Edgar Wright did a rewrite of that Oliver Twist cop movie

By William Hughes | January 27, 2015 | 4:18pm

Aux Features Film

Cornetto Trilogy mastermind Edgar Wright has just completed a rewrite on the script for a cop movie based on the works of Charles Dickens. Like guileless orphans, the producers of Dodge And Twist apparently marched, script in timid hand, to the Hot Fuzz director and asked him if he could please, sir, give them a little more. And, as with everything related to Dodge And Twist—in which an adult Oliver Twist must pursue the pickpocket-turned-jewel-thief Artful Dodger, accompanied by an “ass-kicking Queen Victoria”—Wright ignored what happened in the original Dickens and agreed, instead of incredulously bellowing “MORE?!” while vibrating his non-existent jowls.

Sadly—because even we’re not immune to the hypothetical charms of Simon Pegg chasing Nick Frost through the filth-mired streets of London—Wright is only writing a draft of the Sony film. (The car-chase musical Baby Driver is his next project as a director.) Still, Wright proved his mastery of the well-executed cop cliche with the brilliant Hot Fuzz, so the script should get the treatment such a faithful tribute to a master of literature deserves.