Edgar Wright from last night in Soho doesn’t want to give you homework, but he will

Edgar Wright’s new horror thriller Last night in Soho it’s packed with visual references. Moviegoers May Recognize A Shot Of Roman Polanski Repulsion here, a color scheme of Dario Argento Suspiria there. He loved Rita Tushingham in Tony Richardson’s 1961 drama. The taste of honey So much so, he chose her as a grandmother in Soho. I admired the Café De Paris in 1961 West End Jungle, so he recreated it as a featured set for one of SohoKey scenes. His list of cinematographic inspirations is long and full. They extend to music as well – he said the whole movie started as a series of prints around the 1960s playlist he selected from his parents’ records.

But she wants viewers to understand that they don’t need to know any of this to see the film, which stars Thomasin McKenzie as a shy London fashion school student who has visions that connect her to an aspiring theater star from the decade of the decade. 1960 (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her haunting new love interest (ex Doctor who star Matt Smith). Before the release of the film, the screenwriter and director of Shaun vs. the dead, Hot fluff, Baby driver, Scott Pilgrim vs. the world, and more indelible reference films spoke to Polygon about the film’s horror roots and inspirations, the giant movie playlist he gave his cast to consider inspirations, and why he doesn’t want to play Stanley’s signature game. Kubrick.

There has been a lot of conversation about either Last night in Soho should be considered a giallo movie. Are you involved in the debate or how is it categorized?

Edgar Wright: I mean, I enjoy the giallo movies, and they were certainly an influence. But in a strange way, I found myself stumbling back to find the source of those movies’ influences as well. The movies I searched for this movie were the ones that influenced the great giallo movies, dating back to British directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

I will not deny the influence of Dark red color or The bird with the crystal plumage, because I love those movies. But he was interested in what influenced those directors. Black daffodil It is not a giallo movie, but there are many elements in Black daffodil which obviously inspired the giallo movies. What I do like about the best of those films is how they become expressionist and operatic, and maybe they go slowly from one thing to another. The idea of ​​ending Last night in Soho with operatic horror it was always fate for me.

Thomasin McKenzie has said that when you brought her into the movie, you gave her a playlist of about 50 movies to watch.

I will say this, I always say this. I gave all the cast and crew members a hub and said, “Watch all you want, or not!” But the two most diligent people were Thomasin and Odile Dicks-Mireaux, my costume designer, who I think saw them all. But I never told him he had to see 50! She is just a very diligent young woman.

What did you want your cast and crew to get from the list?

Well, they weren’t all horror movies! In fact, more than half of them were dramas from the 60s, with some documentaries as well. I targeted different people at different things. Like, with Matt and Anya, I thought it would be interesting to show them movies from the time, because the acting on screen was different back then. So I asked Anya to see the John Schlesinger movie. Dear, or movies like [Edmond T. Gréville’s] Beat girl.

I think all of them, Matt, Anya and Thomasin, saw the Ken Loach movie. Poor cow, not just because Terence Stamp [who has a significant role in Last Night in Soho] is in it. It is also interesting to contrast a film like Dear with the work of Ken Russell. Because what is interesting in something like Poor cow, or even in documentaries, is that you see the reality of the sixties, more than the film version of the sixties. In the movies of the 60s, obviously there are costume designers and maybe a little elevated style. But sometimes when you watch documentaries, or even low-budget fiction movies, you get real, ready-to-wear clothes for costumes. There is a movie called like Secrets of a windmill girl, with Pauline Collins. It is not the best movie of all time. It’s quite an exploitative, moralistic drama. But because it’s a pretty cheap movie, it feels pretty accurate in terms of the actual clothing of the time.

You’ve talked about how this movie started with your own giant sixties music playlist, and then there’s this movie list. Is there a curatorial aspect to your work? Do you want to attract people to this music or these movies? Is it more about reflecting what you love?

I guess it’s a bit of both! It’s funny, doing press for this movie, I’ve written more lists [for cultural outlets] than ever before. The next movie I make, I’m not going to write a list.

I think what happens to me in terms of working with a team is that I just prefer full transparency. So many directors have the idea that they should be some kind of dark, mysterious author who never tells his team what the hell is going on and says, “This is my method, no one should know what I’m doing.” You hear too many stories about people trying to be the next Stanley Kubrick and leaving the rest of the team out. I’m not going to mention any names, but I’m going the opposite way. I’ll tell my cast and crew, especially working with a crew where we’re doing a lot of sixties scenes, “I’ll give you as much to listen, watch, read, watch as you want, and you can, but it’s not a read. Mandatory. If you want to immerse yourself in some things, this is interesting. “

I feel the same about movies. Sometimes people ask me, “What movies should I watch first? Last night in Soho? You don’t need to see any movie before watching it! The movie should work if it’s the first movie you’ve seen. [Laughs] Imagine that yeah Last night in Soho it was the first movie you ever watched. But it should work on its own terms. All the other stuff is just, like, further reading, “If you liked this, listen to it.” I posted a playlist for theaters, “Here are things to get you in the mood. Here’s a playlist, if theaters want to play this in the auditorium before the movie. These are songs that aren’t in the movie, but are all at the right time, just to set the mood. “But I don’t want to give anyone homework! It’s just additional reading.

But I want to find that person whose first movie is Last night in Soho. There must be somebody out there.

However, they may have to be very young.

Yes. They can get away with having irresponsible parents.

Polygon will have more of Edgar Wright next week, as he explains the filming process of one of the Last night in SohoMore complicated and fascinating scenes.