Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (US live-action movie)

The four cast members that made up the garage band "Sex Bob-Omb" had to spend several weeks learning how to play together as a band. Mark Webber, Alison Pill, and Johnny Simmons all had to learn how to perform their instruments from scratch, while Michael Cera had to "dumb down" his bass guitar playing in order to not outshine his band members.

Edgar Wright successfully obtained permission from Nintendo to use the famous Legend of Zelda theme music by writing a personal letter. The letter expressed that it is considered to be "the nursery rhyme of this generation". Upon gaining the theme music, the sound effects from the game were also gained and can be heard throughout the scenes in Scott's band practice room. Wright also successfully gained permission to use the Seinfeld (1989) theme music for the sitcom-style sequence.

For her portrayal as Stacey Pilgrim, Anna Kendrick wears the actual name badge that was worn by the real-life Stacey, on whom Bryan Lee O'Malley, based the character on.

During the party scene in which Scott was holding a very badly drawn picture of Ramona while asking anyone who may of seen her was originally planned out much differently. Edgar Wright said the scene originally had Scott holding up a picture of Ramona which would of been an illustration of Ramona as she appeared in the comic book series. However Wright felt the silly drawing that Scott holds up was much more comedic.

Edgar Wright has stated that the movie was done in the style of a musical, but instead of the characters breaking into a song and dance number, they would instead break into a fight. The battle between Scott Pilgrim and Matthew Patel for example is done in the style of a Bollywood fight scene.

When Scott opens the door to receive his package, Michael Cera really did throw the package over his shoulder into the bin after 33 takes (most of these takes are seen among the "outtakes" of the special features). This scene was done authentically without the use of CGI or type of special effects because Edgar Wright deliberately wanted the throw to be real. However, the signature shown on-screen was a visual effect superimposed onto the paper.

The 8-bit Universal logo used at the beginning of the film was Edgar Wright's idea; it was then designed by his brother Oscar Wright, who served as the concept designer and storyboard artist on the film. The logo used in the final film was actually only a first-draft design logo. It was not yet considered finished when test screenings began, but the audiences reacted so positively to that logo that it was decided that no further work needed to be done.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead did actually memorized all the different types of tea that her character rambles in one scene. The film crew members kept offering for her to just read the names of the tea types from a piece of paper, but she insisted on rambling the different types of tea from memory with no cue cards required.

Edgar Wright advised his casting director not to hire any English actors as this was his first North American film production. Satya Bhabha, who played Matthew Patel, successfully passed the audition with a non-English accent. Bhabha later revealed he originated from London, England.

For the film to avoid earning an R-Rating, the F-word, said by Envy to Julie, had to be bleeped out because Scott Pilgrim calls Todd Ingram a "cocky-cock" earlier in the film. There was also a subplot from the comic which involved the relationship between Scott and Envy shown in "The Infinite Sadness" part, which ended up being omitted due to it being too explicit for a 'family-friendly' movie.

During the first Battle of the Bands and when fighting the first former lover of Ramona, Scott was seen wearing a "Plumtree" t-shirt. Plumtree is the name of an all-girl indie rock band that released the song "Scott Pilgrim" on their 1998 album, 'Predicts the Future'. That song became the inspiration for Bryan Lee O'Malley to create the graphic novel's title character.

Originally, the film opened with only a title card at the beginning. It was filmmaker Quentin Tarantino who suggested to Edgar Wright, late in post-production, that there should be a pre-title credit sequence. Otherwise the remaining ensemble of characters, who were yet to be introduced, would have been introduced in a much more rapid succession. The audience might have been overwhelmed with the introduction of characters and plot. With a pre-title sequence the audience is given a chance to relax and have a firmer grasp on the beginning of the film. Wright considered this and agreed, liking the idea that the first scene would now be a prologue.

When Scott first approaches Ramona at the party, a light switch is visible on a wall in the background. The unusual thing about this light switch is that it is fixed onto the wall seven feet above the ground near the ceiling. The party scene was filmed at a frat house, and out of all the fixtures of the place, this placement of the light switch stood out the most. Even Edgar Wright as well as the rest of the crew don’t know the actual reasoning for this placement of the light switch.

Keita Saitou and Shôta Saitô, who portrayed the fifth & sixth Evil Exes, spoke little to no English, and Edgar Wright said that directing them during their fight scene proved to be a challenge, as it involved hand gestures and other crude means of communication. This language barrier also meant axing a talkative subplot from the books, where they hold Kim Pine as a hostage.

Like in the graphic novel, Scott Pilgrim is seen wearing a t-shirt that bears the letters "SP" in a heart. While these are Scott's initials, the design is also the logo for the band Smashing Pumpkins, an influence towards creator Bryan Lee O'Malley. Scott is also seen wearing a "Zero" t-shirt, an iconic shirt often worn by Smashing Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan. Additionally, one of the film's acts is titled "The Infinite Sadness" which is a reference to the Smashing Pumpkins' 1995 album, “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness”.

While Scott Pilgrim is 22 years old and his sister, Stacey Pilgrim, is 18, Michael Cera was nearly 3 years younger than Anna Kendrick during the filming of the movie. Likewise, Ellen Wong, who plays 17 year old Knives Chau, was actually 3 years older than Cera.

The band Envy Adams is part of "The Clash at Demonhead", is named after the Nintendo Entertainment System game, “Clash at Demonhead” (1989). The name is also a play on the influential punk band, “The Clash”.

Edgar Wright advised the actors not to blink during filming in order to give the film a comic book vibe. There were however only a few moments in the entire movie in which someone blinks. Kim Pine only blinks her eyes once during the entirety of the movie. Apart from that, she only breaks her gaze three times - she lowers her eyes twice and has her eyes closed when announcing the Sex Bob-Omb for the last time.

Michael Cera admitted that he ended up buying several albums during the filming of the record store.

Every bassist in the movie plays a bass with a pick rather than with their fingers.

The film was heavily inspired by and features numerous references to Nintendo, such as the use of names, imagery, sound effects and music from classic NES games, and scenes featuring various Nintendo video game consoles. Ironically, the video game adaptation of the film, was only initially released for Playstation 3, XBOX 360, and PC.

The title of the movie originated from the title of the second volume of the graphic novel series. The movie is an adaptation of all six volumes. The first book was titled 'Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life' which was the working title of the movie.

When Scott and his friends are walking to Julie's party, there is a building in the background with a lit-up "Flight Center" sign. The letter L on the sign, however, is seen flickering, so it actually reads as "Fight Center".

Metric had recorded two versions of their song "Black Sheep". One had the vocals of lead singer Emily Haines, which was included in the official soundtrack of the film. The other version featured Brie Larson's vocals, which became a fan-favourite and was used in both the film and in a promotional music video. However, the latter version was nowhere to found officially. Due to its popularity, the version containing Larson's vocals was later included in the 10th anniversary edition of the film's soundtrack, which was released in June 2021. That version became such a hit that it brought Larson back to the Billboard Charts for the first time since the year 2005.

During the editing process, Edgar Wright showed filmmakers Quentin Tarantino, Jason Reitman, and Kevin Smith a rough cut of the film, in which all four of them responded positively towards it.

When Julie is listing the names of the girls whose hearts Scott had previously broken, she mentions two girls named Lisa and Hollie. Lisa and Hollie were two secondary characters in the graphic novels who both didn’t appear in the movie. Lisa attended the same school as Scott and Kim did. While Hollie was Kim's co-worker and roommate.

Brie Larson wanted to be in the film because she was a huge fan of Edgar Wright’s movies. She never read any of the Scott Pilgrim books, but upon seeing a drawing of Envy Adams, she decided to watch the Adult Video Awards to get inspiration. Most of the female stars of the award show were shown acting very vain, so Larson based her voice and body language on the models.

Whenever a picture of The Clash at Demonhead is shown at the record store, the store alarm can be heard going off in the background.

Ellen Wong did made two custom made Sex-Bob-Omb T-shirts for her character to wear. The one selected by Edgar Wright appears in the movie, while the other on makes an appearance in the movie’s bonus features.

During the first fight scene, Young Neil is seen wearing a Sloan t-shirt. Chris Murphy, the vocalist and bassist for the band Sloan, did served as the music performance supervisor, whose job is to make sure the actors knew how to play their own instruments during filming.

During the scene at Pizza Pizza, following Scott and Todd's fight, a store can seen in the background across the street called Honest Ed's. Honest Ed's was a popular Toronto department store in which Scott and Todd fight, in the graphic novels. This store closed in December 2016.

The name of Scott Pilgrim's band, Sex Bob-Omb, is a reference to the NES game “Super Mario Bros. 2” (1988). The game features an enemy character named Bob-omb which is a small, round bomb with a lit fuse, legs, and eyes. An image resembling this character is depicted on the band's kick drum. While the name "Sex Bomb" is the name of a song by the punk rock band Flipper, as well as the name of a hit record by singer Tom Jones.

The band Crash and the Boys is named after the NES/Gameboy game called "Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge"

During the battle with the Katayanagi twins, a split second was seen before Gideon kisses Ramona's right hand, the green ring on her index finger glows, along with the sound effect that is from the film Flash Gordon (1980). The sound effect is derived from when Ming the Merciless's ring casts a spell upon Dale Arden, and at the very end of the movie’s cliff hanger.

The first draft of the script for the film was completed after only two of the six "Scott Pilgrim" volumes were completed and released.

In 2009 Edgar Wright started a year long photo blog where he would take at least one picture during the production of the film every day and post it on his website. Much of the cast and crew appeared in this daily photo blog while they were shooting, most of the time with no direct credit given and their faces are partially obscured in some way.

Ramona's cat "Gideon" from the comic book series was omitted from the film, but an image of the same cat can be seen on the mug Scott is drinking out of in the beginning of the movie.

During the amp vs amp battle when the the Katayanagi Twins turn up their speakers the volume control goes to 11, this is a reference to film “This Is Spinal Tap” (1984).

Crash and the Boys are said to hail from Brampton, Ontario. This city is located outside of Toronto, and is the home town of Michael Cera.

The "Chaos Theatre" is a reference to the theater under the same name in the Super Nintendo game “EarthBound” (1994). In the game a band known as the Runaway Five perform there nightly, though this is due to them being held under a massive debt by the theater owner. In the movie, the comparison is taken even further; Scott's band Sex Bob-omb is tight on cash, is seen playing there as part of a contract with Gideon. One of the members, Kim, states that they are there to "sell out and make money and stuff".

As per common comic-book custom, a number of supporting characters have alliterative names such as: Gideon Gordon Graves, Ken Katayanagi, Kyle Katayanagi, Lucas Lee, Neil Nordegraf, Roxanne Richter, Stephen Stills, and Wallace Wells.

The logo for Lucas Lee's skateboard company, which is seen tattooed on his chest, resembles an upside down Toronto city flag. It also can be seen as two letter "L"s (one of them backwards), over a board.

In the record store scenes, a Radiohead poster can be seen in the background. The film's composer, Nigel Godrich, has previously worked extensively with Radiohead.

This is the movie debut of both Ellen Wong and Marley Otto.

Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan, Rooney Mara, Zoe Kazan, and Betty Gilpin were among the future stars who auditioned for the movie, according to Edgar Wright and the casting directors during the tenth anniversary interviews.

The attire of the band Sex Bob-omb during their performance at the Chaos Theatre matches what they wear near the end of 'Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness'. Young Neil dons the suit and tie that was originally worn by Scott in the same book.

This is the only movie Edgar Wright directed to be rated PG-13 in the US.

Several characters from this film represent the Seven Deadly Sins. Matthew Patel represents Wrath, Lucas Lee represents Pride, Natalie 'Envy' Adams represents Envy, Todd Ingram represents Gluttony, Roxy represents Lust, Gideon represents Greed and Scott himself represents Sloth, as he doesn't have the foresight of his upcoming danger.

Before going to the after party, a text on the screen spells out the word "e-x-p-l-o-d-e". This is a reference to the Japanese trailer of “Akira” (1988). While the scene of Todd defacing the moon is based on a scene from the same movie.

While Scott’s bass guitar in the comic book series is a Rickenbacker 4001C64 in the comic series, for this movie he instead plays a Rickenbacker 4003 for a bass guitar.

The skates Ramona wears in the movie are Valo brand inline skates which are made for aggressive skating.

In the Lee's Palace scene, Wallace Wells and Kim Pine can be both be seen drinking Molson Canadian beer.

Every t-shirt that Scott wears is a ringer-T style shirt.

The Katayanagi twins reference their X number coincidentally when they select their respective keys on the keyboard. The first twin hits the white key that is both the sixth key from the top and from the bottom of the screen - while the second twin hits the black key that is fifth from the bottom and the fifth black key from the top since the shadow can be seen of the top black key, and finally they hit the keys that are inverse to their hair/clothing color.

In Ramona's apartment there is a “Fargo” (1996) poster that is visible behind her when she first offers Scott some tea. Mary Elizabeth Winstead would later appear in the third season of “Fargo” (2014), the TV series that is based on the movie.

The concert bands were not subbed into foreign languages and were left in their original English language for the various international releases of the movie.

The setting for the scene where Lucas Lee is filming his movie is located in Casa Loma. This is a popular filming location within Toronto.

While Scott and Stacey's parents, and their younger brother Lawrence had bit parts in the comic. The three characters in question were completely omitted from the movie.

The arcade game Scott and Knives were both seen playing was called “Ninja Ninja Revolution” which is a parody of the “Dance Dance Revolution” arcade game.

When Scott mentions his ex-girlfriend as 'my stupid ex-girlfriend', a character asked him "Isn't that the Uma Thurman movie?" The Uma Thurman movie in question was “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”.

In the comic book series, Envy Adams is a redhead, although this was not immediately obvious in the first editions, which were originally printed in black and white. Brie Larson did tried out a red haired wig, but it didn't look very good on her, so Envy was changed to being a blonde instead.

Ellen Wong had to audition for the role of Knives Chau three times before getting the role. The reason Ellen did got the role, was because Edgar Wright learned she has a green belt in Taekwondo. During training for her fight scenes, the choreographer was impressed with her skills and ends up dubbing her as “Ellen-ator”.

The electric monster that appeared during the “amp vs. amp” competition bears a resemblance to the Id monster from the 1956 science fiction movie “Forbidden Planet”.

The kick-drum that bears the word 'DRUM' in white typeface on a black background is a reference to the Salt Lake City performance of “Circle Sky” in the 1968 movie “Head”.

The fight song with Lucas Lee is based on the song "Fight!" from the 1979 movie “The Warriors”.

Edgar Wright cited the 1968 crime movie “Diabolik” as a major influence towards this movie.

NegaScott is a homage to Dark Link from the game “Zelda II: The Adventures of Link”.

After the first fight scene occurred, an off-screen announcer can be heard yelling out “K.O.”. This is an audio clip ripped directly from the game “Street Fighter Alpha 3”.

Envy was referred to as “She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” which is a similar nickname to Voldemort being referred to as “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” from the Harry Potter franchise.

Scott Pilgrim wears the same wrist bands as Michael Cera did in the movie “Juno”.

When Gideon gets into a limo with Ramona. The sound the limo makes as it drives away is the grinding sound of the TARDIS from the Dr. Who franchise.

Roxie Richter was named after Richter Belmont from the game “Castlevania: Rondo of Blood”.

When Todd powers up, the way his blond hair stands straight up in the process is similar to that of the Super Saiyan transformation first featured in Dragon Ball Z. He also uses energy-based attacks, that are somewhat similar to those used by characters throughout the Dragon Ball franchise.

The name of the pizzeria in which Scott and his friends ate at is called “Pizza Pizza”. It is the name of an actual franchised Canadian quick-service pizzeria with its headquarters being based in Toronto. The chain was founded by Michael Overs, who opened the first Pizza Pizza restaurant on December 31, 1967, at the corner of the streets Wellesley and Parliament in Toronto. Overs remained as the owner of the chain until his death in 2010. These restaurants are mainly located in the Ontario province with others being located in Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the western part of Canada. The Pizza Pizza restaurant that Scott and his friends dine at is located at 558 Bloor Street West in Toronto.