Lego version of Shaun of the Dead staggers slowly towards existence
A fan's homemade version of the Winchester pub from the 2004 zombie film has gathered enough online votes for Lego to consider manufacturing it
They've toyed with Tatooine and raced Indy through the Lost Tomb. Now your youngster may soon be able to smash a zombie into a blocky pulp, thanks to a Lego fan whose re-creation of Shaun of the Dead's Winchester pub has been voted through to the "review" stage of Cuusoo, a site that allows customers to pitch their homemade creations to the Danish toy manufacturer.
The set, a detailed representation of the pub in which Simon Pegg and Nick Frost hide from a zombie horde in Edgar Wright's 2004 comedy-horror, was designed by Belgian modeller Gregory Coquelz, AKA Yatkuu. The three-floor model of the Winchester has Lego figures representing Pegg and Frost, cricket bats, plastic pints and a clutch of shuffling undead. The project reached the 10,000 votes required to place it in front of a Lego jury this week after Pegg used an appearance on Conan O'Brien's chat show to encourage people to support Yatkuu's work. The actor said the public should vote "if you want your children to play with dead plastic things".
"I'm over the moon," says Coquelz. "Conan was the trigger. I lived through it online – watching these votes pouring down on the page from all over the world."
Shaun of the Dead, a gore-splattered love letter to the genre-defining films of George A Romero, sees zombies hacked, slashed and bludgeoned by Frost and Pegg. A key scene shows a character being pulled through the windows of the Winchester, disembowelled and eaten. Because of this, it's far from certain that Yatkuu's creation will go into production, despite the fact that his reimagining of the pub is bloodlessly tame in comparison to the source material.
"I'm very aware that this project is on the edge," says Coquelz, who checked with Cuusoo about the adult nature of his idea before the votes began rolling in. "They're just being careful. They have a dilemma on their hands."
With the upcoming release of World War Z, Coquelz cites the recent upsurge in popularity of all things undead as a good reason why Lego might want to head for his boozer. He also reasons that his models are no more grisly than the Lego zombie that is already in production. "I've managed to do it with as much taste as I could. These are only plastic models, after all."
Nevertheless, Lego seem a little nervous. "Due to the themes behind Shaun of the Dead, there would need to be some significant internal discussion for us to agree to produce this as a product," reads a statement from the Cuusoo team on Coquelz's user page. "While we appreciate your work and celebrate this big success with you, we are not guaranteeing production."
