Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy fights evil exes. Years after its release, the untold truth of
"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" further reinforces what a one-of-a-kind movie it turned out to be.
Even with all the famous roles Michael Cera has inhabited, it's still difficult
to separate him from his performance as Scott Pilgrim in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World."
Cera's distinctive film persona was just such a perfect fit for the character, and his gift
for timing means that he's responsible for the best line deliveries in the entire movie. Given
how snugly he fits into this role, it shouldn't be a surprise that director Edgar Wright always
envisioned the part as being one that only Cera could portray. As Wright told CinemaBlend in 2010:
"Michael was my first and only choice for the role."
Wright noted in the same CinemaBlend interview that he and co-writer Michael Bacall
first got the idea to cast Cera when they saw him in the acclaimed sitcom "Arrested Development."
They only wished he was older at the time, but as fate would have it, it took five years to get
"Scott Pilgrim" made. By the time casting rolled around, Cera was the perfect age.
"Hi, I was thinking about asking you out but then I realized how stupid that would be.
So do you want to go out some time?"
Wright also noted that another advantage to casting Cera in the part was the ability to
contrast the film's intense action sequences with the look and mannerisms of someone like Cera.
Plus, the young actor was Canadian, further cementing just how right he was for the part.
Edgar Wright movies often have tons of memorable
supporting performances, with the likes of "Baby Driver" or "Hot Fuzz" being two-character stories
chock full of unforgettable supporting figures. "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," meanwhile,
has the most packed cast of any Wright feature, with many of the characters developed far beyond
just one-dimensional stereotypes. Working with so many performers at once could intimidate some
filmmakers, but Wright embraced the chance to work with such a stacked ensemble cast.
As he explained to CinemaBlend, one of Wright's favorite things
about the film is the way you can watch supporting players in every single shot
and see a different version of the story unfolding. As Wright put it:
"That's very true to the books. In the books, there's this kind of peanut gallery feel where
there's things going on and nothing going on in the background, and the ensemble is always
doing something in the books. I tried to pull that off in the film as well."
"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" is a departure from other Edgar Wright movies in several key ways,
including that the project had a significantly bigger budget than prior Wright works like
"Shaun of the Dead." However, another key departure from Wright's other films was that
this British-born filmmaker was insistent that there were no British performers in the cast.
"You want to fight me...for her?"
"Was that not clear? Was that not clear?"
Of course, European talent is so widespread in the acting community that someone from
across the pond was bound to sneak onto the cast list for "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World."
Satya Bhabha, who played Matthew Patel in the film, was not just born in London,
but grew up in the same part of London as Wright himself. Bhabha's years working in America were
enough to help him keep Wright unaware of his history during the casting process.
One of the performances most critical to making "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" work
as well as it does is Ellen Wong's turn as Knives Chau. What could have been a passive performance,
the forgettable "other girl" to the more prominent Ramona Flowers, becomes unforgettable in Wong's
hands. What's especially impressive is that Wong makes sure Chau never lapses into being a mocking
caricature. Even when she's having a breakdown over Scott Pilgrim seeing another, older woman,
Wong injects a relatable quality into Chau's character that makes us fully
understand her perspective. Given just how perfectly she inhabited this role,
it can be shocking to hear that, initially,
Wong was convinced she had no chance at securing the part. As she told Entertainment Weekly:
"As an Asian actress, I was never going out for a role like this.
This was not the type of role that I would be able to even look at."
Thankfully, for the sake of the overall movie,
Wong not only auditioned for "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" but also scored the part of Knives,
in the process ensuring this film would have one of its most important performances.
"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" has garnered varying degrees of responses to its approach regarding
female characters. However, one objectively true fact about the film is that there are several
women in the story beyond Scott Pilgrim's love interests Ramona Flowers and Knives Chau. Played
by the likes of Brie Larson and Aubrey Plaza, among others, these characters and their comedic
moments are some of Edgar Wright's favorite parts of this production. As he told Collider:
"The thing I'm really pleased about with this film, as opposed to some of the other comedies
out there — and even stuff I've done before — is that it has a lot of funny women in it."
Given how the characters played by performers like Plaza and Larson became some of the
most beloved scene-stealers in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,"
it's a good thing Wright made time to shine the spotlight on multiple women in the film.
While a widely acclaimed project, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" has, like any movie,
not been without some criticism. Most notably, the film has been critiqued for its casting,
which largely employed white actors. Among those who have registered grievances with
this is Bryan Lee O'Malley, who penned the film's source graphic novels. An author of
French-Canadian and Korean heritage, O'Malley has been open about his issues with the eventual
casting of the "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" movie. In a post on his blog, Radio Maru:
"Honestly, when I saw the Scott Pilgrim movie it was kind of appalling to see just
how white it was — to not even really see myself represented on the screen."
He went on to note that the casting of this film was a key influence in his decision to
add more diversity to his subsequent works, including books like "Seconds." These comments
reflect the complicated legacy of even movies as well-received as "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World."
American movies filmed in Canada are a dime a dozen, thanks to the country's generous tax
incentives. However, these productions usually use Canadian backdrops to double as other places,
including famous American cities. "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" departed from this norm by taking a
cue from its source material and setting Scott's story in specific locations all across Toronto,
Canada. To make sure he approached these backdrops properly, Edgar Wright did his homework
and committed fully to understanding just where he'd be shooting "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World."
The Globe and Mail noted that "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"
was one of the biggest films to be set in Toronto up to that point.
This feat was accompanied by Wright spending countless hours observing the terrain of Toronto
and making sure "Scott Pilgrim" would utilize landmarks in the area. Bryan Lee O'Malley's
graphic novels are extremely specific in terms of where in Toronto they take place, and Wright
made a commitment to recreate that with the film. Committing to this backdrop is emblematic of the
specific details that make "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" such a uniquely entertaining experience.
The hardest action scene The assorted action sequences in "Scott Pilgrim
vs. the World" are a masterful blend of visual and auditory elements that required a lot of effort to
execute. But one particular action scene turned out to be the most challenging part of "Scott
Pilgrim vs. the World" to film. This was none other than the climactic showdown between Scott
Pilgrim and Gideon Graves. As Wright recalled in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:
"And then there was this final set piece on a pyramid. Suddenly, we slowed down to
doing 10 shots in a day, which is very slow for me. I sat there on top of this pyramid,
looking down at these enormous platforms being maneuvered around and I thought,
'Whose idea was this?' And it was mine."
While the scene itself proved to be exhilarating to watch unfold in a movie theater, it's apparent
the complicated sets and choreography made it an enormous undertaking to actually shoot.
Thankfully, for Wright and company, all of that effort ended up paying off handsomely
since this climactic battle closed out "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" on an exciting high note.
From the very start, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" makes it apparent you're going
to watch something special when a performance from the band Sex Bob-omb triggers a visually
aggressive opening credits sequence. The names of key cast and crew members are
displayed against frantic animation and a wave of colors that clue the viewer in
on the kind of visually unpredictable and audacious movie they're about to absorb.
In breaking this sequence down for The Art of the Title Sequence, Edgar Wright revealed several
fascinating facets of this segment, including that its very existence came at the suggestion
of Quentin Tarantino after the "Pulp Fiction" director saw an early screening of the film.
The artists in charge of crafting these opening credits also had to come up with
their own unique visuals — they couldn't draw from imagery in either the film itself or the
"Scott Pilgrim" graphic novels. It took an enormous amount of effort and craft to
pull off such an unusual approach to an opening credits sequence, but the result was something
that made "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" a captivating experience right from the start.
Music plays a big part in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World." How could it not?
After all, Scott plays in a band called Sex Bob-omb and so many of the film's big action
scenes begin with bands performing on stage. But music's influence in this film was not just
limited to in-universe performances. The world of musicals also had a significant influence
on how Edgar Wright composed the various major action set pieces. As the director told Collider:
"We thought it should play out like a musical in a way,
in terms of the fights are not dissimilar to the songs. I always thought there were
a lot of martial arts films that were like musicals, so we wanted to take that further."
You see the results onscreen, as many of the film's fight scenes play out like elaborate
dance numbers. It was a style Wright would take a step further years later,
with his musically inspired car chase film "Baby Driver."
In the aftermath of "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" failing to take the box office by storm,
the conversation inevitably turned to what went wrong. One recurring answer as to how
such an acclaimed film failed to click with audiences was to look at the film's marketing,
which many deemed lackluster and a key culprit in the box office performance. Of course, those who
made the film have their own thoughts as to what it was like to advertise such an unorthodox title.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly for the film's 10th anniversary in 2020, Wright opened up about
the disappointment, noting how tempting it was to blame other people for the failure. The director
has been asked numerous times over the years what the key factor was for the film's box office
disappointment, but he's always been resistant to the idea that just one thing was responsible.
In the end, Wright just seemed glad that the film found new life on home video. As he told EW:
"After the film didn't open well, I realized the thing to do is to take responsibility for
it but also just believe in the fact that it was a good film and people would find it eventually."
And people did indeed find it eventually. Today,
"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" is considered one of the great cult classics of the 2010s.
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