Nick Frost on the Not-So-Secret Science Fiction Homages in "Paul"

What Shaun of the Dead did for zombies, and Hot Fuzz for cops, the latest Simon Pegg-Nick Frost starrer Paul does for aliens. Pegg and Frost play two friends (again), on a road trip through America's UFO hot spots, when they have a close encounter with a real life alien, on the lam from Area 51. Paul is just like you'd imagine an extra terrestrial to look, but nothing how you'd expect one to act. Or talk (since he's voiced by Seth Rogen). This time around, Frost shared writing duties, too, so we asked him to set his phaser to stun.

Q: This is your first film with Simon without Edgar Wright directing -- was it because he was off being busy with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World? Were you upset? Jealous? Did you throw things at him?

A: Yeah, that's it! [Laughs] No, I mean, I love the Scott Pilgrim books, I'm a big fan of Bryan O'Malley, so I was chuffed when I heard he was doing that. But I don't think we have that kind of relationship where we get jealous of anything the other one does. What's good for Edgar or Simon is good for all of us. But we've been trying to do this for five years. Simon and I have written four things that we haven't finished yet, or got bored halfway through. And we almost made a sitcom about a quiz show team, but it got to the point where we weren't feeling it anymore. For me, it was imporant that we could finish something. You could go on forever just writing bits, but it was important that we finish this.So yeah, Edgar was busy with Scott Pilgrim, and we were massive fans of Superbad, and we saw what [director] Greg [Mottola] was up to, and it was perfect for us -- that kind of American, calm, indie sensibility. But what we wanted to do was put a 20 million dollar alien into that. We wanted to have a CG alien and stick him in a bleached out environment or the back of an RV. That's what we were aiming for, and that's what Greg did.

Q: The idea came together during your Shaun of the Dead days?

A: We were on set, and it was bucketing down rain, and we thought, "Wouldn't it be great to shoot somewhere where it doesn't rain?" And so it became the desert, and the desert became Nevada, and Nevada became Area 51, and it was a short step from there to come up with Paul.

Q: Shaun of the Dead took on zombie movies, Hot Fuzz took on action movies. Were you looking for the next genre to take on, as well?

A: As in, what's next? What it was, Simon and Edgar wrote Shaun of the Dead because they're fans of zombie films, and this is what made me fall in love with Edgar and Simon -- we get these films together. The same with Hot Fuzz -- we were fans of action movies, so it seemed appropriate to make to an action movie. And Simon and I are fans of science fiction movies, so it's that weird geeky fanboy in us that says, "Wouldn't it be great to make a film with a spaceship in it?" We never set out to do something like Epic Movie, where it doesn't feel like it comes from a place of love. This is our love letter to Spielberg. This is our love letter to Comic-Con. This is our love letter to fanboys. This is who we are. This is what we do when we're not making films. We sit around and say, "What if a spaceship came down?"

Q: Speaking of which, how did you get Spielberg to do a cameo?

A: When we were doing Tintin [The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn], we talked to him about Paul. We had an early concept design for Paul, we showed him it, and he said, “What’s this?” He said he'd like to do a little cameo, and we were like, “What?” And he said, “Yeah, I’d like to do a cameo.” So we then went off and wrote this little scene [where Paul consults with Spielberg on the phone]. He’s so amazing, so enthusiastic, and you realize why he is where is. He’d be so pleased with a single shot, he’d come out and do a little dance. “That’s in the movie!” He’s so full of energy and verve, you can’t help but want to work for that man. It’s infectious, you know?

Q: And having Spielberg on the phone with Paul, it allows for this whole conceit of how Paul's been influencing pop culture all along, from I Come in Peace, "I come in peace," "You go in pieces," to Reese's Pieces ...

A: You know, we had the same problem as E.T. -- we couldn't get M&Ms to clear it, so we had to use Reese's Pieces...

Q: They wanted M&Ms originally so he could start to learn to read from the letter "M" imprinted on them...

A: Ah! I didn't know that. That's pretty cool. But that's probably a lazy conceit from us that we would have him talking to the film industry. It just meant we could rip off all these things, and it was fine, because Paul had given them the idea. Anything that has an alien in it, or The X-Files, there was room to fit in something like that. And Paul was an executive producer on Predator, they got that from him. Once you start to lay down the groundrules of what he can do, it becomes quite easy in a way.

Q: Did you have that line from Aliens before or after you got Sigourney Weaver in the cast?

A: We asked her about that, "Do you mind...?" You have to be respectful. That line and those films are so well loved, you have to make sure she's cool with it. We thought, "This is great. Why don't we try to get Blythe [Danner] to say it to Sigourney this time?" And she even gave Blythe the line reading, so the punch came on "bitch." We shot that a lot, trying to get it just right.

Q: It must be a hard balance -- having enough for the fans who get obscure references, but not leaving out the people who don't...

A: Absolutely. That's the big thing with us. Maybe it's us getting old, but a lot of the younger generation, The Phantom Menace and Avatar, those are their touchstones, not Close Encounters. If you know Close Encounters, it's in there for you. You don't want to make it too mainstream, you need both, and that's not the easiest thing to do. It took us five years.

Q: Since it's a love letter to Comic-Con as well, would you ever write a comic book or a graphic novel?

A: I'm writing one right now! It's about mice, Swedish mice. Mice in peril. [The Homesick Swedish Mice] is the story of two mice from Sweden, who steal aboard a ship to spend their honeymoon in a container of pillows. They fall asleep, when when they wake up, the ship has set sail, and they get out in London and they start a life there. But in mice years, it’s 50-60 years, and now there are 150 of them. They’re plagued by a cat named Mozambique, and the grandfather is killed by the cat, and his dying words are, “Take me home.” And so now they must and try to uphold his final wish, and they try to get the whole family home to Sweden, in a wooden toy, a Viking longboat, which they try to sail home.  

Q: Are you doing the artwork as well?

A: If you'd seen my drawing, you wouldn't ask me that! [Laughs]