:: SIMON PEGG INTERVIEW ::
BY JESSICA DWYER
3/3/05
Welcome to Part 1 of my interview with the very talented Simon Pegg.  He was kind enough to agree to an interview and is quite the chatter; we discussed everything from his newest film he's writing along with partner in crime Edgar Wright (director of the oh-so- wonderful Shaun of the Dead), to Buffy The Vampire Slayer to Mystery Science Theater 3000.  We also get a bit of insight to what his part in the new Doctor Who is.  Yes, I get shamelessly girlie a bit here and there. But hey...I'm a Fangirl.  I'm allowed.

  
SP:  Hello, Jessica.
FG:  Hey Simon, how are you?
SP:  Not too bad.  Me and Edgar are busy writing the latest film, but we’ve been sort of procrastinating watching Chuck Norris movies and pretending that’s inspiration.
FG:  Oh, Chuck Norris is very inspirational.
SP: I’ve never seen someone with so little charisma.
FG:  Oh yeah, there you go.  Walker, Texas Ranger all the way. Well, let me start off by not making you rehash all the stuff you’ve been asked before.  What is the question you are most tired of being asked?
SP:  "How did you come up with the idea of Shaun of the Dead?"
FG:  Really?  I was betting on “Is there going to be a 3rd series of Spaced?”
SP:  That used to be the one.  We’d get asked that a lot, but it’s sort of been overtaken.  We’ve done so much press for Shaun that it was always the first question in every interview, “Where did you get that idea from?”  The third series of Spaced - weirdly there is this graffiti artist in London that is going around spray painting “Spaced Series 3” everywhere.  And it’s making everyone think we are doing some kind of viral marketing campaign.
FG:  (laugh) That’s going to get you busted.
SP:  (laugh)  Yeah, I know.
FG:  That’s really nice of him.
SP:  I think it’s pretty cool, actually.
FG:  It is pretty cool, but one day your going to get a knock at your door and it’s going to be the police.
SP:  (laugh)  I know. 
FG:  Yeah, thanks buddy. The next question.  The Shaun action figures I’d heard rumored about.  Are those happening and who’s making them?
SP:  There was some talk of it some time ago.  There is definitely a Shaun of the Dead comic coming out.  We just received the covers of it the other day and it looks really good. But the action figures are something we’ve discussed.  There are like two or three companies that want to make them.  We were just touched about making Spaced figures recently. 
FG:  Really?  That’d be wonderful.
SP:  Yeah.  See, the action figure industry today is people who were kids back in the 70’s when the first action figures came out and they are wanting to reignite their passion for it in their adulthood. So you get action figures for things like My Dinner With Andre.
FG:  I know that McFarlane is doing some awesome stuff.
SP:  Yeah, and hopefully it’s ripe for doing.  There was talk about doing Shaun, Ed and a zombie.  But I can’t say anything definite.
FG:  That would be very cool.
SP:  Yeah I think it would be fantastic.
FG:  Then I could make movies with my Bruce Campbell action figure and have him and Shaun battling the undead.
SP:  Yes, you could make my dreams come true.   I’d be in a movie with Bruce.
FG:  (laugh)  Exactly.  I know there’s a company in California that can make your own for $3500.00 dollars.
SP:  Wow, that’s cool…
FG: They actually get a box and everything for you and give you little accessories if you want.
SP:  When they did our signings in LA there was a guy who came along, I think he was one of the guys who sent me something for my birthday, Robb I think.  He made two little action figures of Shaun and Ed.
FG:  I saw the pictures, those are really cool.
SP:  It was very cool.

Fanboy for life: Simon Pegg also does the voice of Johnny Alpha of 2000 AD fame for BBC Radio, as well as appearing in the Doctor Who audio "Invaders From Mars"

FG:  I know you were talking about Hot Fuzz, is that what you are writing right now?
SP:  Yeah.
FG:  It sounds really great, seeing you guys as cops would be wonderful.  It sounds hilarious.
SP:  Yeah (laugh)
FG:  Is it going to be more of an homage to the British gangster movies?
SP:  No, if anything it’s a reaction against them.  It’s kind of like, um… it seems that one of the main staples of British movie making recently has been the glamorizing of the London gangster scene, and we want to get away from that and make it about the police, about the opposite thing.  Because I think it was Britain saying “We want to be as bad as America.” With all these films about…like The Godfather and the American criminal fraternity.  We were feeling left out a bit and all of a sudden we’ve built our own little romantic gangster scene.  Which does exist but not quite as stylistically.
FG:  Not with all the Mini Coopers running around.
SP:  NO.  But I am exposed to films like Get Carter - the original film - and The Italian Job will have an influence on it, yeah.
FG:  That ‘s going to be cool.  Okay, so speaking of films.  What is your opinion of the massive rehash of re-do’s and re-makes that Hollywood is doing, including Evil Dead. Which just confuses the heck out of me, since Evil Dead 2 was the remake.
SP:  I know, and that’s kind of weird though.  I’m surprised…I know Sam Raimi has an argument and Bruce Campbell is defensive of it, saying there is a whole generation of kids who haven’t seen it.  My advice is go to video store, you know? It really gets on my nerves. It represents this apocalyptic death of ideas.  It’s like come on, surely there must be some new stuff out there.  It’s all about brand names, recognizable terms. The reason they remade Texas Chainsaw Massacre was the film title.  Most people had heard of it, but little people had seen [it].  It’s the idea of, if we get Starsky and Hutch or Miami Vice or The Brady Bunch, we get names that people will know and they’ll go see.  It’s lazy.
FG:  I think it’s a copout.
SP:  It’s a huge copout, I think they should stop immediately.
FG:  I did a rant on my website about it, because I’m just so frustrated.  And they are doing Amityville Horror now too.
SP:  I know, and that’s the weird thing, 'cause that’s not even a very good film to begin with! It’s good in a kind of 80’s shlockish, fun way, but it’s not a particularly great movie.  The only thing is... the title has passed into mythology thanks to the video boom in the 80’s and they are like “Oh, we’ll do that because people will recognize the name."
FG:  Exactly!  Well I do have a bit of good news on the Evil Dead one.  I read somewhere that Bruce Campbell has said “That’s fine, okay do it.  But nobody in it can be named Ash.”
SP:  That’s a good thing.
FG:  Yes.
SP:  We all know who the real Ash is.
FG:  There’s only one king.
SP:  Exactly.
FG:  Well, let’s go to something happier.
SP:  Okay, yes don’t get me on a rant.
FG:  With the reception of Final Demand do yourself doing more dramatic stuff, or more comedy in the future.  Would you like to do more drama?
SP:  Well, I don’t really sort of distinguish in a way because I think acting is acting.  Comedy... there are kinds of comedy that are sort of clowning around.  Shaun of the Dead, we wanted that to be underpinned by quite realistic performances, whether what we were saying was funny or not, you know.  Yeah, I wouldn’t mind doing something that was more straight with less jokes in it.  I enjoy acting, it would be fun. As far as Final Demand, it was really serious stuff, there was hardly any comedy in it. If there was a funny character in it, it was me, 'cause I was this slightly countrified yokel that was... cheated on.  I wouldn’t mind doing that kind of stuff.
FG:  That’s good.  I’d like to see you in more…well I’d like to see you in more stuff period. You were so amazing in Shaun…you cry really well.

SP:  (Laugh)  Well that’s really funny.  Cause we you know, he’s going through all this stuff.  When I see people crying in films I think they're trying to get an Oscar. But you know, he can’t go through all this…he’s only a shop boy.  He’s watching his family die all around him, he would be a cry baby.
FG:  I think anybody would.
SP:  They’d have to be.
FG:  That kind of leads in to what I was going to ask.  How hard is it to get yourself into that frame of mind?  Especially the “Mom” scene, I mean, man…that was your Oscar moment.
SP:  (laugh)  I know…By that time we were all so tired.  We’d been shooting for a long time, that set was very hot.  You know we were up against time and emotions were running high.  Jesus, the crew were crying, let alone me.  So you know…me and Nick both had moments were we just had to sort of you know go out and have a bit of a cry just because we were just that tired.  So it wasn’t too difficult.  You know, Penelope - Penelope Wilton, who plays Barbara - is actually very similar looking to my own mum.  She’s a lot taller than my mum, but she does look like her…so having to do that…She’s such a great actress, so having to kinda cradle her in my arms while she shivered and shook and said goodbye, you know it was very difficult to do anyway.
FG:  Awww…Oh man I bet that was hard. Kinda of a follow up to that - I think Shaun had some of the best acting I saw last year…
SP:  Bless you Jessica.
FG:  Oh it was an awesome, awesome film.  I mean look at how much I’ve been inspired by it.
SP:  I know it’s great, it’s fantastic.  We’re very thrilled by the response we’re getting from it. 
FG:  Well you know the PeggLeggs, we love you.
SP:  (laugh)  I’m still amazed by that website.  I saw it and…uh jeez, it’s just brilliant.  I’ve never seen so many pictures of myself in one place, I was just shocked.  Harmony, it’s really excellent! I’m very flattered. [Ed. note: Harmony runs www.peggster.net, and it's awesome!]
FG:  You’re worth it.  You’re one of the best actors I’ve seen in a long time.
SP:  Aw thank you. 
FG:  How do you feel…and I just want to congratulate you for the award, winning the NME Award for best picture.
SP:  Yeah!
FG:  How do you feel about the short shaft genre television and film - particularly like Buffy with the Emmy’s, having never won one - how do you feel in the way it seems we still have to fight for what respect that those films and TV get?
SP:  Yeah, I think it’s because…These award things are always presided over by panels and people, and if they don’t consider…quite often genre television and comedy, and it’s kind of understandable, but they are considered non-serious. 
FG:  Right.
SP:  I mean we were the only comedy film really nominated in the entire BAFTA line up, the sort of British Oscars.  Shaun was the only comedy in all of that.  Because people don’t...and horror, people don’t really consider it serious. People make jokes about films that win Oscars are always about people with disabilities or hardship things. It’s kinda true, you know, a lot of awards and panels will pick up on human concerns and see genre stuff as being less worthy, in a way.  Which is a shame, but maybe that’s why it has such a fierce and loyal following. And Buffy, particularly “The Body” and “Hush”, were two episodes that should have had awards heaped upon them because they changed television.  You know Joss Whedon is a great writer and an extraordinarily innovative sort of artist and he absolutely deserved Emmy’s coming out of his arse it was such a great show.
FG:  Oh, especially “The Body.”
SP:   Yeah, it was shocking.
FG:  Sarah Michelle Gellar, with her work in Scooby Doo (laugh)...you know, the acting she did in that was just amazing.
SP:  I know, but it’s a horrible truth about the world…in that more people have seen Sarah Michelle Gellar, you know, mincing around as Daphne than any who have seen her act in that episode as Buffy.  And everybody should have seen that episode of Buffy.
FG:  Yeah, I mean the fact that there was no, up until the very tail end, there was no supernatural aspects.  That was just amazing.
SP:  Yeah, and when it happened you kinda went “Oh yeah, this is Buffy.”
FG:  (laugh)  Oh yeah, there are vampires in there!

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2!!!