Can Pegg and Frost top Shaun of the Dead with the sci-fi adventure Paul?
- 19 July 2010
- John Howell
Paul is the latest movie from UK comedy greats Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (creators of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), a big budget science fiction road trip about two sci-fi fans who go on a pilgrimage into America's UFO heartland. After accidentally meeting a real alien, their universes are turned upside down. Can Pegg and Frost reinvent the alien encounter movie just as they reinvented zombie horror films with Shaun of the Dead and police films with Hot Fuzz? I'd have to say "yes they can", but as a big fan of all their work, I'm extremely biased.
The official movie synopsis is intriguing to say the least, revealing that an alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) has been hanging out at a top-secret military base for the past 60 years. When he decides to escape the compound and hops on a vehicle out of town — a rented RV containing Earthlings Graeme Willy (Pegg) and Clive Collings (Frost) — the road trip gets into full swing. Chased by federal agents and a fanatical father of a young woman, Graeme and Clive hatch a fumbling escape plan to return Paul to his mother ship. Apparently Paul will be completely computer generated just like Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars, but hopefully nothing like as moronic.
Paul is directed by Superbad's Greg Mottola and stars Pegg and Frost from their own screenplay. The cast also includes Jason Bateman, David Koechner and Sigourney Weaver.
According to SlashFilm, Pegg and Frost and Mottola are aiming for a Steven Spielberg sense of wonder in their approach, using films such as Close Encounters and ET as their guides (but obviously with a comic edge). Pegg and Frost just finished working with Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg as actors on Tintin, and had plenty of time to swap stories and get advice from the legendary director.
Mottola revealed that "There's a very low-key part of the film that's very conversational and jokey and talky. And then there are these huge set pieces and chases and explosions and craziness and sci-fi fantasy stuff."
While they have touched on horror in Shaun of the Dead and talked about science fiction in their original BBC series Spaced, this is their first attempt at a purely science fiction storyline. Science Fiction comedy is anything but easy, but if anyone can pull it off, it's Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Paul is due out March 2011. Watch the pair introduce the cast and crew of Paul in a YouTube video from the set below.
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