In the film industry today, when we have a look at the filmmakers who are also auteurs in the industry, names such as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee and Wes Anderson ring people’s attention. Now what is the difference between a normal director and an auteur director, you may ask? A director of a film would be the person in control of the film and ensure the film is satisfactory and meets the producer’s requirements. An auteur, however, although the producer’s requirements are important, the director would make the film in a personal and artistic approach, making them the author of the film. The filmmakers mentioned above are the most recognisable auteurs amongst film critics and general viewers, but are there filmmakers from the United Kingdom who are alive and would be considered as auteurs? Well, there is one lad who started off his career in television and is now creating art in the form of comedy gold.
21 years ago, Edgar Wright, the British filmmaker who is known for giving us the three flavours of Cornetto, a slacker fighting for his love, high speed heists with killer tracks and a glamorous time travelling psychological thriller, introduced a new style of filmmaking that had led to being used in future films as well as influencing and inspiring future filmmakers. 9 years after his directorial debut A Fistful of Fingers (1995), Edgar Wright wrote and directed Shaun of the Dead (2004), which led to a film that is still spoken about by people today! This film is the medium that introduced his signature auteur styles such as dolly zooms, the utilisation of popular music and his peculiar transitions and editing styles. Through this we will go in depth on how Edgar Wright can be considered as an auteur and how he still manages to maintain his style of filmmaking through the different types of films he produces. Although Shaun of the Dead may be the film that earned him recognition in the industry, it was not the first medium in Wright’s career to introduce this.
Edgar Wright’s Cinematic Sitcom
Back in 1999, Edgar Wright directed all fourteen episodes of the British sitcom Spaced, written by Jessica Hynes and Simon Pegg. Spaced followed the adventures of Daisy and Tim (played by Hynes and Pegg), filled with a haul of pop culture references and the birth of Edgar Wright’s peculiar editing and film narrating style. During the time of broadcast, television’s sitcoms or any other programmes that were telecast or made for television would have their own recognisable mise-en-scene, which included the camerawork, colour palettes and production design. However, Edgar Wright decided to break all of these cliche patterns and created a new form of television by applying a cinematic style to a sitcom. Instead of the conventional transitions such as jump cuts and fades, Edgar Wright applied his creativity towards transitioning scenes by including pans or moments where he would change the entire scene in the middle of a pan transition shot.
Edgar Wright is famous for his continuous shot transition, where he would end shot X with an action and start shot Y in the same way he had ended the previous shot with the same object or action. This can be seen in many moments in Spaced but most particularly in the very first episode, where we have the character Tim leaving his ex-girlfriend’s house and a car drives past. Edgar Wright cleverly edited this scene with the next shot of Daisy paying her taxi, starting with a car driving past as well. Edgar Wright continues this feature in many of his future projects in the film industry, such as Scott Pilgrim vs the World, where the shot wound end with a close up of Michael Cera and the next shot would start with the same close up of Cera doing the same expression or action.
As this is a television show, would it be acceptable to have a sitcom in a cinematic approach or have it be considered as one of Wright’s portfolios? Spaced ended up being a huge success within television, with audiences appreciating this unique style and demanding a third season following the conclusion of season 2, which sadly did not occur. The show did in fact reunite Edgar Wright with the film industry, where a particular episode inspired him and Simon Pegg to write and create “a slice of fried gold.”
From TV Classic to Cult Classic
In the third episode of the first season “Art”, Spaced opened with Simon Pegg’s character pretending he is in a zombie invasion while playing a video game. Along with this, an inspiration from George A. Romero’s Dead series, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg wrote their own zombie film, now known as Shaun of the Dead (2004). With the huge success of the filmmaking style inherited from Spaced, Wright and Pegg conveyed their love for pop culture through excessive references, drawing inspiration from films such as Night of the Living Dead (1969), Back to the Future (1985) and The Birds (1963). Wright reused the editing style he had employed in Spaced but introduced it to the film industry through his use of in camera transitions, whip pans and pan transitions throughout the film, managing to make a normal Monday morning look interesting and fun. This ongoing filmmaking style of Edgar Wright is favoured by his films and film viewers and is described as enabling powerful visual storytelling, making his films more active and eye catching, However, despite the known traditional styles, Edgar Wright introduces an auteur feature in the writing of his films that he continues to use in his later projects.
Edgar Wright adds the theme of ‘magical realism’ to his projects, a style that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements. He has used this feature in nearly all of his works: zombies in Shaun of the Dead, gaming action sequences in Scott Pilgrim vs the World, androids in The World’s End and ghosts in Last Night in Soho. It can be argued that Hot Fuzz also contains magical realism, as although the whole narrative deals with serial killings (a real topic), Edgar Wright adds “magic” through the unrealistic yet stylistic action sequences inspired by Hollywood cop actions. This is something appreciated by co-writer and lead Simon Pegg, who described it as “it’s magical realism, Edgar’s style of direction…” [Orange, 2004].
Shaun of the Dead is also famous for its use of “mickey-mousing” through major scenes. This is a feature in which the actions of the characters sync with the beat of the background music. Although already popularised, particularly in Disney films (hence the name), Edgar Wright took this technique further not only, using it for comedic purposes but showing it could work effectively in live acton films. The most notable example is the scene where Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now plays while characters attack a zombie with pool sticks and their strikes perfectly syncing with the drum beats of the song. Wright later used this technique extensively in Baby Driver, a film filled with killer tracks where high speed car chase sequences sync with the soundtrack. Today, with 21 years of the film being out, Shaun of the Dead is argued to be one of the greatest British comedies of all time and is rewatched by audiences worldwide, inspiring Edgar Wright to produce more films in Hollywood and establishing him as an auteur director.
The International Debut
After directing Hot Fuzz, another film centred around the United Kingdom, Edgar Wright directed Scott Pilgrim vs The World, his first feature film outside the UK. The film is adapted from the Canadian graphic novels Scott Pilgrim, setting the story in Canada with an American cast. Although both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz were appreciated by audiences across the globe, would the same humour and filmmaking style work in a different setting? While Wright managed to keep the writing appropriate for the film’s setting through its dialogue and context, he maintained the same technical filmmaking styles, portraying certain themes and representations of the characters throughout. Despite the signature whip-pans and quick cuts that are breathed in and out by Wright, he still makes this his brand through the writing of the characters and themes explored in the film. The ongoing element of ‘magical realism’ that Wright often includes in his stories is also present in this film. He wrote the action sequences in a fantastical, video game inspired style, while keeping the conversational and scenes with subtle actions such as Scott doing his shoelaces in a realistic approach.
Additionally, Edgar Wright raises the importance of exploring themes and character development within the protagonist. Scott Pilgrim vs the World follows Scott who struggles with commitment issues and anxiety throughout the film which leads him towards most of his problems. However, we see the character development of him realising this and figuring out the resolution towards his problems in the climax. This is something Edgar Wright had previously explored in Shaun of the Dead through the character Shaun, who was irresponsible at start but later matured through the events in the film. This is also portrayed in Wright’s later project Baby Driver through the character Baby, who was a getaway driver for crime activities and later changed himself and used his talents for legal and appropriate jobs. However, the most significant change in Edgar Wright’s career came in 2021.
Edgar Wright’s Genre Leap
After building his filmography in comedy with light and energetic tones, Edgar Wright took his first major step outside his comfort zone with Last Night in Soho (2021). Last Night in Soho turned out to be a coming of age psychological thriller which Wright originally had the idea for in 2007 while he was still making comedies but did not start to work on until 2017 after Baby Driver. Having been inspired by his parents’ stories of growing up in the 60s, Edgar Wright writes his love letter to the 60s through this glamorous, vintage, dark valentine filled with nostalgia. Although Scott Pilgrim vs the World pushed Wright outside the UK geographically, it is still his conventional comedy. Baby Driver, however, would be considered as his first genre experiment where he went on to direct a heist action based drama, however the film was still filled with jokes and was in the lighter tones despite the graphic violence depicted in the film. Last Night in Soho is his first film that had serious storytelling filled with psychological twists and stylish making. If this film is considered the “outsider” in Wright’s filmography, the question becomes what has he done in this film that is relevant to him and his previous works, if he is considered as an auteur?
Before analysing what he had done that represents him, it is important to acknowledge what he had done new in this new style of film he has produced. When we analyse Edgar Wright’s previous characters such as Shaun, Nicholas, Scott and Baby, although there is major character development within them impacted from certain events of the narrative, his characters never really had any multiple layers and emotions within them. We see various emotions within the character Ellie in Last Night in Soho where she is introduced as a keen, aspiring student who is confident in her passion towards fashion, but she is still shy and struggling to cope with London, Soho’s environment as well as feeling intimidated by her classmates and being haunted by the nightmares she is getting of Sandie’s traumatic past. Even though the film had been praised well critically by being nominated for Outstanding British Film at the BAFTAs, the film was criticised by most audiences due to the film not being in the same style of Edgar Wright’s usual take on films. Still, Edgar managed to keep the film personal, ambitious and visually stunning, demonstrating his ability to adapt while retaining a strong artistic identity.
Having looked at the remarkable work of Edgar Wright, we can proudly say he is an auteur through his technical and writing signature styles that would work no matter the location or genre of his films. Within general movie fans, they would be able to identify the editorial style of Wright for his consistent use of quick and match cuts which he had been successfully using and appreciated through his career. From this, we can identify that this is the prime signature that invites the audiences to watch an Edgar Wright film for their love towards his fast paced storytelling as well as making his films look entertaining and not dull through his editing. His stylishly choreographed action sequences and hidden details invite multiple viewings, rewarding fans with fresh discoveries. For viewers who would deeply analyse his films, his signature styles would also be concluded in the writing of his characters being the same, where all his characters have major character development impacted by major events and have a happy and satisfied ending if the film ends on a major turnover. Although his previous film Last Night in Soho had been a big commute in his filmmaking style, we would still brand the film as an “Edgar Wright film” through his auteur editing, characters and the magical realism towards his stories even through genres he had never attempted before.
Edgar Wright’s latest film The Running Man is released in UK cinemas on the 12th November
Kishan Sothi is a London based freelance writer, film critic and content creator. He graduated with a degree in Media and Film and shares film content through essays, film reviews and content on TikTok. Kishan takes particular interest in indie and comedy films as well as taking part in stand up comedy.
