Dead put serious life
into the careers of
its filmmakers and stars
Simon Pegg
AGE 47
Shaun
Pegg starred on
British TV shows
likeBig Train and
Spaced.UP NEXTMission:
Impossible 6 andSlaugh-
terhouse Rulez, a horror-
comedy from Stolen
Picture, his and Nick
Frost’s new company.Nick Frost
AGE 45
Ed
Frost traded in
his waiter’s
apron to play
the childhood friend of
Pegg’s character on
Spaced.UP NEXTReteam-
ing with Pegg onSlaugh-
terhouse Rulez, plus the
new U.K. sitcomSick Note.Kate Ashfield
AGE 45
Liz
The actress
stood out in
the 2001 film
The Low Downwith Aidan
Gillen.UP NEXTCo-wrote
the new British show
Born to Kill, which she
co-created, about
a teenage psychopath.Bill Nighy
AGE 67
Philip
After a host of
supporting
roles, Nighy got
his big break playing
Billy Mack in 2003’sLove
Actually.UP NEXTStars
in the ’50s-set drama
The BookshopandHeidi:
Queen of the Mountain.SHAUN
SPAWN
hese days, the idea of a zombie romantic comedy directed byBaby Driver
filmmaker Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost seems like
horror-fan catnip. But when Wright and Pegg first conceived of 2004’s
Shaun of the Dead, it was the longest of shots. Wright had almost no track
record as a director, Pegg and Frost were unknown outside the U.K., and the
concept of a comedic love story inspired by the gore-filled universe of
director George A. Romero’sNight of the Living Dead franchise appeared
downright perverse. “It really was quite unusual at the time,” says Kate Ash-
field, the film’s female lead. “They called it a ‘rom-zom-com.’ You think: ‘I’ve
never heard of one of those before.’ ” Now the movie’s creators and cast
recall how they breathed new life into Romero’s shambling ghouls and cre-
ated a cult classic. To quote one of the most memorable lines from the film,
“How’s that for a slice of fried gold?”¶Shaun of the Deadhad its origins in
the Wright-directed sitcomSpaced about two apartment-sharing London
slackers named Tim (Pegg) and Daisy (Jessica Hynes), which debuted on the
U.K.’s Channel 4 in September 1999 and ran for two seasons.SHAUN OF THE DEAD: BIG TALK/KOBAL/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK (2); PEGG: ALBERT L. ORTEGA/GETTY IMAGES; FROST: MATTHEW EISMAN/GETTY IMAGES; ASHFIELD: PAUL ARCHULETA/FILMMAGIC; NIGHY: MATT CROSSICK/GETTY IMAGES