At a recent round-table interview with the cast, filmmakers, and author (Bryan Lee O’Malley), of the much-hyped “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” the film’s director Edgar Wright revealed no current plans for a possible sequel to what could be the hit of the late summer. While the movie isn’t even out yet, and so it seems all too premature to start speculating on sequels, it is well known that such is the state of the industry that sequels are often planned before the first movie is even shot (see: all comic book properties). Wright seems to be taking a different approach to that thinking, saying, “Well, to be honest, we’re lucky to have made one. We’d [have] been laughed out of the studio . “Narnia” is having a hard time making it to three and that book has sold billions of copies. Even if we would have had the option, I’m not sure we’d want to be working on an adaptation of “Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour” in 2022. It feels nice that everything has climaxed in the same year, both the books and the film, and Bryan Lee O’Malley was key in putting his stamp on both.”
O’Malley himself commented on the future of the ‘Scott Pilgrim’ series, only revealing,”“I have always wanted to do a Scott Pilgrim special features book….It feels good [to be done], I’m ready to do something else and say something else but I’m going to take it easy for a bit.” A special features book, you say? Sounds intriguing. The line between graphic novel and film grows more nebulous everyday, and a special features book riffing on the DVD format sounds like a fun next step. Perhaps timed to a DVD release? Sounds all too perfect.
The director and author/artist also commented on incorporating the style of the graphic novel into the film. Wright fully embraced the freedom of the graphic novel style and used other reference points to flesh out the visual look, saying, “I really like the style of the artwork and the film is a comedy, not gritty or realistic. I just really wanted to embrace the pop art nature of comics. Maybe because of the Batman television series, which I always liked as a kid but became a dirty word in the 1980s when “The Dark Knight Returns” came out. But there are things about the ’60s and ’70s books, the colors, that really embraced the pop art and fun that I appreciated.”
And O’Malley has given the stamp of approval and then some to Wright’s completed cinematic vision, even saying that Wright’s matching of the film’s style to the style of the books, “was unexpected to me at first. I didn’t realize he was going to be quite so devoted to the look of the books. I never felt like I was a strong visual stylist, although I guess I’m mistaken….The film looks like a comic book and I thought it was amazing… [The film] looks like a fully realized world.”
The video game elements of the film are also an integral part to the style and storytelling, which is evident even from the trailers. Screenwriter and actor Michael Bacall reiterated its narrative purpose, saying, “we wanted it to have a mythological underpinning rather than to come off as a gimmick. We wanted to integrate it with the story in a non-obnoxious manner.”
It’s clear that the filmmakers have put a lot of thought and craft into the film, and it remains to be seen if that will pay off with mainstream audiences. The market is saturated with ‘Scott Pilgrim’ hype right now, and the buzz coming off of the secret screening Wright surprised fans with at the SP Comic-Con panel has been deafening. The crucial question now is, will the mainstream audience hear that? One thing’s for sure, star Michael Cera sees no reason why it won’t: “I can’t think of any reason why only comic books fans would appreciate it. It is what it is: fun.” – reporting by Drew Morton