Simon Pegg plays Shaun in the 2004 comedy horror film Shaun of the Dead.
Pegg co-wrote the screenplay with director Edgar Wright and stars as Shaun, an underachieving electronics salesman whose ordinary life is interrupted by a zombie outbreak in London. Shaun tries to protect his mother and girlfriend while planning to shelter in the local Winchester pub.
The film blends romantic comedy, character comedy, and zombie horror. Its humor often comes from Shaun’s delayed recognition that society is collapsing and from the contrast between familiar British routines and extraordinary danger. Nick Frost plays Shaun’s best friend, Ed, while Kate Ashfield plays his girlfriend, Liz.
Shaun of the Dead was the first film in Wright and Pegg’s informal Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy. The other two films are Hot Fuzz and The World’s End; they are not zombie films, although they share performers, comic style, and thematic links.