Most of you can’t wait to see Edgar Wright’s upcoming adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s series of graphic novels, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The movie stars Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anna Kendrick, and Brandon Routh (pictured above).
Brandon Routh plays Ramona’s third evil ex-boyfriend, a telekenetic-vegan-bass player named Todd Ingram and he recently sat down for an interview with MTV and spoke a bit about his character and the movie.
On whether or not he’s seen the film:
I haven’t seen the movie yet. I’ve seen the trailer and I did some additional dialogue recording the other day. A few weeks ago, Edgar showed me a few other marketing pieces that they are going to use, too. I’ve seen my scene in bits and pieces, because you know when you do the ADR you get to see some of it — but not as shiny and beautiful as it will be.
On how his scenes look and if it lives up to expectations:
It’s very, very sweet. I didn’t even know I was going to have the glowing white eyes, or how crazy it would all look. So that was shocking and cool — but not just in its graphics. It’s such a hard movie to explain. It’s very impactful — because you feel every punch. The motions and the action are so punctuated that I think it’s going to be very visual. You’re going to feel a lot, and the crowd will probably react to so many things — more so than in other films.
On whether or not he learned some bass playing skills:
Well, I had a couple of great teachers. Even though what you’re hearing in the movie is my replication, my mimicking, I had to work hard to get my fingers and hands to work that fast. I haven’t played the bass much since I left, but I do retain those skills and I’m looking forward to playing in a band some day. I don’t have enough friends who are musicians, so I haven’t had a jam session with anyone yet.
On which scene his most looking forward to seeing in the completed film:
The whole bass battle is pretty sweet. I’m playing when we’re facing off against each other like two gunslingers. They had big wind-blowers moving these cups around and creating this tornado of activity around us. It’s very over-the-top but works so well in this movie.
On the over the top synopsis for his character:
Yeah, that’s exactly it — it’s completely ridiculous, but awesome in its ridiculousness. Bryan Lee O’Malley has created such a novel concept in mixing all these different genres and making a really fun, cool and very readable comic book. I don’t even know if it’s technically a “comic book” — because it’s something different than a comic book. But I was told that Edgar wanted to meet with me, so I got a couple copies of the comic and read it. I was kind of enthralled, and read them all pretty quickly. I was really eager to jump into this guy’s shoes and have fun with it.
On his action-packed bass battle scenes with Michael Cera:
Thankfully, there wasn’t a lot of wire work for me. But Michael is a really great guy, very sincere, very funny and very talented — and one of the nicest people that I’ve met in this industry. When we came into rehearsals to rehearse our respective bass parts for the duel, I’d heard Michael played bass. So he comes in and plays his part, and then he says, “What are you playing?” Well, I was stumbling through my part, but he just says, “Oh, this?” and just plays it flat-out with no practice. In the movie, I’m supposed to play bass better than he does, but in real life it’s the opposite — so that was a funny thing that bonded us.
On his comic book movie roles and how Todd Ingram stacks up against his “Dead of Night” and “Superman Returns” roles:
Well, I’ve got the superhero, so I can check that off the list. With “Dead of Night,” it’s more of a film-noir, detective comic. That one also fills the requirement for a zombie/monster movie. [‘Scott Pilgrim’] is just crazy. I mean, it’s not anime — but it’s a crazy, far-out villain. And of course, I get to play a villain for once — a crazy villain. So there’s that. They’re all very, very different characters and they all have very unique and distinct outfits as well. That’s one thing that marks a lot of comics. They all have different outfits, hairstyles, and everything that makes them who they are. So it’s fun to be able to step into all these different characters that have already been established in a written and drawn form. To become them is a really neat opportunity I’ve had the ability to do three times now.
On comics:
Honestly, I didn’t really read that many comics growing up. I read a little bit more now as I’ve been involved in different narrations of comics. I definitely have a great appreciation for the medium now, having worked with Platinum Studios, DC and Oni Press. They send me quite a few comics, so I’ve had the chance to look at different things and to read them. I actually did this comic book competition through Platinum in which people submit comics and then they publish one out for you. It was a really cool experience to see the creativity of people out there and the different ideas that can be used and put into comics and graphic novels. I love fiction and fantasy and those worlds so all the stuff is great.
Trailer: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Here’s the synopsis for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,
Meet charming and jobless Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera). A bass guitarist for totally average garage band Sex Bob-omb, the 22-year-old has just met the girl of his dreams…literally. The only catch to winning Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)? Her seven evil exes are coming to kill him. Genre-smashing filmmaker Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) tells the amazing story of one romantic slacker’s quest to power up with love in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
Scott Pilgrim has never had a problem getting a girlfriend. It’s getting rid of them that proves difficult. From the girl who kicked his heart’s ass-and now is back in town-to the teenage distraction he’s trying to shake when Ramona rollerblades into his world, love hasn’t been easy. He soon discovers, however, his new crush has the most unusual baggage of all: a nefarious league of exes controls her love life and will do whatever it takes to eliminate him as a suitor.
As Scott gets closer to Ramona, he must face an increasingly vicious rogues’ gallery from her past-from infamous skateboarders to vegan rock stars and fearsomely identical twins. And if he hopes to win his true love, he must vanquish them all before it really is game over.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World hits theaters on August 13th
