Edgar Wright on Spaced’s Near Misses and Cult Legacy
Edgar Wright looks back at Spaced, sharing candid thoughts on the show’s close calls with creative missteps and its lasting influence on his filmmaking journey.
If you’ve not caught the latest take on The Running Man from Edgar Wright, don’t let the chatter about it being a letdown put you off. Grab a ticket for the biggest screen you can find and you’ll get a cracking blend of sharp comic book action, tongue-in-cheek humour, and a few nods to the 1980s classic. Even Glen Powell, who nearly put me off films for good after Twisters, puts in a solid turn. There’s a standout moment set to a Rolling Stones track from Goat’s Head Soup that’s up there with the best set pieces in recent memory—at least since Wright pulled off that bank job to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at the start of Baby Driver.
That’s the beauty of Wright’s work these days. You know what you’re in for: a couple of hours of pure escapism, clever nods, proper laughs, and a soundtrack packed with bangers. Not a bad way to spend an arvo, really.
From Spaced to the Big Screen
Wright’s knack for this mix didn’t come out of nowhere. He’s been at it since the late ‘90s, kicking off with Spaced, the cult Channel 4 series he put together with Simon Pegg. Across just 14 episodes, and with Nick Frost (who’d later join them in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), they built a sitcom loaded with video game gags, oddball characters, surreal storylines, and a downstairs neighbour called Brian who was a bit of a unit. It was like someone had designed a show just for students, and they lapped it up.
The show ended up laying the groundwork for Wright’s later comedies. You can spot the quick-fire edits, the love for ‘80s action flicks, and the killer soundtracks—think Chemical Brothers, Nightmares on Wax, Coldcut—right from the start.
Close Calls and Creative Risks
Even with just two short series, there were moments Wright now looks back on with a bit of a wince. As he put it to The AV Club:
“There were moments in the second season where if we didn’t jump the shark, we came very close.”
For those not across the lingo (or who never caught Happy Days), ‘jumping the shark’ is when a show’s run out of steam and tries something wild—like the Fonz literally jumping a shark on water-skis—to keep punters interested.
The Matrix Episode and Pop Culture Timing
Wright went on:
“I think looking back, we’re faintly embarrassed by the Matrix episode. Even though there’s loads of good jokes in that one. I think at the time, we thought The Matrix was as cool as we thought Star Wars was during the first season. It was very funny timing that the first and second series landed on either side of The Phantom Menace. It’s kind of amusing.”
Pegg and Wright were both mad for Star Wars—Pegg even wrote his uni thesis on it. Little did he know that thanks to the buzz around Spaced and the Cornetto trilogy, he’d end up not just playing a part in The Force Awakens in 2015, but also giving script advice to JJ Abrams on the film.