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Simon Pegg continues to talk Trek |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Thursday, 27 March 2008
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 Seems every time an actor working on Star Trek goes out to promote his own movie, he instead gets bombarded with questions about Trek. The latest casualty is Simon Pegg, who is playing Scotty in the new film; he was out working the press for the US premiere of Run, Fat Boy, Run, a romantic comedy starring himself.
With AICN:
Ain't it Cool News: Since you have a bigger part in this than you did in Mission: Impossible [III], was there any noticeable difference in how Abrams worked with you?
Simon Pegg: JJ is such a machine, you know? He has got so much energy and enthusiasm and he absolutely loves what he is doing and I think that the key thing that the Star Trek fans out there, of which I am one, but even the more dedicated ones even, the key thing that they have to remember is the one person that I’m sure they would want to make the next Star Trek film would be a Star Trek fan and JJ is most certainly that.
He’s not making this because it’s a business opportunity or it’s a script that landed on his door step. This is something he really, really loves and wants to do and I can’t think of a better person to be at the helm of this project and that’s always reflected in his attitude on set. He is just an absolute… he’s a pitbull. He really is. He’s on it all of the time and kind of… you know there are people on a set to verify things so that nothing is overlooked… nothing out of the universe, because people are always going to be looking for that kind of stuff for whatever weird reason. In some respects there is an odd sense out there that people kind of want it to not be very good to justify that the odds are kind of reluctant that it even exists, but I just think that being a fan of the show and having seen it up close, I’m ****ing excited and I’m in it.
AICN: So he’s not “prequeling” it. He’s not going to crush the dreams and hopes of the fans?
Pegg: Absolutely not and what is so exciting is what we are going to see is a Star Trek movie with contemporary special effects in it. With the special effects that we are seeing now in cinema, that’s going to be applied to Star Trek. ILM and these companies that can do amazing stuff… It’s going to be fantastic and we are going to see this universe realized more keenly than it ever has been before.
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With Entertainment Weekly:
Entertainment Weekly: Did you find the mixed reaction to your casting perplexing?
Simon Pegg: Not at all. I completely understand it and I would have the same reactions myself. On one hand, there’s been really positive [responses]; on the other hand, people have said ”I don’t understand. Why is he playing Scotty?” I think people are worried that I’m going to undermine the franchise by being outwardly comic, which is absolutely fair enough. They’re fans of that series, and it’s very dear to them. I don’t begrudge anyone’s opinion in that respect. I would hope that I can put their minds at rest and tell them that I am approaching it with complete and utter dedication to the original series. James Doohan’s character was a wonderfully robust, rough-and-tumble, part genius/part street fighter. He’s a great character to play, and James played him with an enormous amount of sympathy, and I tried to approach the role like he did. Get the character and say, ”Okay, he works in outer space, he’s a physics genius and an engineer, and he comes from Linlithgow in northwest Scotland” — and not go out there and try to do an impersonation of James.
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With The Deadbolt.com, on how he's tackling the part:
| Well, I tried to make it brand new because I think it would be a disrespectful thing to James Doohan to go and just impersonate his Scotty. He took on the role as this physics genius and engineer in the great tradition of the Scottish because, of course, they invented a lot of important things in contemporary industrial society. I thought I’d go and approach it the same way he did, which was to start from scratch. So I tried not to watch - as much as I love the original series - I tried not to watch too much of it, because I wanted my performance to be a tribute to him and what he did with the character and not be an impression. It’s a dangerous line you tread, really, because if I started doing an impression of Mr. Doohan then that might look like I was making fun of him, and that is the absolute last thing I would ever want. He’s a legendary character and as an actor he genuinely created one of the most significant characters in modern sci-fi. It was daunting. It was like, ‘S***, I’m going to be Scotty.' And I had to approach it very carefully. |
...and how he got the role:
| I got an e-mail from J.J. [Abrams]. I stepped off the plane and then switched on my phone and it said J.J. Abrams and I thought, ‘Oh great, I haven’t heard from J.J. in a while. I wonder what he wants?’ And it was just one sentence. It said, ‘Do you want to play Scotty?’ That’s all it was. I kind of looked at my wife, I showed her the e-mail, and she laughed and I laughed and we carried on laughing until we hit baggage reclaim. And then I phoned J.J. when I got home and went, ‘Are you serious?’ And he said, ‘Yes’ and I said, ‘I don’t know. Of course I’d like to play Scotty, but is it the right thing for me to do?’ I’m tying myself into something which could run and run and J.J. said, ‘Well, if the worst thing that happens is we get to spend three months together every three years and have a great time, what’s the problem?’ And I thought that was a good argument, so I said yes. |
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