Nick Frost will probably always be best known for his fabulous work in The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End) with Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright because the films are, simply put, comedic gold.
In support of his new movie, Unfinished Business (starring Vince Vaughan and Dave Franco), Frost allowed college journalists across the country the chance to participate in a conference call with him, and yes, he is every bit as charming in real life as he appears to be on the screen.
During the call, Frost confirmed there will be more movies with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright.
What follows are the questions I was able to ask during the call.
Craig Wright: Hey Nick.
Nick Frost: Hello Oregon.
CW: I noticed your birthday is coming up later this month, so I was wondering if you have made a tradition of flushing birthday cakes down the toilet.
NF: Yeah, I don’t know what it will be, but I’ll be flushing something down the toilet. The problem with celebrating my birthday here in Britain, is, being very pragmatic, our toilets are not good flushers like yours over in America. You guys have the strongest flush anywhere in the world, and it’s a system that allows the flushing of cakes and other pastries. I think over here I would probably just flush half a tortilla.
CW: For Cuban Fury, you recently tweeted that you trained 30 hours a week for seven months, so what inspired you to make that movie?
NF: I never even thought about the training regimen when I initially pitched the idea, and I think if I would have known it was going to be that much, I probably wouldn’t have bothered. But I wanted to test myself, I’ve always wanted to secretly do a dance film, and I’ve always wanted to do a musical as well, a film where I sing a lot. I like the idea, and I wanted to dance. I’ve always loved dance, and now I find myself doing a big dance film, and that was a real challenge. If any actor does 30 days training for seven months, there should be an Oscar nominee for most effort put into a dance comedy, and there isn’t sadly. I think if I trained that much to play a scientist or an alcoholic, you’d probably get some kind of nomination somewhere, but because it’s a romantic comedy with dancing in it, it’s not really given much credence, sadly.
CW: So what did it feel like the first time you saw the final product?
NF: It had its network premiere over here (in London) on Saturday, and we sat and watched it, and I’m tremendously proud you know, now that it’s like a year down the line. I can look at it and kind of almost forget the broken toes and all the pain and anguish I went through, and I’m tremendously proud of all the effort I put in, and I love it.
CW: Which of your characters that you’ve played did you enjoy playing the most, and which do you identify with the most?
NF: I loved Danny Butterman in Hot Fuzz. He’s one of my favorites that I’ve played. He’s such an innocent idiot that it was difficult to not like Danny. I did an adaptation of a Martin Amis novel called Money for the BBC a few years ago and I got to play a character called John Self and he’s a real piece of work, and I loved being him and I think I’m sad to say I’m kind of a cross between the two, really. I’m like a piece of work with a big heart.
Unfinished Business opens in theaters Friday, March 6.
Follow Craig Wright on Twitter @wgwcraig