
filmography is completed. I'm almost done. Michael Man, so I'm doing that one right now. Uh John Hughes has been
53:11
covered on the network. It's almost done. That's hosted by Katie. Uh my my other host that's on the network, Craig,
53:17
he has done uh Brian Dealma. Most of his films. The thing with his it's a little bit different, which I kind of like. He
53:22
just keys in on a certain scene with from each film and him and the co-host talk about a big scene from the film.
53:28
Yeah. But they cover that's what they've been doing with Brian. Again, when people come on the show, if you're thinking about coming on the network, I don't
53:33
tell you how to run it. The idea is is you're just focusing on a uh on a director and I do it with in order. I
53:41
think that's how you're doing of the films that they did in order. That's how I'm doing it. I just I want to hit them all. But uh lastly, we have David
53:48
Fincher is coming on the network. That's going to be hosted by a guy named Seco. We have Sam Peekpaw coming on to the
53:54
network that's gonna be hosted by a guy named Scott. And then we have another Scott coming on the network who's Dave
53:59
who's doing David Fincher. So we have the network is growing Andy. Wow. Yeah, that's very exciting. That a
54:06
lot of I I look forward to hearing people's takes on those films and I look
54:11
forward to talking more about Edgar Wright, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the worst of the best. I
54:18
thought maybe when we get to the end of this, we could decide the the worst Edgar Wright film. Maybe we wouldn't
54:25
talk about Fistful of Fingers. We leave that one off of the off of the list just because it's it's not a
54:31
professional production. And I I'll I'll plug my show, All Apologies Podcast,
54:37
where we talk about celebrity apology tours and uh make fun of that. I do that with my my
54:44
brother Joe. And I I will offer the apology that I forced you to watch maybe
54:51
the worst. I legitimately had a good time. No, I do not accept your apology because I had a
54:57
blast watching a fist full of fingers. Go watch it, folks, on YouTube. But I always bring Ryan on for all these
55:02
very divisive and uh conversations. So if you if you want more Ryan on, all apologies. He did Mel Gibson and Marilyn
55:10
Manson. Easy characters. easy character, easy subject matter to talk about. Um,
55:16
so, uh, go check out All Apologies. Go check out Worst of the Best. And if you
55:22
are thinking about missing next week's episode, don't
55:34
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