Quotes

[on Spaced (1999)] It's a show by geeks, for geeks.

There were zombie films prior to George [George A. Romero], but he pretty much invented the cannibalistic aspect. What we now think of as zombies really are Romero zombies.

I think it's good to have pressure on yourself. The worst crime is to get kind of really complacent. Me and Simon worked really hard on the script and we kind of beat ourselves up and we're very kind of hypercritical, and so it's good to have pressure. I mean it was weird in terms of when we made Shaun of the Dead (2004). There wasn't really that much expectation about us making a film. There was from people who liked our TV show, but you know we could kind of do it under the radar and this time it was a bit different. Even just filming it on location was kind of interesting because you'd have people watching the entire time.

Everything that I've done so far has had a bigger budget than the last, but I've never ever felt the benefit of the bigger budget because the ideas always exceed the budget.

In terms of, like, the homaging and spoofing and stuff, I mean, obviously... it's weird 'cause, like, I mean, there are homages and there are kind of, like, skits on things, but I think the sensory joke with Spaced (1999) and the reason that I think it kinda has a charm to it... It's kinda the point of it is not so much that, "Hey, let's do, like, a five minute rip on The Matrix (1999)." -- It's the fact that the characters are so, kind of, like... their lives are so governed by pop culture and media and stuff that they can only think in those terms. So if somebody's having a... breakup with their girlfriend, they imagine it to have the same crushing kind of... feeling as the ending of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

I've always been fascinated by horror films and genre films. And horror films harbored a fascination for me and always have been something I've wanted to watch and wanted to make. Equally, I'm very fascinated by comedy. I suppose the reason that [An American Werewolf in London (1981)] changed my life is that very early on in my film-watching experiences, I saw a film that was so sophisticated in its tone and what it managed to achieve.

Here's a funny thing. My mum's a big conspiracy theorist and when I was younger, in that way when you automatically take the opposite view to your parents because you're a sullen and idiotic teenager, when my mother would come out with wild conspiracies about our hometown, I would just, like, formally reject it. She had so many stories of, like, conspiracy - and some of them very real in terms of corruption and gangsters, and some of them a lot more fanciful, like the idea that there might be unicorns and aliens in Glastonbury Tor. But when I was writing Hot Fuzz (2007), I said to my mother, "I want you to write down all the stories that you heard about our town and give it to me." [The result] A fifty page document called "Spooky Doings". I think she was so happy that I'd embraced the conspiracy theorist in her.

As dated as Octopussy (1983) is, I'd love to see a version of Quantum of Solace (2008) with Barbara Woodhouse 'Sit!' jokes and Tarzan yodelling sound effects.

You either liked Spinal Tap or you were not worth talking to

When I am not working, I try to watch more than one film a day if I can.

I was at art school that had quite a celebrated film course as well. I tried for that film course when I was 18, but they said I was too young. I tried this audio and visual design course instead. Two years later, I reapplied for that higher course, but they said I was still too young and to try in five years.

I definitely went through a period when I was a teenager when every girl was 'The One' and every break-up was the 'Worst Thing That Had Ever Happened.'

Tony Scott, Walter Hill, Michael Mann - I'm a big action fan, full stop. And even though Michael Mann is the more celebrated film-maker than Tony Scott, I love them both in different ways.

We were shooting 'Hot Fuzz' in my hometown of Wells, Somerset, and I remember looking at the dailies and going, 'Wait, there's a Starbucks in the shot. I don't remember that being there!' We had to digitally remove it; the same thing happened with a McDonald's in another scene. I had this sensation of, 'What's going on here? Where am I?'

We need to make more original movies, and audiences would do well to support original movies for the future of the medium.

Maybe directors who are more interested in realism and naturalism come from cities, where they see things on their doorstep every day. But growing up as a kid in a very pretty but ever-so-slightly boring town, where not a great deal happened, encouraged me to be more escapist, more imaginative, and more of a daydreamer.

When I went to college, I discovered the Sega console, and 'Sonic the Hedgehog' became very dear to me.

When I was younger, I used to love Tim Burton's 'Batman.' I was, like, 15, and even then, I was aware, 'This is really the Joker's film.' It's like, the Joker just takes over, and Batman, you really don't learn too much about him.

If you're on a road trip, you need driving music.

I'd like to do some things over again. I never want to repeat anything that went well, though - I just want to do better at slightly different things.

I guess a lot of comic-book adaptations strive for realism. Christopher Nolan is making Batman seem very real and very serious.

I tire of franchises, remakes, and endless sequels.

Between the ages of 18 and 20, I made three hour-long films. One was a superhero film called 'Carbolic Soap.' One was a cop film called 'Dead Right.' And the other was called 'A Fistful Of Fingers.'

Every time I watch a Clint Eastwood film, I'm in touch with my feminine side, I've developed a searing man-crush on Clint Eastwood.

Not everybody fantasizes about robbing a bank, but I think most people have that fantasy of being in a high speed chase.

It's interesting that some people reading the comics see Scott Pilgrim as a blank slate in that they like to imagine themselves as Scott Pilgrim, so it's interesting that there are two kind of schools of thought about the character. One is, like, Scott Pilgrim is awesome. The second is Scott Pilgrim believes himself to be awesome.

I think where the criticism of videogames come from is where videogames are just Xeroxes of films, and when you get a film adaptation of that game, you've just Xeroxed something twice. I think that's where a lot of the criticism comes from - there are ultra-violent games that are already based on a million films.

When I was at school, I used to end every school day with fountain pen ink all over my hands and face and down my shirt.

If you ever watch police chases on, like, helicopter cams, they very quickly become nightmarish when you start to see the police coming in from the edge of the frame. I always find that terrifying.

I know it's become an ongoing thing about whether videogames are art, and I think there's plenty of examples of things that use the form in a fascinating way. Things that are more surreal or artistic, like 'Katamari Damacy' or 'Vib-Ribbon.'

If you go back to your home town or you're reunited with school friends, its always slightly bittersweet because as much as there's nice things in terms of seeing them again, the town has changed without you, and you're no longer a part of it.

Wes Anderson deserves an award for sheer persistence of vision.

I've always been fascinated by horror films and genre films. And horror films harbored a fascination for me and always have been something I've wanted to watch and wanted to make.

Critics should think about how the opening weekend audience might want to discover some surprises for themselves

My parents used to talk about Sergio Leone films a lot. And I got really into them. I love Clint Eastwood. I love the camera angles. I love the music.

I used to stay up all night playing 'Resident Evil 2,' and it wouldn't stop until the sun came up. Then I'd walk outside at dawn's first light, looking at the empty streets of London, and it was like life imitating art. It felt like I'd stepped into an actual zombie apocalypse.

I'm very happy with my life and career, but I do find myself having serious attacks of nostalgia, and I don't quite know why. Even though I've got to travel the world and do amazing things, I still want to go back to my teenage years and change little aspects of it. It's strange, but it does continue to bug me.

I think you write the film that you want to see, and you try and do it honestly, and you can't control people's responses, really.

I would say 'American Werewolf in London' is like an unconventional buddy movie: even if the buddy dies 20 minutes in, he still remains throughout the picture, and their partnership is one of the best things in the movie.