Edgar Wright

Edgar Wright

Biography

Edgar Howard Wright, Jr. (born 18 April 1974) is an English film and television director and writer. He is most famous for his work with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on the films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and TV series Spaced. Wright was born in Poole, Dorset. He started directing his own films at the age of 14 when he was attending The Blue School, Wells, Somerset (his home county) and working at the local tourist attraction Wookey Hole Caves. At the age of 20 he made a spoof western, A Fistful of Fingers, which was picked up for a limited theatrical release and broadcast on the British satellite TV channel Sky Movies.

He then directed a number of television comedy programmes for the UK's Paramount Comedy channel and the BBC, including Sir Bernard's Stately Homes and Asylum, during the production of which he met writer-actors Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes. In 1999 he joined Pegg and Hynes to create Spaced for Channel 4. Wright gave Spaced an unusual look for the sitcom genre, with dramatic camera angles and movement borrowed from the visual language of science fiction and horror films. Instead of shying away from these influences Wright makes an active effort to show his referencing, adding a 'Homage-O-Meter' to all of his releases, a device that displays each directorial nod he has made during shooting. In 2002, he made appearances as a scientist and a technician named Eddie Yorque during both series of Look Around You, a BBC programme created by a member of the Spaced cast, Peter Serafinowicz. He also made a brief appearance in Spaced, in which he can be seen, along with other crew members on the series, lying asleep in Daisy Steiner's squat as she prepares to leave for her new house.

Wright directed a fake trailer insert for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse. Called "Don't", it was a plotless trailer that mocked horror clichés, with lines such as, "If you... are thinking... of going ... into... this... house... DON'T!"

Wright has a brother, Oscar, who is a comic book artist, contributing storyboards, conceptual art and promotional pictures for Edgar's films. For example he designed comic book interpretations of the characters of Shaun of the Dead and created the animation for the flickbook PC Danny Butterman uses in Hot Fuzz, as well as the art for the "Plot Holes" features on both the Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead DVD releases. Oscar also was on set for the Hot Fuzz poster shoot to help Edgar out with the design. Oscar also directed the Charlotte Hatherley video for "Behave".

Wright cites Jon Spencer Blues Explosion as his favourite band. Several Blues Explosion songs feature in Wright's film Hot Fuzz, including one written specifically for the film.

Filmography

Year

Film

Credited as

Role

Director

Writer

Producer

Actor

1993

Dead Right

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Director

1995

A Fistful of Fingers

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Cheesy voiceover artist, Two bit farmer cameo

2004

Shaun of the Dead

Yes

Yes

Yes

Rabid Monkeys Newsreader/Prat-falling Zombie/Italian Restaurant Voice/Noel's Friend on |phone

2005

Land of the Dead

Yes

Photo booth zombie

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Yes

Deep Thought Technician

2007

Hot Fuzz

Yes

Yes

Yes

Shelf stacker, Voice ...