Star of the classic zombie movie Shaun of the Dead Simon Pegg imitated a scene from the film to mock Tom Cruise’s most recent Christmas clip. Shaun of the Dead, the first installment of the Cornetto trilogy, a quartet of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg-starring movies with eerily similar themes, was initially released in 2004. The opening of the movie includes two scenes that follow Shaun, played by Pegg, as he goes about his morning routine of walking down the street; the first is set on an ordinary day, and the second is set in the middle of the zombie apocalypse to emphasize how unaware he is of what is going on around him.
Tom Cruise, Pegg’s co-star in the Mission: Impossible series, posted a video a few days ago wishing his fans a happy holiday while skydiving from a helicopter. On Instagram yesterday, Pegg posted a video of himself making fun of how different his filmography is from Cruise. He strolls down the same street from the Shaun of the Dead morning scene as he speaks about finding the perfect reference for a Christmas film, even making a point of stumbling on the curb just like in the original scene. He then ducks into the same shop and says he’s going to grab a Cornetto and think about it. See his video down below:
The Lasting Legacy of Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead is still one of Pegg’s most enduring contributions to cinema, despite his involvement in other successful series, such as the six Mission: Impossible films and the newest Star Trek movies. Although it was a parody of the genre, along with another British endeavor, Danny Boyle’s 2002 film 28 Days Later contributed to the rise of zombie-related films. The Walking Dead, which debuted in 2010 and ran on AMC until its last season this year, would be the culmination of the decade’s boom in zombie movies and television shows. Along the way, it also inspired a number of spinoffs.
Wright made his debut in the world through the movie as well. The Cornetto trilogy, which also includes the 2007 cop movie comedy Hot Fuzz and the 2013 apocalyptic sci-fi film The World’s End, served as the foundation for the early portion of his career even if it wasn’t his debut feature.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Shaun of the Dead became a meme, which continues to be a defining film in British popular culture. Nick Frost and Simon Pegg had to make a video encouraging people to remain indoors since so many fans tweeted gifs of the moment when Shaun urges that he and his company should go to the bar and wait for the zombie apocalypse to “blow over.” Pegg undoubtedly discovered the ideal method to top his co-death-defying star’s act with all that heritage behind him.