There are 3 main parts to making a film:

 

    ~ Pre-production: the essentially planning stage which contains                                            scriptwriting, storyboarding, locations management, hiring the cast and crew

    ~ Production: the filming stage

    ~ Post-production: the editing stage which is where additional sounds,                                  music, special effects and titles are added.

 

 

 

                                                       Pre-production:

 

Wright says (via Wiki): “there isn’t really any tradition of cop films in the UK… We felt that every other country in the world has its own tradition of great cop action films and we had none”.

 

According to Wright: "Simon and I both grew up in the West Country; I’m from Somerset and he’s from Gloucester. After making Shaun of the Dead in North London, where we live now, it seemed appropriate that we make a British movie in the area where we grew up. So it was that the duo set out to do for the Action Movie what Shaun of the Dead had done for the Zombie Movie. That is, to filter a particularly American genre through a distinctly British perspective – and with equal parts humor, mayhem, and affection."

 

In an interview, Wright was asked: “You’ve said that you watched 138 DVDs as research for Hot Fuzz. What were the worst and best films you saw?” In response, Wright said: “And there were some on VHS as well, because some things aren’t on DVD, like Busting. Isn’t that a great film? Well, I don’t think it’s an all-round brilliant film, but that chase in the middle is extraordinary. I watched some bad films, though. I have more patience than Simon [Pegg]; I will sit through anything if I think it’s in any way constructive. There would be ones that I would watch on my own time and then I would maybe cherry-pick the best bits to show him”.

 

In the same interview, Wright reveals: “I’d funded myself from working at Somerfield [supermarket] – the same one that’s in the film [Hot Fuzz], actually”. He later went onto explaining that, “Hot Fuzz is the only film that cannot be remade in the States, because it would completely lose its point. Why would you remake that in the States? Why would you remake Shaun in the States?! It doesn’t make any sense, it’s pointless”.

 

Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright spent a total of 18 months producing the script in which the first draft was developed after the first 8 months. The rest of the months were spent conducting interviews and watching cop-related films; although Pegg's best mate (and best man), Nick Frost was not involved in the scriptwriting process, Pegg and Wright did keep him informed, thus Frost was able to make key contributions. Frost reveals: "Simon and Edgar are quite happy for me to come in with suggestions. I came up with the name Danny Butterman. I said I would only do the movie if I could call him Danny Butterman. It was a name I'd been thinking of; I wrote it down a while ago. It has a nice Hobbit feel to it."

 

Wright and Pegg settled for the two-word titles based on 1980s and 90s action films, such as Lethal Weapon or Point Break. "Many action films' titles seem to be generated from two hats filled with adjectives and nouns and you just, 'Okay, that'll do'", joked Pegg in an interview.

The filmmakers chose to create a parody of the way Hollywood films portray the American police: high charged and full of adrenaline, whilst the British police are portrayed as quiet and cerebral. Therefore, the term “Hot” links to how exciting and action packed the film is, and “Fuzz” can be interpreted as a derogatory UK slang term for “police”.  Others may view “Hot” to represent Angel’s high performance or his over-achieving character.

Working Title had spent the majority of 2005 in West England looking for the 'perfect' Sandford, thus decided that Edgar's hometown would be best suited. Edgar states: "Wells is very picturesque. I love it, but I also wanted to trash it". 

 

                                                   

                                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                           Production

 

Once the locations were found, filming begun on 19th March 2006 and had an 11 week shooting schedule; many days were lost due to typical English weather. The crew started filming the opening sequences at the Hendon Police Training College, including the driving school skid pan and athlete track, then went to London before filming in Wells. Pegg and Frost were mistaken for actual officers and were asked by passers-by for directions whilst shooting scenes in their uniform. Furthermore, throughout filming, Pegg, Frost and Wright recorded a video blog (available on the Working Title 'Hot Fuzz' section of their website).

 

Conversations between Dalton and Pegg's characters, filmed in the supermarket, took two days to shoot. The Wells Cathedral had to be digitally painted out of every shot during post-production as Wright wanted St. Cuthbert to be the main building for the fictitious town of Sandford; the sequences created where Tim Messenger gets his head crushed by falling masonry, involved using footage of a dummy filmed against a green screen.

 

 

 

                                                       Post-production

 

Soon after shooting ended, Wright had to cut a good half hour of footage during the editing process; visual effects were created by 10 artists. Wright and Frost had taken their time to promote the film at the 2006 Comic-Con in San Diego; this is where they were able to sell merch. They also did a presentation to a live audience whilst releasing a trailer and also did a fan meet and greet. The same was done at the Excel Comic Convention in London.

 

The film finally ended up a 15 certificate in the UK; rated R in the US due to its violent content that includes some graphic images and language.

Wright states that this production was more challenging than his previous produciton, Shaun of the Dead.