Five Fun Facts About Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
In our opinion, no film captures the video game feel quite like Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Aside the obvious arcade homages that decorate the film, Wright creates a cinematic experience that’s enjoyably repetitive, relentless, exhausting, and rewarding in the same ways a side-scrolling brawler is. Wright’s film is a hyper-stylized, all-out assault on the senses, filled with great tunes, witty dialogue, boss battles, and coins! Since the recent release of Mortal Kombat put us in a video game mood (and because Scott Pilgrim is getting a re-release on April 30th), we figured we’d tell this Edgar Wright gem to “get over here,” so we can dish out some rocking fun facts about the film and its production!
We have Quentin Tarantino to thank for the title sequence.
That’s right, we have none other than QT to thank for Scott Pilgrim’s kinetic, colorful, and rockin’ opening title sequence. Edgar Wright would frequently consult with more experienced directors throughout the filmmaking process, among them were Guillermo del Toro, Sam Raimi, and Quentin Tarantino.
When Wright screened an early cut of the film for Tarantino, it only had the film’s title (without credits) over the long living room band shot (which appears before the credit sequence we know and love today). After the screening, Tarantino suggested “a title sequence at the start to let people settle in and hint more about what we were about to see." He thought that this would also allow the film to introduce its ensemble of characters without overwhelming them or stymieing the plot. With a pre-title sequence, the viewer is given a chance to relax into the film and sync up with its energetic frequency.
Wright ultimately agreed, and he hired Richard Kenworthy of Shynola to design the sequence. When describing it to the Shymola crew, Wright said he wanted it to be "2001 meets Sesame Street,” and went on to say that he "wanted to visualize the music and have every graphic, symbol, and subliminal image in time with the music — a hypnotic barrage of color, light, and music. The idea was to have it as if the animation is a manifestation of how cool the music is in Knives' head. That's why [they] end the sequence on her watching, the titles are like her brain is exploding with how cool the track is."
Wright paid Tarantino back with a hilarious homage.
Edgar Wright has said that he specifically included a close-up shot of Ramona’s feet during her date with Scott as a direct tribute to his filmmaking friend’s notorious foot fetish. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays Ramona Flowers in the film, also previously appeared in Tarantino’s film Death Proof, and her feet (along with many other female feet) are prominently featured and inappropriately harassed by Kurt Russell. Perhaps, Tarantino had mentioned that he wanted another taste and Wright obliged. Perhaps, all of this is like PTA’s Magnolia: just coincidence.
The film is STEEPED in Nintendo nods.
It’s no secret that Scott Pilgrim is heavily inspired by video games, but it’s a bit surprising just how Nintendo heavy the film really is, which range from the obvious to the obscure. The film uses the names, imagery, sound effects, and music from many classic Nintendo games (including the theme music from the 1991 SNES favorite The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past). There are even scenes that feature various Nintendo gaming consoles as well.
Wright wrote a letter to Nintendo to ask their permission to use The Legend of Zelda theme, saying that it was considered as "the nursery rhyme of this generation." Apparently, that did the trick as several sound effects from the game can also be heard throughout the scenes in Scott's band practice room.
The many bands within the film, as well as some of its locations, get their names from deep-cut Nintendo references. For instance, "The Clash at Demonhead" (Envy Adams' band), gets its name from a lesser-known NES game, Clash at Demonhead. Scott Pilgrim's band, Sex Bob-Omb, is a reference to Super Mario Bros. 2, which features an enemy character named Bob-omb that looks like a small, round bomb with a lit fuse, legs, and eyes. An image resembling this character can be found on the band's kick drum. The name "Chaos Theatre" gets its name from the Super Nintendo game EarthBound. In the game, a band called the Runaway Five is held under a massive debt by the theater owner and forced to perform nightly. In the movie, Wright pushes this comparison even further: strapped for cash, Sex Bob-omb are shown playing there as part of a contract with Gideon, which makes the whole "sell out and make money and stuff" exclamation all the more funny.
Ironically, the video game adaptation of the film released in 2010 (titled: “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game”) was initially released only for Playstation 3 and XBOX 360. It wasn’t until 11 years later, on January 14th 2021 that the game appeared on the Nintendo Switch.
There are symbolic numbers all over the place.
All throughout the film, Scott is squaring off against all of Romona’s Evil Exes, who all have numbers that correspond to them.
Evil Ex 1 (Matthew Patel) has a 1 chevron on his left shoulder.
Evil Ex 2 (Lucas Lee) has a 2 on the trailer, a 2 on the car, and a small tattoo of 2”on his neck. His belt buckle even has two X's.
Evil Ex 3 (Todd Ingram) has a 3 on his shirt and a 3 on the posters on the wall. Also 3’s appear on the trash cans in the alley.
Evil Ex 4 (Roxy Richter) has the number 4 on the night club door (and actress Mae Whitman also appeared alongside Micheal Cera in Arrested Development)
Evil Exes 5 & 6 (twins Kyle and Ken Katayanagi) both turn their amp system up to 11 (which is 5+6) — and a very tongue in cheek reference to Spinal Tap.
When Scott goes to see Gideon, Evil Ex 7, there is mention to them being on the 7th level. When Gideon makes his sword appear, all of the stats read "x7". He also makes a reference to the gum he swallows to being in his digestive tract for 7 years. The final score after Scott defeats Gideon is 7,000,000,000. Also, Gideon's initials are GGG, with G being the 7th letter in the alphabet
Scott even has his own numerical theme, which is zero. He can be seen wearing a Smashing Pumpkins shirt with “Zero” on the front, and he also drinks nothing but Coke Zero. This is to signify that he’s not an Evil Ex.
Made-up bands with real-life rock n’ roll creators.
The film’s bands may be made up, but they have roots in real-life rockers.
American rock musician Beck wrote and performed all the songs for Sex Bob-Omb, and he also wrote the song “Romona” Scott sings. Scott also dishes out a reference to two Beck song’s off the Album “Midnite Vultures” (“Peaches and Cream" and "Nicotine and Gravy”) when he tells Romona that “everything is peaches and gravy.”
The Canadian band Broken Social Scene wrote two 4-second songs ("We hate you, please die" and "I'm so sad, so very, very, sad") for Crash and the Boys.
Metric, another Canadian band, wrote the song “Black Sheep” for Scott’s rival band, The Clash at Demonhead. Metric recorded two versions of the song; one with their lead singer, Emily Haines, which was used in the film and on the soundtrack, and one with lyrics by Brie Larson, which later became a fan-favorite.
Cornelius Keigo Oyamada, an electronic musician from Japan, provided the music that the the Katayanagi Twins perform.
Bonus Fun Fact: The four cast members that made up the band "Sex Bob-Omb" spent several weeks learning how to play together as a band. Mark Webber, Alison Pill, and Johnny Simmons had never played an instrument before and had to learn from scratch; whereas, Michael Cera, who knew his way around the bass, had to "dumb down" his bass playing in order to not outshine his band mates.
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!