THE release date of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s eagerly-awaited new movie The World’s End, which was partly filmed in Welwyn Garden City, has been announced.
Co-written by Hertfordshire-based actor Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright, the apocalyptic comedy is due to hit the screens in the UK on August 14, 2013.
The movie – the third and final part of Pegg and Wright’s ‘Three Flavours Cornetto’ or ‘Blood and Ice Cream’ trilogy, following box office smashes Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz – was shot on location in Welwyn Garden City, Letchworth and St Albans last year.
The World’s End stars Pegg, with his hair dyed black, as Gary King and sees five childhood friends reunite and try to attempt again an epic pub crawl through their home town of Newton Haven.
When they were teenagers, the gang only managed nine of the 12 pubs on the list.
Pegg’s character is wearing a black Sisters of Mercy T-shirt underneath a long black coat in pictures taken on set.
The Goth-loving fortysomething is the one who drags his relucant pals on the 12-pub marathon, starting at The First Post and finishing at The World’s End.
But things don’t go as planned and the boys’ night out soon goes wrong.
As they attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realise the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs, but humankind’s.
Reaching The World’s End is the least of their worries.
Nick Frost, who also appeared alongside Pegg in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, plays successful lawyer Andy in a pink shirt and light coloured overcoat.
He was Gary’s best mate as kids.
The Hobbit and Sherlock actor Martin Freeman, who lives in Hertfordshire near Hatfield, plays estate agent Oliver, complete with Bluetooth device in his ear.
Completing the gang of five are Paddy Considine as former rocker-turned-consultant Steven and Eddie Marsan as car dealer Peter.
The World’s End also stars former Bond girl Rosamund Pike.
During the shoot in WGC, pubs in the town centre were renamed for the film and are, judging by early posters for the movie, the first four watering holes visited on the epic drinking journey.
The Doctors Tonic, in Church Road, was renamed the The Old Familiar, while The Peartree in Hollybush Lane was transformed into The First Post – the starting point of the pub crawl.
The Cork in Howardsgate became The Famous Cock, while The Parkway Bar in Parkway doubled as The Cross Hands – the fourth watering hole on the route.
During filming, Star Trek and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol star Pegg took time out to start the Hatfield House Bonfire Night fireworks display.
Co-stars Pegg and Frost also switched on the Letchworth Christmas lights while filming in the Garden City.
* Visit the picture gallery above right to see photographs of The World’s End being filmed on set in Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth, Hertfordshire.
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