Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Looking Forward to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World


I initially didn't want to post anything related to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, but I've gotten so excited for this film that I have to talk about it.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a movie being made based on the Scott Pilgrim comic book series by Bryan Lee O'Malley. The first volume of the series is called "Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life" and was released in 2004. As of 2009, five volumes have been released, all published by Portland, Oregon independent comic book publisher Oni Press.

The series is about 24-year-old Canadian Scott Pilgrim, a slacker, hero, wannabe-rockstar, who is living in Toronto and playing bass in the band "Sex Bob-Omb." He falls in love with an American delivery girl named Ramona V. Flowers, but must defeat her seven "evil ex-boyfriends" in order to date her.

"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" is actually the title of the second volume in the series, but will be used as the title for the movie that will cover all of the novels with a possible changed ending. The movie is being directed by Edgar Wright who I am a fan of. He is most famous for his work with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on the films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and the TV series Spaced. Wright is also producing the film and wrote the screenplay with actor Michael Bacall.

The movie has a great cast that is dedicated to looking like the characters O'Malley created. Scott Pilgrim will be played by Michael Cera who you should all know by now. Oddly enough, I think he might be the worst cast person in the film as I don't think he looks like Scott Pilgrim nor do I think his acting abilities match Scott Pilgrim's mannerisms. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy and I think he's hilarious, but he plays awkward well and I've never really seen him do anything upbeat and outgoing. Maybe we will see a different Michael Cera for once. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Final Destination 3, Death Proof, Live Free or Die Hard) will be playing Scott's love interest, Ramona Flowers. Chris Evans (Not Another Teen Movie, Fantastic Four, Push) plays Lucas Lee, one of Ramona's evil ex-boyfriends who is a pro skateboarder turned movie star. Scott's gay former roommate, Wallace Wells, will be played by Macaulay's little brother Kieran Culkin (Father of the Bride, The Cider House Rules, Igby Goes Down). Superman Returns star Brandon Routh will be playing Todd Ingram who is the bass player for The Clash At Demonhead and has special vegan psychic powers (although he is secretly consuming non-vegan foods). Some other notable castings are Mae Whitman (Ann on Arrested Development) as Roxy, Mark Webber (Just Like the Son) as Stephen Stills, Alison Pill (Milk) as Kim Pine, and Jason Schwartzman (The Darjeeling Limited) as Gideon Gordon Graves.

Edgar Wright has been keeping his blog quite updated with lost of Scott Pilgrim info. He's also been doing behind the scenes videos that can be found here on Vimeo. They are pretty interesting and give you an inside look on how they are filming. I highly suggest heading over there and watching all their vids in HD.

Here are a bunch of pictures from filming as well:

Mae Whitman holding a picture of her character, Roxy Richter.

Here's a comparison of a shot from the movie and a frame from the comic book. Wright says that some scenes will match the drawings, but it's not going to be as faithful to the drawings as, say, Watchmen was.

Aubrey Plaza plays Julie Powers who is seen here choking her on again off again b/f Stephen Stills.

Watching Kim Pine (Alison Pill) on a video monitor.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead holding up the cover of Volume 2 which has her character on it.

Another shot of Roxy. She looks awesome but I'm still going to think of her as Egg... I mean Ann.

A side-by-side comparison of Romona Flowers complete with her huge mallet which packs a powerful "+2 against girls".

Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim.

Comparison of Satya Bhabha and Matthew Patel.

One of the few pictures of Chris Evans as Lucas Lee.

Michael Cera, Edgar Wright, Bryan Lee O'Malley, and Ellen Wong.

Anna Kendrick holding up a drawing of her character, Scott's younger sister, Stacey Pilgrim.

On location outside of Scott Pilgrim's house. They made snow.

And yet another comparison of Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ramona Flowers. Pretty darn accurate.

Silhouette of Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers.

Comparison of Ellen Wong and Knives Chau.

Sex Bob-Omb.

Chris Evans holding up a picture of his character.

Michael Cera holding up a drawing of Scott Pilgrim.

So, as you can tell, I am totally looking forward to this movie. I haven't even read the comic books yet, that is how excited I am. I can't say that it'll be the best thing ever made, but it certainly has the recipe to be a solid flick. There is supposed to be lots of comedy and some pretty wicked action in the film. The cast has been training really hard for the fight scenes. Release date is just 2010 for now as they are currently filming. I will be posting more news on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World in the future and will be reading the first book soon.

Are you looking forward to Scott Pilgrim? Have you read the comic books?

1 comment:

  1. hahaha, it's bland! i mean ann! looks like a fun flick, this is the first i've heard of it.

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