Michael Cera responded to a 9-year-old Scott Pilgrim e-mail and Chris Evans roasted him

Michael Cera may be just as excited for the return of Scott Pilgrim as we are, if his email habits have anything to say.

If you were a nerd back in the 2010s, chances are you know of Scott Pilgrim vs the World. The franchise initially began as a series of graphic novels, before being adapted into an action comedy movie by acclaimed director Edgar Wright.

But it seems like the story isn’t over, as the graphic novels’ iconic art style will now be translated into an anime, which is heading for Netflix.

But how did this anime come about? Well, it actually had something to do with an email chain, and Michael Cera being roasted.

All the Scott Pilgrim cast were happy to return

When executive producers Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski wrote the scripts for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, a major worry was whether or not the cast was going to be interested. Said cast includes Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Kieran Culkin, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Brandon Routh, Johnny Simmons, Mark Webber, Mae Whitman, Ellen Wong, and Satya Bhabha.

Many of those actors are now major stars, which may make them less than willing to return to what was essentially a box office bomb. “I remember we had a little get-together on Friday when the film came out,” stated O’Malley to Entertainment Weekly. “By that night we all kind of knew it was just going pewwwwwwww. I saw Michael Cera drive by, and we waved at each other, but he never showed up to the party. It was like, that’s it, then! But it has its own life. It’s gone on and on and on and on.”

However, the film began to grow a large dedicated following, and became a cult classic, even being re-released theatrically. And it seemed like even the cast were part of this fandom.

“We started the show before we had reached out to them,” continues Grabinski. “I can’t explain to you the process of Bryan and I sitting in rooms for a year or so saying, ‘Well, I hope they’re going to say yes!’

“I remember sitting in Bryan’s office when we started to see the emails of people saying that they were interested. I literally screamed. That was the first point where we felt like, okay, this could be a cool show.”

Michael Cera apparently lurks on old email chains

O’Malley believes that an old email chain had something to do with the cast’s enthusiasm. Said chain had been set up for the cast at the time of the movie’s release. “The cast have spoken about this email chain a lot but there’s one detail that I don’t think anyone has mentioned,” he explained.

“We were exchanging emails when the movie was coming out and then this thread went dormant for about nine years. Then, before this anime was even on the docket, Michael Cera responded to a meme someone had sent as if no time had passed. He just said, ‘Oh, that’s funny.’ Chris Evans responded like, ‘Michael, what the f*ck are you doing responding to this email from nine years ago?’ And then we all started chatting again.”

This re-connection was also like a family reunion: “We were all pretty young when we made the movie,” says O’Malley. “We all felt like family and I think we have ever since.”

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off will drop on Netflix on Friday, November 17, 2023. You can check out our other Netflix hubs below:

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