Edgar Wright has revealed the iconic Shaun Of The Dead vinyl-throwing scene nearly included some David Bowie albums in its list.
- READ MORE: Soundtrack Of My Life: Edgar Wright
In a new interview with GQ for the movie’s 20th anniversary, the director opened up about some alternative albums for the film’s memorable vinyl scene.
The scene depicts duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost attempting to ward off some zombies by debating which of their beloved Prince records to throw at them: “Purple Rain?” “No” “Sign O’ The Times?” “Definitely not” “The Batman Soundtrack?” “Throw it”.
Now, in a conversation with Pegg and Frost, Wright revealed he tried to use Bowie’s albums for the scene instead. “At one point we did David Bowie albums,” Wright told GQ. “I think it was like: “Hunky Dory, no. Ziggy Stardust, no. The Labyrinth soundtrack…” with the journalist concluding: “Throw it.”
However, Wright didn’t end up using Bowie for the final cut, as he “heard something secondhand that he was touchy about Labyrinth, so that was a no.”
Pegg added: “Also, it’s not as funny, because the Labyrinth soundtrack isn’t bad. I listened to it when my daughter was young, and it’s got some crackers on it.”
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When the journalist called Prince’s Batman soundtrack “more objectively questionable”, Pegg continued: “Yeah, as is the Stone Roses‘ second album, which I am a fan of.
“We had to clear the [vinyl] covers, so we couldn’t actually show the cover of the Batman soundtrack, or of Dire Straits, despite the fact that I wrote a letter to Mark Knopfler asking him if we could, couched in such a way that it was a positive thing that we were throwing his landmark album at a zombie,” he added. “It was like, This is actually quite a compliment. When really we both thought it was shit.”
Simon Pegg has denied there would be a sequel to Shaun Of The Dead. In an interview with The Guardian last year, Pegg said: “If I ever do an Instagram Live or whatever, people are always like, ‘I need Shaun Of The Dead 2 in my life. And I’m like, ‘No, you don’t fucking need Shaun Of The Dead 2! The last thing you need is Shaun Of The Dead 2! It’s done. Move on!’”
However, he did reveal in a separate interview last August that he and Wright had begun working on an entirely new film: “We don’t want to do a take on action movies or a take on sci-fi or a take on horror. We want to make a movie that is totally its own thing, existing outside of the Cornetto trilogy.
“My desire, really, is to do something super different.”
In other news, Pegg has recently discussed the increasing prevalence of AI in the film industry, suggesting that it could have upsides.