Edgar Wright on aging alongside your characters

Great new interview of Edgar Wright on KCRW's "The Treatment."

The interview covers one of the Rabbit's favorite themes in comedic creativity: how to address the fears and challenges of getting older?

During the interview, Wright discusses how the characters that he has created through the years, along with his partners Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes, have each been age-specific. In other words, when the group was in their 20s, during the creation of "Spaced", they wrote about themes such as finding a career path, exploring new identities, struggling for integrity and understanding their own emotions. As they moved towards 30, with "Shaun of the Dead," they started to address the great questions of that decade: how long one should wait before truly taking action? When should you get on with your life? And do you have to wait until zombies attack your town to answer these questions?

With their third collaboration, "Hot Fuzz", the team started to address the issues that one faces after already excelling in a particular field. The lead character is old enough to actually know who he is and what he is good at -- but he is held back the classic bugaboos of encroaching middle age: small-minded superiors and backwoods boredom.

Happily, Wright says that the team is working on a fourth project which will deal with the biggest threat of middle age and beyond: the gross dangers of attempting to relive the glories of one's youth. That could be the best one yet.

You can hear the interview here.