Trivia for
Shaun of the Dead (2004) More at IMDbPro »

• Many of the Zombie extras are fans of the TV series "Spaced" (1999), which also starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and was also directed by Edgar Wright. They were recruited through the Spaced Out fan web site to be in the film.
  
  
• The phrase "fried gold" originated behind the scenes of Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes and Edgar Wright's sitcom "Spaced" (1999) and was mentioned several times on the DVD commentaries for that series. It makes several fan-pleasing appearances in the film.
  
  
• Frequent references are made to Big Al's claim that dogs can't look up. This is a reference to the commentary to the second series of "Spaced" (1999) in which Simon Pegg (Shaun) and Edgar Wright talk about Nick Frost (Ed)'s claim that the difficulty in shooting a scene with a dog was due to the fact that dogs can't look up.
  
  
• When Shaun, Liz, David, Dianne, Barbara and Ed run into the alternative 'gang' as they make their way to the Winchester, there are quite a few comedy partnerships brought together again. Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes - Tim and Daisy from "Spaced" (1999). Lucy Davis and Martin Freeman - Dawn and Tim from "The Office" (2001). Dylan Moran and Tamsin Greig - Bernard and Fran from "Black Books" (2000). Julia Deakin and Nick Frost are, of course, in Spaced too, as Marsha and Mike respectively.
  
  
• The zombie that Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) find in their garden is Mary, the checkout girl from the film's credit montage. A short story detailing her transformation into one of the undead was featured in issue 1384 of the classic British sci-fi comic 2000AD. The issue went on sale 7 April 2004. The strip was called "There's Something About Mary" and was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (the film's co-writers) with art by Frazer Irving.
  
  
• The game that Ed (Nick Frost) is playing throughout the movie is Timesplitters 2 (2002) (VG).
  
  
• Shaun (Simon Pegg) complains that Ed (Nick Frost) isn't his boyfriend, then says, "Thanks, babe." In season one of "Spaced" (1999), a conversation begins in a similar manner between the two actors ("All right, babe?"). This was, however, a total mistake. The writers used the same joke again, forgetting they had used it in Spaced.
  
  
• Because of the timing and the indisputable similarity of the names, the distributors were forced to hold the film back until two weeks after Dawn of the Dead (2004) was released in the UK.
  
  
• Shaun works at Foree Electronics, named after Ken Foree, who was was one of the stars of Dawn of the Dead (1978).
  
  
• During the sequence in which Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) are discussing the plan to pick up Shaun's mother (Penelope Wilton) and Liz (Kate Ashfield) a track from Goblin's soundtrack to Dawn of the Dead (1978) can be heard playing in the background, "Zombi," which was also the name of the Italian release of the film, which was edited by Dario Argento.
  
  
• When Shaun and Liz are flipping through channels and they come across the "Fun Dead" program, the shopping mall music from Dawn of the Dead (1978) can be heard in the background.
  
  
• Whilst Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Liz flick through TV channels, a voice can be heard saying that claims that the epidemic was due to rage infected monkeys have now been dismissed as b... Liz turns off before the voice can finish the sentence. The voice is referencing 28 Days Later... (2002), another British zombie movie, in which the word zombie is never used, and, perhaps, Braindead (1992) ("Dead-Alive") from New Zealand as well.
  
  
• In the beginning of the film, when Shaun is riding the bus, the young man in front of him is listening to music. The song that can be heard is the dance club classic "Kernkraft 400" by Zombie Nation, which itself is a track from the 1984 Commodore 64 game "Lazy Jones".
  
  
• In the extended scenes, when Shaun runs into Yvonne for the first time, she says "I haven't seen you since *insert house music noises here*... REWIND!" and attempts some kind of body popping. This is a reference to the famous clubbing episode from Series 1 of Spaced. On the commentary, Edgar and Simon jokingly quipped that this was Tim and Daisy back together after they'd moved out of Meteor Street and changed their names.
  
  
• When Shaun and the group are running out of Liz's flat they are all carrying weapons of some kind, but only Shaun actually hits any zombies. This was because only the cricket bat that Shaun was carrying was a padded fake, all the other items were real and would have hurt the extras playing zombies if they had been hit with them.
  
  
• John and Bernie run the Winchester. These are the real names of the landlord and landlady who used to run Simon Pegg's local pub, the Shepherds in Highgate. John used to make toasted sandwiches for regulars, hence the reference to "the Breville out back." Pegg and Nick Frost were regular attendees of the Shepherd's Thursday night quiz, hence the line "we do the quiz" when Shaun is knocking on the Winchester's door. Chris Martin of Coldplay, who plays a zombie in the film, also used to attend quiz night.
  
  
• The "pyjama zombie" had his voiced dubbed over by Simon Pegg.
  
  
• When Shaun's girlfriend objects to going out to the Winchester he suggest a few other pubs, one of which is the Shepherds, which actually used to be Simon Pegg's local pub in Highgate until it was closed and reopened as a themed bar.
  
  
• The TV news reports Shaun and Ed watch feature an anchorman who utters exactly the same phrases as the TV reporter in Night of the Living Dead (1968).
  
  
• Shaun berates Ed for calling the creatures zombies (which they are, of course). This may be referring to the fact that many zombie movies (including Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Resident Evil (2002)) never mention the word "zombie" at all. More likely this is a reference to Danny Boyle, director of 28 Days Later... (2002), and his insistence that it isn't a zombie movie.
  
  
• When Shaun walks to the shops before heading to work when everything is normal, Shaun passes a road sweeper. On the road-sweeper operator's radio one can hear a news bulletin detailing how a space probe called Omega 6 entered Earth's atmosphere several days early over the southwest of England and broke apart over a well-built area. This a direct link to Night of the Living Dead (1968), in which a space probe breaks up over a small town in the USA, and the resulting radiation causes the dead in the local graveyard to come to life.
  
  
• At one point, a zombie can be glimpsed wearing a yellow cycling helmet and lycra shorts. He's played by comedian Michael Smiley, who made appearances in "Spaced" (1999) as a bicycle courier named Tyres.
  
  
• Night of the Living Dead (1968) director George A. Romero was given a private viewing of the film near his home in Florida. During the scene in which Ed (Nick Frost) yells into the phone, "We're coming to get you, Barbara," Romero was oblivious to the fact it was a direct lift from his film Night of the Living Dead (1968) and only found out later after a phone conversation with director Edgar Wright.
  
  
• On the DVD (at least the region-two and region-one versions), there is a feature that plays an edited version of the scene where Pete yells at Shaun and Ed for playing the music too loud ("I've got to go to fucking work in four fucking hours!") that has been dubbed over for television airings, thus replacing all obscenities. "Fuck" is replaced with "funk," "prick" becomes "prink." The feature has the fitting title "Funky Pete" and is found in the alternate bits section.
  
  
• According to writer-director Edgar Wright in the DVD commentary, when Ed attempts to cheer Shaun up at the Winchester with plans of binge drinking, he is actually summarizing the events of the next day (Z-day) entirely in drinking references.
  
  
• During the company logos at the beginning of the film, a selection of the library music played during the airport scene of Dawn of the Dead (1978) can be heard.
  
  
• The distributor and production logos at the start of the film have an excerpt from "Figment" by S. Park played over them. This track was used to great effect in Dawn of the Dead (1978). Also, the end credits feature "The Gonk" by H. Chappell, the infamous shopping-mall music from the same film, in a new remixed version by Kid Koala.
  
  
• All of the newsreaders and television presenters are real people portraying themselves.
  
  
• While flicking through the Yellow Pages, Shaun finds the number for an Italian restaurant named Fulci's, a reference to Italian horror director Lucio Fulci.
  
  
• Nick Frost (Ed) allegedly kept his genitals shaved throughout the production to create a genuine need to scratch that the character demanded.
  
  
• Most of the posters in Shaun's living room are of artists on the Ninja Tune record label. These include Funki Porcini and the Herbaliser.
  
  
• When Shaun comes into work he mentions that the manager and Ash have called in sick. Ash is the name of Bruce Campbell's character in the The Evil Dead (1981) trilogy.
  
  
• The non-featured zombie extras were paid the princely sum of £1 a day for their troubles.
  
  
• When Shaun's flat-mate Pete answers his mobile phone near the beginning of the movie, he says, "Hi, Dom." This is a reference to "Spaced" (1999), where he uses the same greeting.
  
  
• A poster in Shaun's flat is an image from the Edgar Wright-directed video for Psychosis Safari by the Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. Members of the band feature as zombie extras and a song of theirs, "Mr. Mental", is featured on the soundtrack album.
  
  
• Before the line "He's got an arm off" is shouted, you can see a poster of a bleeding cartoon schoolgirl in the background. This is a stylized version of a scene from the Japanese film Batoru rowaiaru (2000) (Battle Royale).
  
  
• The pizza company that is seen on and off throughout the film (the takeaway place next to the corner shop, the pizza box sitting in the lounge, and the various delivery men) is called Bub's Pizzas, a reference to Day of the Dead (1985) and the smarter-than-average zombie, Bub.
  
  
• When Noel (Rafe Spall) rings Ed (Nick Frost), Ed calls him Noodle, which is the name of one of the teenagers in an episode of "Spaced" (1999). Noel also says, "E-Ball says you're holding," which is a reference to director Edgar Wright, whose nickname is E-Ball.
  
  
• The word "fuck" is used 77 times in this movie.
  
  
• The Batoru rowaiaru (2000) (Battle Royale) poster in Shaun's living room is designed by Fred Deakin of Airside, as is the green poster with the flowers and girl in Liz's flat. Deakin is also a member of the band Lemon Jellÿ, which provides music for the soundtrack.
  
  
• George A. Romero, creator of the films that this movie pays homage to and lampoons, was so impressed with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's work that he asked them to appear in Land of the Dead (2005), the fourth part of his Dead series, in cameos as zombies.
  
  
• Mary, the zombie in Shaun's backyard, works at Landis Supermarket. This is a nod to John Landis, who directed An American Werewolf in London (1981), and to the British chain of convenience stores named Londis.
  
  
• Just when Shaun is exiting the Indian-run deli, which is tuned to a radio station playing songs from Indian movies, the song stops and a newscaster begins speaking in Hindi. The content of the news, when translated in English, is, "People are waking up from their graves."
  
  
• On their way to the pub, Shaun's mother falls behind. While they hear her scream, Shaun runs and jumps over the garden fence by bouncing off of a trampoline. The same exact shot can be seen at the end of Army of Darkness (1992) (aka Evil Dead 3), where Ash (Bruce Campbell) battles the witch while bouncing on trampolines in the S-Mart shop. This could also be a reference to the video game Zombies Ate My Neighbors (1993) (VG), in which you get around by doing the same thing, propelling yourself off trampolines in people's yards.
  
  
• David Walliams auditioned for the role of David.
  
  
• When the army shows up outside the pub, Joe Cornish can be glimpsed as a zombie being gunned down, shown in his video diary on the DVD. He's being shot in the back, facing toward the camera.
  
  
• When Shaun and his friends are trying to get inside the pub, horror writer and Frightfest organizer Alan Jones can be seen as a zombie walking past the phone box. He's the bald one in a checkered shirt.
  
  
• Director Cameo: [Edgar Wright] during the Remembering Z-Day montage, there is a long shot of the zombies walking through a park; Edgar is the one in black who falls over himself.
  
  
• Among the voices in the news reports you hear on television and radio you hear David Walliams on a TV news broadcast, Mark Gatiss on the radio, Keith Chegwin hosting the "Fun Dead" programme, and Rob Brydon voicing the "Zombies From Hell" show at the end. Also, the voice heard at the end dismissing the infected monkeys being the cause is Edgar Wright.
  
  
• Almost all bit-part characters can be seen later in the film as zombies
  
  
• Shaun walks past a road sign for Weston Park which is a street in Crouch End, London, the same locale as "Spaced" (1999) and where Simon Pegg now lives.
  
  
• In Timesplitters 2 (2002) (VG), the video game played throughout the movie, one of the main objectives is to destroy zombies by removing their heads.
  
  
• One of the zombies seen in the film previously featured in a TV ad for the Mini as a zombie.
  
  
• When Shaun is on the phone with Fulci's Italian restaurant, the voice of the host is Edgar Wright doing a terrible Italian accent.
  
  
• Northern Irish rock band Ash donated 3 songs used in the film: "Meltdown", "Orpheus" and "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" featuring Chris Martin. These songs were donated for free as Edgar Wright's girlfriend, Charlotte Hatherley, played guitar and sang backing vocals for Ash at the time.
  
  
• The original script called for Shaun to beat Mary and the hulking zombie with a girl's bicycle.
  
  
• The garden scenes were originally a lot longer, featuring a hanged man zombie and a woman being eaten by her own dog (The dog was intended to be played by "Spaced" (1999)'s Colin).
  
  
• The pyjama zombie was originally scripted to walk along the pole it was impaled upon, which is why it is hanging off the end when Diane is doing zombie lessons.
  
  
• In the scene where Shaun discovers the Pete zombie in the bathroom, Shaun is talking and says the words "join us" - a well known quote from Evil Dead.
  
  
• The rifle they use in the Winchester is, naturally, a Winchester model 73, the gun that won the west.
  
  
• There are also multiple references to the scenes in Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness (i.e. where Ash replaces his severed hand with a chainsaw and dismembers Evil Ash respectively), where quick edits focusing on important objects (i.e. the chainsaw, the chains, etc.) are used in order to speed up and intensify the actions taking place. In the film these edits are seen when Shaun makes breakfast, whenever he uses the toilet, etc.
  
  
• Shaun's last name is Riley. It can be seen on a poster ad from Shaun's Disc jockeying days.
  
  
• Shaun tells Liz that he's going to take her to "the place that does all the fish". When he opens the phone book you can see that the restaurant is literally called ‘The Place That Does All the Fish’.
  
  
• When asked by an interviewer why they chose to have slow moving zombies instead of running zombies, Simon Pegg simply replied, "Because death is not an energy drink."
  
  
• When Joe Cornish is on screen, we see Lucy Akhurst (Sophie in season two of ("Spaced" (1999)) as a zombie getting shot in the back. She's the blond girl in the center of the screen, with Cornish to her right.
  
  
• The Mexican stand-off scene is similar to Reservoir Dogs (1992). Simon Pegg shouts, "Stop pointing that gun at my Mum!" In Reservoir Dogs, Chris Penn shouts, "Stop pointing that gun at my Dad!"
  
  
• First part of Simon Pegg's and Edgar Wright's "The Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy". The other two parts are Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2010).
  
  
• Paying extras who played zombies one pound was likely an homage to 'George A. Romero' paying his extra zombies one dollar for Dawn of the Dead (2004) and Day of the Dead (1985).
  
  
• 'Dylan Moran''s character, David, has the unmentioned surname 'Fastidious'.
  
  
• Ed exclaims, "what's up with her eyes?!" when he faces the checkout girl zombie in the garden. This is a prominent quote from The Evil Dead (1981).
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: The famous sound effect can be heard faintly in the background when the soldiers initially come to the rescue.
  
  
• Even though according to the zomb-o-meter feature stating the Di dies, another feature "Plot Holes" explains that Di makes it through the crowd of zombies, climbs a tree, passes out, awakens to utter silence and out of fear stays in the tree surviving on Dave's severed leg, and eventually going to live with an aunt.
  
  
• When Shaun tells Ed not to say zombie ("the zed-word!"), it's an homage to the fact the word "zombie" was never used in 'George A. Romero''s films.
  
  

• SPOILER: Chris Martin of Coldplay, who appears as himself on a news report near the end of the film promoting ZombAid, also plays a zombie. After Shaun and Liz escape from the basement of the Winchester, he can be seen playing the zombie walking past the phone booth from right to left.
  
  
• SPOILER: The death scene of David in the Winchester is a mixture of the deaths of Captain Rhodes and Pvt. Johnson in Day of the Dead (1985).
  
  

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