Shaun of the Dead might well have changed the fate of British cinema in the early 2000s, with a sharp, smart and original take on the zombie-horror genre unlike any ever seen before, and I revisit it very regularly indeed. Now, we can look inside the ‘Making Of‘ even further with this very exciting book You’ve Got Red on You: How Shaun of the Dead Was Brought to Life, by Clark Collis, which is set to be an anecdote-packed, 424-page look at the making of the 2004 horror-comedy, when it’s released on November 18 in the UK and November 23 in the US.
With such a revered film, it’s important that it’s done right and Collis’ book definitely appears to have done every ounce of research. The author interviewed dozens of Shaun of the Dead cast and crew members for the project, including director Edgar Wright, producer Nira Park, actors Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Bill Nighy, Lucy Davis, and Coldplay singer Chris Martin (there’s a segment where the band are included for a Zombie charity raise), as well as many of the extras who played zombies in the film. We’re told the book will take us from the origins as a back-of-a-taxi idea concocted by co-writers Wright and Pegg to the film’s current status as a pop culture phenomenon, even though it took some time to get the financial backing they needed to eventually become a genuine cult classic.
Publishers 1984 will release You’ve Got Red on You: How Shaun of the Dead Was Brought to Life in limited first edition deluxe hardcover packaging that includes red foil gilded page edges, foil cover treatment, and a black satin ribbon marker – it sounds wonderful and, yes, I’ve pre-ordered it already!
The tome also includes over 70 storyboards, handwritten brainstorming notes by Pegg and Wright,
and candid photographs. Most were sourced directly from the cast and crew’s personal archives! Cannot wait to delve in later this autumn… “How’s that for a slice of fried gold?”
critical popcorn 