He created the rom-zom-com with 'Shaun of the Dead' and breathed new life into British comedy movies. Can he repeat that success with 'Hot Fuzz'?

 

Jonathan Ross once remarked that Simon Pegg had a "head like a tennis ball". The description of his close-cropped yellow fuzz, complemented by fashionably unshaven cheeks on a perfectly spherical bonce was so accurate that it made me laugh out loud. Strange to relate, Pegg, whose stock-in-trade is making people laugh at him, was not amused.

 

Not that it matters. Pegg's career has been on an upward trajectory since the 1999 cult television sitcom Spaced. It was the moment when all the elements that had been floating around him came together. Pegg co-wrote the scripts and starred as a twenty-something slacker - an adult male trapped in adolescent irresponsibility, clutching his skateboard like a totem of immortality and designing increasingly deranged science- fantasy, comic-book characters.

 

Somewhere along the line Pegg struck a chord with an audience who subsequently turned out in droves to see his debut on the big screen in Shaun of the Dead, a comic tribute to George A Romero's zombie movies. Promoted with the full panoply of advertising and the kind of media carpet-bombing usually reserved for a multimillion dollar blockbuster, this modestly-budgeted Brit film struck box office gold and took Pegg into the big league.

 

He claimed he would be spurning any offers from Hollywood that came his way as a result. What seemed like minutes later, he was appearing in Mission: Impossible III opposite Tom Cruise in the role of Benji Dunn, a technician with a mythical American agency, a part which had first been offered to Ricky Gervais. He was also given a part in Band of Brothers, Spielberg's massive series on the Second World War.

 

Pegg played Sgt Evans in the first two programmes. He got to deliver a letter to Damian Lewis before being shot down while flying over Normandy. "I have really nice memories of it," he recalls. "I spent a lot of time lying in my trailer off-set wearing full-army parachute gear, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer between takes." He made a friend of David Schwimmer, with whom he starred in Big Nothing and with whom he will again team up in Run, Fat Boy, Run.

 

In London, Pegg hangs out with a cool crowd, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, who invited him to be godfather to their daughter, Apple. Now he has come up with another British comedy movie called Hot Fuzz. As the title implies, it riffs around the perennial notion of comedy cops.

 

Pegg's secret is that he likes the genres he is parodying, which allows him a little more dramatic licence than someone who holds them in contempt. Thus, Shaun of the Dead was not just a great comedy about suburban slackers; it was also a rather good zombie horror movie or, as the tagline put it, the first romantic zombie comedy or "rom-zom-com". Whether he can pull off the same trick with Hot Fuzz remains to be seen, but so far the entrails are reading well.

 

Pegg is the geek made good. "I'd like to write a book about geek culture," he has said. "I love geeks. I'm a geek myself. Being a geek is such an unselfconscious expression of interest." Consequently, much of his material arises from the wry observation of his own life and obsessions. The constant references to popular culture, especially comics and science fiction movies, puts him in the same category as The League of Gentlemen. The difference is that Pegg's nice-guy ordinariness shines through the otherwise unsympathetic geek. It allowed him to move from surreal, stand-up routines to guest spots in television series and comedies like Asylum, Big Train and Six Pairs of Pants.

 

It was while doing the last that he met his partner in comic crime, Jessica Stevenson. Together they wrote Spaced, in which they starred as unlikely flatmates, whose fantasy lives sometimes intrude on their peculiar domestic arrangements. Spaced was a cult hit that brought him to the attention of a wider public. With one foot grounded in reality and another foot waving around in fantasy, it was a breakthrough sitcom stuffed with counterculture in-jokes and fantasy inserts that only the initiated would appreciate. Sometimes it got obscure: at 16, Pegg had been a drummer in a band called God's Third Leg and in the first episode of Spaced the covers for the band's LPs are glimpsed in a record shop. Pegg gambled that there would be enough people like him who would identify with the character and the humour, geek to geek. It was a gamble that paid off.

 

Born on 14 February 1970 and raised in Gloucester, Pegg was encouraged in his early acting ambitions by his parents. He moved to Stratford-upon-Avon at 16 to study A-levels, graduating from Bristol University in 1991 with a BA in theatre, film and television. "I've always been interested in acting," he says. "I studied a course in drama, but that put me off the idea of being an actor because I couldn't stand the thought of jobbing and doing things I didn't really like."

 

In 1993 he moved to London and gigged on the stand-up comedy circuit before breaking into television comedy. From 1998 to 2004, he featured on Radio 4's The 99p Challenge. A friend of his from the early days recalls how they met at an audition for a low-budget movie which never got made. "We were the only two who said yes. After that we used to meet for breakfast at Tesco's, and he'd always try and get me to write something with him. He had long black hair tied in a ponytail and he always wore a hat."

 

Even then, Pegg was desperate to get to America, believing that this was where the work was. So he made himself over, cut his hair, went blond and looked around for a writing partner. By the time he was appearing in Six Pairs of Pants, he found her in Jessica Stevenson.

 

Pegg likes to work with his friends and people he trusts. Largely because of the shared sense of humour, he always has his sidekick, Nick Frost, somewhere near him. Former waiter Frost plays the army-obsessed Mike in Spaced and his computer-game-playing couch potato friend in Shaun of the Dead. When Pegg got married to Maureen McCann in 2005 in Glasgow, Frost was his best man.

 

Edgar Wright, who directed Spaced, is another of his usual collaborators, having a similar sense of humour and shared obsessions for zombie movies and all things geeky.

 

Having established himself as a niche actor who can play both comedy and drama, Pegg now gets offered parts he must have fantasised about, including playing "Phone Booth Zombie" in his hero George A Romero's Land of the Dead, and appearing in Doctor Who. Slated to play Rose Tyler's father in the first series of the new Doctor Who in 2005, in the end he played an editor in a different episodebecause of a diary clash. "Doctor Who was a big part of my childhood, so it was a great honour to be in it," he said at the time. Just one of the fringe benefits of being a successful geek.

 

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article2214779.ece

I thought Jonny was Apple's godfather. I remember reading it somewhere. Is it Jonny or is it Simon?

I so want to see that cop movie of his. Just the preview for it made me laugh so hard.

 

I thought Jonny was Apple's godfather. I remember reading it somewhere. Is it Jonny or is it Simon?

As I understand it, they both are.

I so want to see that cop movie of his. Just the preview for it made me laugh so hard.

 

 

As I understand it, they both are.

 

 

Thanks Erin.:)

I so want to see that cop movie of his. Just the preview for it made me laugh so hard.

 

 

As I understand it, they both are.

 

 

Hey Erin. Just read your profile. I'm from Nova Scotia too. :)

Oh, hey cool - another one. :) There seems to be an unproportional number of bluenosers on this board...

'Career's built on being a geek'

 

 

HE'S a self-confessed geek both on and off the big screen - but now Simon Pegg has turned the tables on Hollywood.

 

The Gloucester-born actor - who shot to fame in Spaced and Shaun Of The Dead - enjoyed his biggest box office success as Tom Cruise's top boffin in Mission Impossible III.

 

But now the nerd has turned - as Simon steps out as a guntoting, baddie-bashing cop in his new movie Hot Fuzz.

 

Lounging on the sofa in his plush suite in London's Soho Hotel, he says: "I'd like to take the word geek back and make it the positive term it once was.

 

"I'm the first to say I'm a geek. I've made a career out of it.

 

"But it was good to play against that type. It's fun to take on a role that American leading men would usually be getting.

 

"I was determined to outrun Tom Cruise in Hot Fuzz with all the sprinting I did.

 

"I was quite happy to play the boffin in Mission Impossible because it was a fun role. But I don't want to do it all the time."

 

Action comedy Hot Fuzz - out on Valentine's Day - sees Simon in the role of supercop Nicholas Angel, a dedicated action man ridding London's streets of crime.

 

That is until he's transferred to the quiet Somerset setting of Wells to team up with dozy PC Danny Butterman, played by his real-life best pal Nick Frost.

 

Nicholas' heavy-handed technique doesn't go down well with the twin-set and pearls brigade - but he soon uncovers some sinister secrets.

 

Simon says: "We wanted to take an American idea, force that into Somerset and make that all the more funny because you are not used to seeing high-octane action in Wells.

 

"There are hundreds of crime movies so we wanted to try to do the opposite. British Bobbies are not cool, so I figured I would make it happen.

 

"I should have brokered a recruitment deal with the police. Everyone is going to want to be one after this."

 

Simon and Nick went out on patrol with real cops to prepare for their roles - although they weren't allowed to carry guns.

 

He adds: "But we did get to hold an asp (baton) and wave it at some drunken men.

 

"On set we were able to live out childhood dreams. You get to be a gun-toting supercop.

 

"It's like living an episode of Jim'll Fix It every day."

 

Simon had been stuck in geek roles since surprise hit Shaun Of The Dead in 2004.

 

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, an old pal, sang on a backing track for the spoof zombie movie and appeared in a scene on the DVD version.

 

Simon's new film also boasts cameos by a string of stars, including Timothy Dalton, Steve Coogan, Jim Broadbent and Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson.

 

And Cate Blanchett makes an uncredited appearance that only eagle-eyed viewers will spot.

 

Simon says: "We loved the idea of getting an A-list star to play a role you wouldn't expect her in. Cate's a great sport. She's not even credited in the film. It all adds to the mystery.

 

"Chris wasn't credited for his part either. Sometimes it's fun to have a friend come along and do it because you can."

 

Simon is already eyeing up stars for his next film: "I'd love to work with Bruce Willis and send him up.

 

Mel Gibson has been a bit of a naughty boy lately, making those dubious comments.

 

"Maybe he and Jade Goody should do it."

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,11036-2007060614,00.html

I love Simon Pegg, and I cannot wait to see Hot Fuzz!

I love Simon Pegg, and I cannot wait to see Hot Fuzz!

 

 

I really want to see it too. Just watched Shaun Of The Dead. Fucking ace film :D

I saw Hot Fuzz last night. I prefer Shaun of the Dead, but only because I've seen it about a million times!

Hot Fuzz was gooood though.

Hot Fuzz was very very funny in parts. Watch it :)

One of my favourite bits is actually in the trailer, when they're jumping over fences - or trying to.

Simon Pegg plays down his friendship with Chris Martin

 

In a few short years, Simon Pegg has gone from jobbing stand-up to friend of the stars. The 37-year-old Shaun Of The Dead star is godfather to Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter Apple.

 

You are now friends with the likes of Tom Cruise and Gwyneth Paltrow. Do you sometimes pinch yourself?

It’s always surprising and I hope it continues. I am certainly very aware of how lucky I am and how much fun it is to work with these people. I dread the day when I am not impressed with all that stuff. These are people who I respect and you are very fortunate to get to work with them. I hope it remains surprising forever.

 

Do you hang out a lot with Chris and Gwyneth?

Yeah, but that’s not really relevant.

 

Source: The Mirror

Well let's hope he doesn't let all the success, fame and money go to his head, otherwise he'll need taking down a Pegg or two!!:rolleyes:

Simon Pegg has announced plans for a third spoof comedy movie.

 

According to BBC News, the actor (who hosted the 2005 Shockwaves NME Awards with comedy partner Nick Frost) has provisionally titled the project 'The World's End'.

 

The film will "complete the blood and ice-cream trilogy" and follows the success of 'Shaun Of The Dead' and 'Hot Fuzz', which Pegg compared to Cornetto ice creams.

 

"'Shaun Of The Dead' has strawberry, 'Hot Fuzz' has the original Cornetto flavour, and there will be a mint-choc chip in the third film," he told The Guardian last year.

 

"We don't quite know how or why yet, but it will happen," he added.

 

http://www.nme.com/news/jarvis-cocker/35670

 

Oooooooooh :D

I'm really looking forward to that third film !! I looooooove Shaun of the dead and Hot Fuzz :D

 

 

And Cate Blanchett makes an uncredited appearance that only eagle-eyed viewers will spot.

 

Simon says: "We loved the idea of getting an A-list star to play a role you wouldn't expect her in. Cate's a great sport. She's not even credited in the film. It all adds to the mystery.

 

I didnt know that !! I wanna know who she plays in the film even if she might only appear for a few seconds.. does anyone know ??

^cate blanchett plays jenneane, the woman that simon's character broke up with. she appears in the full clean-gear and goggles at the beginning so you can't tell it's her, but the voice makes you go "ahhh, that's her!" :D

 

these movies are some of my favorite in the world. i think they're not just hilarious, but amazing examples of genius screenwriting and directing. i can't WAIT for this third film!

^^ OK thanks for the information !! :)

I'll be more careful to her voice next time I watch the film. I watched it a week ago and didnt realised that was her..

Yeah I can't wait either....I LOVE Simon Pegg and I've turned lots of my friends Hot Fuzz/Shaun of The Dead fans :P

^^ I've tried that but my friends are too lazy to watch them in English.. I think it wont be as funny as it really is If they watch them in French.. :confused: and I dont want to ruin it with stupid French translations..

Hi!!

 

Sorry, I couldn't find a more suitable thread here...

 

Have you seen the cover of Radio Times for Red Nose day?

I stumbled upon it as James McAvoy is on a cover as well :)

 

 

Link to Radio Times

OMG that is sooo funny!!!!!!! :lol:

 

I love Mr Pegg :nice:

:heart: Pegg