Paul is Pegg and Frost's underappreciated gift to sci-fi fans

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have worked together since the mid-1990s, first teaming on Spaced when Pegg wrote a part for Frost. They starred in Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy and later formed Stolen Picture, which produced a film and a couple of TV shows. Still, the only feature the pair wrote together has been largely overshadowed by their Wright collaborations.

That film, Paul (2011), was conceived while they were filming Shaun the Dead. It follows two British comic-book fans who travel from San Diego Comic-Con through UFO country and pick up Paul, an alien who escaped Area 51 and needs a ride to Devil’s Tower so he can signal his people before government agents catch him.

The movie stitches in countless nods to sci-fi classics — from a shouted Reese’s Pieces gag to a Starman-style bird-resurrection and an ongoing joke about Total Recall’s three-breasted woman. Those references add up to a clear love letter to fandom.

United States, San Diego

simon pegg, nick frost, paul film, edgar wright, cornetto trilogy, stolen picture, comic-con, area 51, devil's tower, total recall