Shaun of the Dead with Wine in Lichfield
- Tony Elvin
- 10 hours ago
- 8 min read
Looks like it all blew over and what a fun night we had in the midst of a zombie invasion in Lichfield!? As promised, read on for details on the tenuously paired wines, our Shaun of the Dead trivia and the gallery starring you!
Tony's Apocalyptic Wine Selection
The recently launched Charmat method English Sparking from The Wine Caverns, made exclusively by the Silverhand Estate in Kent.
Like Shaun English sparkling is reliably British, maybe a bit bumbling at first, but rises to the occasion. Beneath the laid-back surface lies quality and surprising depth. Charming under pressure, occasionally fizzing over.
Superstar grape of North West Spain, increasingly popular, and the price is following, so this is a bargain. Produced by Bodegas Pazo Cilleiro, this is a multi award winning wine. White flowers and stone fruits on the nose, citrus, peach and an Atlantic Ocean salinity on the palate. This wine is produced in Val do Salnes, near Pontevedra, the largest sub region of Rias Baixas.
This wine is paired with Liz, the palate cleanser for Shaun’s life. Elegant, structured and no nonsense.
3) Emilana Novas Riesling Gran Reserva, Bio Bio, Chile - Online £12.50 (£10.95 on offer right now)
Award winning Riesling from Organic / Biodynamic producer Emilliana. These vines are planted in the Southern Chilean region of Bio Bio, one of Chile's more extreme wine-producing regions, experiencing more wind, rain and climatic variation than most of the rest of the country. The cooler climate is perfect for producing such an aromatic wine. Lime, honeysuckle and petrol notes on the nose, fresh lime and a mouthwatering salinity on the palate.
This wine is paired with Ed. Riesling is unpredictable, fun and loveable, things can get messy if you have too much.
From the home of Barolo and Moscato comes this wonderful red wine from North West Italy. Aromas of blackberries, plums and black cherries leading through to the palate where it is accompanied by soft tannins and a savoury spiciness.
Barbera paired with Barbera - Delicate, yet complex, structured with a comforting ‘Mum energy’.
Fruity Shiraz in a cooler-climate style (think Northern Rhone) has concentrated mulberry and black pepper notes combined with soft plummy fruit flavours, and smooth, savoury tannins.
Yep, we've paired a wine with a pub .. Smoky and intense, that’s the Winchester. A real fortress of a wine from Victoria, Australia and the location for Shaun and the team's Last Stand.
The Winchester Pub Regulars Scrapbook
Deadly Trivia
When Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg began pitching this movie, Film4 Productions showed interest in it. Then, Film4 significantly cut back its budget, leaving the movie without a production company for a while. Because Wright was still hoping to get this movie made, he held off on taking other directing jobs while searching for new financing for this movie, and ended up having to borrow money from his friends. "For me to take on a television job, meant that I was like pushing the film back, so ... I was going rapidly broke. I was like majorly in the red." According to Wright, Pegg still hasn't allowed him to pay back the money he owes him from those lean times.
Nick Frost (Ed) allegedly kept his genitals shaved throughout the production to create a genuine need to scratch that the character demanded.
When asked by an interviewer why they chose to have slow moving zombies instead of running zombies, Simon Pegg simply replied, "Because death is not an energy drink."
Shaun walks past a road sign for Weston Park, which is a street in Crouch End, London, the same locale as Spaced (1999), and where Simon Pegg now lives.
Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright considered a sequel that would replace zombies with another monster, but decided against it, as they were pleased with this movie as a stand-alone product, and thought too many characters died to continue the story. The proposed title was "From Dusk till Shaun". However, this idea did have an afterlife, a mocked up poster can be seen for the film in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).
Quentin Tarantino dubbed this as one of the top twenty movies made since 1992.
Spaced Out
When Shaun, Liz, David, Dianne, Barbara, and Ed run into the alternative "gang" as they make their way to the Winchester, there are quite a few comedy partnerships brought together again. Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes - Tim and Daisy from Spaced (1999). Lucy Davis and Martin Freeman - Dawn and Tim from The Office (2001). Dylan Moran and Tamsin Greig - Bernard and Fran from Black Books (2000). Julia Deakin and Nick Frost are, of course, in Spaced too, as Marsha and Mike, respectively.
Many of the zombie extras are fans of Spaced (1999), which also starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and was also directed by Edgar Wright. They were recruited through the Spaced Out fan website.
The garden scenes were originally a lot longer, featuring a hanged man zombie and a woman being eaten by her own dog (The dog was intended to be played by Spaced (1999)'s Colin).
Down the Winchester
John and Bernie run the Winchester. These are the real names of the landlord and landlady who used to run Simon Pegg's local pub, the Shepherds in Highgate. John used to make toasted sandwiches for regulars, hence the reference to "the Breville out back." Pegg and Nick Frost were regular attendees of the Shepherd's Thursday night quiz, hence the line "we do the quiz" when Shaun is knocking on the Winchester's door.
The rifle they use in the Winchester is, naturally, a Winchester model 66. It is the same weapon used in Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Night of the Living Dead (1990).
When the team is barricaded at the pub, Ed turns on a loud slot machine, which Shaun promptly turns off by pulling the plug. Before he does so, the few musical notes indicates that the song theme is "Phantom of the Opera", a weird choice since the game is clearly named "Dracula". The fruit machine is made by Barcrest, and is called "OOH AH DRACULA", and also features in Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013).
In the beginning, after Liz splits up with Shaun, the jukebox in the Winchester plays "If You Leave Me Now" by Chicago. Ed says, "Who the hell put this on?", and Shaun replies, "It's on random." Later, in the Winchester, it plays "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen, Shaun says, "Who the hell put this on?", and Ed replies, "It's on random."
When Shaun's girlfriend objects to going out to the Winchester, he suggest a few other pubs, one of which is the Shepherds, which actually used to be Simon Pegg's local pub in Highgate, until it was closed and reopened as a themed bar.
Just Three Cornettos ..
According to Edgar Wright, Cornettos appear in this movie is because he once ate a Cornetto to get over a hangover, and thought it would be funny if Ed did the same after a night of drinking.
As this is the first part of the unofficial Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy, the red wrapper (strawberry flavor) makes its appearance in this movie. According to Edgar Wright, red represents the blood and zombies, which is the main motif in this movie. For Wright's other movies, Hot Fuzz (2007), it was blue and vanilla flavor, representing the Police, while in the final part, The World's End (2013), it was green and peppermint with chip, representing science fiction and extraterrestrial elements.
When Shaun and the group are running out of Liz's flat, they are all carrying weapons of some kind, but only Shaun actually hits any zombies. This was because only the cricket bat that Shaun was carrying was a padded fake, all of the other items were real, and would have hurt the extras playing zombies if they had been hit with them.
There's something about Mary
The zombie that Shaun and Ed find in their garden is Mary, the check-out girl from this movie's credit montage. A short story detailing her transformation into one of the undead was featured in issue number 1384 of the classic British science fiction comic 2000 A.D. The issue went on sale April 7, 2004. The strip was called "There's Something About Mary" and was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, with art by Frazer Irving.
Simon Pegg revealed that he was impressed by Nicola Cunningham's audition, and that her character Mary is one of his favourite zombies ever. On his Instagram account, he explained: "It's easy to forget that each zombie represents a tragedy. The more they screech and run, the less apparent that tragedy is. A zombie is the walking personification of a human life lost. There was a sadness and confusion that Nicola brought to Mary, that I found really quite touching. When Ed says "I think she wants a cuddle", I like to think he wasn't far off the mark."
Mary, the zombie in Shaun's backyard, works at Landis Supermarket. This is a nod to John Landis, who directed An American Werewolf in London (1981) and Michael Jackson: Thriller (1983), and to the British chain of convenience stores named Londis.
Computer games
Near the beginning of this movie, when Ed is playing on the Playstation 2, Shaun directs him (top left, reload, good shot, et cetera). When the gang are in the Winchester pub and Shaun is firing at the zombies, Ed repeats exactly what Shaun instructed him to do during TimeSplitters 2 (2002).
Throughout this movie, homage is paid to several aspects of Capcom's original Resident Evil game series. A vivid example being during the scene in the pub cellar where a switch to activate the lift is only made visible by activating a lighter.
Movie easter eggs
George A. Romero, creator of the movies to which this movie pays homage and lampoons, was so impressed with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's work that he asked them to cameo in Land of the Dead (2005) as zombies.
Night of the Living Dead (1968) Director George A. Romero was given a private viewing of this movie near his house in Florida. During the scene in which Ed (Nick Frost) yells into the phone, "We're coming to get you, Barbara", Romero was oblivious to the fact it was a direct lift from his movie Night of the Living Dead (1968), and only found out later after a phone conversation with Edgar Wright.
Shaun's place of work is Foree Electric. Ken Foree starred in Dawn of the Dead (1978), and had a cameo in Dawn of the Dead (2004).
When the zombies are making their way into the Winchester, Shaun shouts to Ed, "Get behind me, get behind me!" the same way Han Solo shouts to Chewbacca as Stormtroopers are entering the cell block in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), one of Simon Pegg's favorite movies.
Shaun tells Liz that he's going to take her to "The place that does all the fish." When he opens the phone book, you can see that the restaurant is literally called "Fulci's Restaurant: The Place That Does All the Fish". Lucio Fulci is a director well known for his zombie movies in the Italian Giallo genre.
That time Tony asked Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright to make more Cornetto movies so we could make some more money? Check it out here:
Thank you!
Thanks again to everyone that joined us for this evening's movie with wine pairing experience on behalf of Tony, Lucy and Sarah Jane.
PS Fancy some The Wine Events Co Merch for Christmas? We've got you covered ..
Merch store
Our next event at St Mary's is sold out already; Die Hard with Wine but we already know what we're doing for next year .. we're just finalising the dates. So, get excited for:
Dirty Dancing
Hot Fuzz
Jurassic Park
White Christmas
Lots of our events are sold out for the rest of the year but here's a few with availability in Brum ..
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