ComingSoon.net attended the UK press junket for Richard Curtis’ Pirate Radio, at which we spoke with actor Nick Frost, who plays ultra-hip ’60s DJ “Doctor Dave.”
During the roundtable interview, the subject of Frost’s next film Paul came up. When asked how the script he co-wrote with his co-star Simon Pegg compared to those written by Pegg and his long-time collaborator Edgar Wright, Frost explained, “I guess Simon and Edgar are slightly similar in how they work, and I am a little bit darker, and a little bit more raw.”
Frost also pointed out that despite not having written Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, he had a creative input in the films, and that his work on Paul was a progression from this. “I think that’s going to continue on into ‘World’s End.’ I’m not sure if the three of us are going to write this one, or if Simon and Edgar are going to have a first pass and I script edit”.
He followed this up by telling us that there were differences between Paul and his previous work, but did clarify that the film itself wasn’t “darker,” simply his own writing style.
During the interview, Frost also discussed how difficult the movie’s filming had been. “Any shot that Paul was in, we had to do him with no-one there, then with a little fella wearing a green suit, then a kid with a mask on, then a man holding a grey ball, then a lighting puppet, then ‘Mr. Eyes,’ which is a stick with eyes on it. Then nothing. Then red lights, which was our eye-line.”
Asked how that compared to the entirely CG animated The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the first of two “Tintin” movies directed by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, respectively, Frost told us, “‘Tintin’ was weird enough. At least with ‘Tintin’ everyone’s there. Everyone’s on the set and you’re acting with real people”.
This led to an anecdote about how Spielberg came to be involved with the “Tintin” franchise. According to Frost, Spielberg had originally been made aware of “Tintin” during the publicity tour for the original “Indiana Jones” film. Various members of the press had compared Jones to Tintin, which inspired Spielberg to research the character, and eventually purchase the rights.
Pirate Radio opens in the United States on November 13.
