https://twitter.com/ACSarahAC/status/515395492734181376/photo/1
Twitterer Sarah Clarke posted this still from a Melbourne newspaper the other day, showing two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett nearly unrecognizable in the role of Simon Pegg’s ex, Janine, in Hot Fuzz. Feel free to scream “OLD NOOZ, BR0!” in the comments, as Hot Fuzz came out in 2007, and chances are you may have already known this, and there’s a good chance I already knew this and forgot it somehow (whiskey), but also it’s Friday and we’re having fun so f*ck you.
Since I’ve never been afraid of asking stupid questions, I asked Edgar Wright about it, who responded less than five minutes later (I honestly don’t know how he does it).
“She did it because she loved Shaun. And because she’s the coolest – she gave her fee to charity.”
I normally hate the idea of “Easter eggs” and the self-referential stuff, but I enjoy the way Edgar Wright does it. Perhaps partly because he answers my emails, sure, but mostly because they’re just there if you want to find them, the kind of things that give the movies their own mythology, rather than the usual, overtly-winking-at-the-audience, pandering fan service. People applauding themselves for recognizing Stan Lee in his dumb cameos makes me want to drown them in their own popcorn butter and beard trimmings.
Here’s the Blanchett scene (it autoplays and there’s an ad at the beginning, unfortunately, but it’s set to mute until you un-mute it):
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And of course, the know-it-alls among you will surely point out that Peter Jackson also had an uncredited Hot Fuzz cameo, as a thief dressed as Santa Claus.
For the record, I’m glad Peter Jackson isn’t Santa Claus. He’d take three hours to get down the chimney and you’d have to wait two years for the second half of your toys.