Everything You Need to Know about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World opens this Friday, Aug. 13. The movie is based on the six-volume graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, though the plot will not follow the books exactly as the last volume was just released in July. So, what do you need to know about the movie and the books?

• Scott Pilgrim is an underachieving 23-year-old who lives with his gay best friend Wallace, plays bass in Sex Bob-omb, and is dating 17-year-old Knives Chau. But when he encounters the mysterious Ramona Flowers, first in his dreams, and then in real life, he ditches Knives for a shot with Ramona. The only catch? He has defeat her seven evil exes before they can date.
• It’s packed with video game references that will delight even the most casual gamer. See a comprehensive list at UGO.
• Music also plays a big part. Scott’s in a three-piece band, Sex Bob-omb, with Kim Pine and Stephen Stills, and several scenes take place at music clubs. Beck wrote the music for the band in the film and members of Broken Social Scene composed the songs for a rival band, Crash and the Boys.
• The series takes place in Toronto and features many local institutions. Several fans have tracked down the sites and the movie was shot on location.



• The Toronto Reference Library is featured in two scenes in the graphic novel. Scott first sees Ramona in real life there and Knives Chau fights Ramona in the library’s main room.
• According to WorldCat, 401 libraries have the first volume cataloged and 236 have the series cataloged. (Including the Toronto Public Library, natch)
• Director Edgar Wright is also responsible for Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, and the British tv series Spaced (available on Hulu!).
• The movie’s groundbreaking interactive trailer is played like a video game and includes behind-the-scenes featurettes and other tidbits of information. You can also create your own avatar.
• The comics were also adapted into a downloadable video game for the PlayStation Network and XBox Live Arcade.

Have you read the books? Planning to see the movie? Let me know in the comments!

August 12th, 2010  ♥  Books, Movies  ♥  No Comments »