Simon Pegg’s Run, Fatboy, Run opened yesterday and the final interviews with the actor are now online. Showing the media’s interest in the new Star Trek, Pegg continues to be asked about his role as Scotty. He remains careful not to give out any spoilers, but offers insights into the role and the film. A few interesting excerpts below, including a testy exchange with the LA Times.
Pegg explains to ReelzChannel why he isn’t giving out plot details
The minute I open my mouth a bullet will come through that window. A dart will hit me in the neck and I’ll just go unconscious
…but did talk about Abrams approach
The thing that’s great about him is that he’s an enthusiast, he’s a movie-lover, he’s a geek like me, he’s a fanboy. I think if I wasn’t involved with Star Trek and I knew they were making a new film, I would want someone who is a fan of the franchise to make the film. And that’s what’s happened.
Respect for Scotty, the genius brawler
In another one of his comments (to the Scotland Daily Record) about his respect for the original Scotty, did Simon let out a little detail?
[Doohan] went in there and just came up with the character. So I decided to start from scratch and play a Scottish physics genius and engineer from Linlithgow who is a bit of a brawler. I did that as a tribute to James because he owns that role. I also wouldn’t want anyone to think I was making fun or parodying him. That’s the biggest mistake.
More on that theme and the film at the Star Tribune:
I didn’t want to undermine James in any way; he’s created one of the most enduring figures in modern science fiction. We’ve gone in there absolutely adamant that the spirit of the show’s going to remain intact. Seriously, not with a hint of parody, this is a ‘Star Trek’ film. It’s nothing but.
Simon gets testy…defends Trek
The following is an interesting exchange with the LA Times that shows Simon’s passions and how he really is a great spokesperson for the film, especially dealing with some biased members of the press.
LAT: “Star Trek”: Total nerdfest?
Pegg: For me as a kind of a geek, yeah! It was a fantastic experience.
LAT: Are you going to get roasted for destroying sacred characters?
Pegg: I don’t think so. The main thing is J.J. Abrams is a fan of “Star Trek.” He really gets it. . . . This is now the generation that grew up with the series. These are the people most qualified to make “Star Trek.”
LAT: Hmmph. We’ll see.
Pegg: I’m a fan of “Star Trek” since I was a kid. There was nothing I came across on set — it’s not an ironic, sort of postmodern take on the original series. I think we’re past postmodernism! The idea of sending up the past is a bit boring now. If you look at the reinvention of characters like James Bond, it had to go through its period of Roger Moore raising his eyebrow and making lewd comments.
LAT: That’s the smartest thing I’ve heard all day.
Pegg: It’s only 9:30.
Taking over for Patrick Stewart next?
Lastly, Pegg talked to the Deseret News about how after Trek and his latest film’s he is ready for a rest
It’s been an exhausting couple of movies. Probably more exhausting than anything I’ve ever done before, really. In fact, after all that running and exercising, I’m hoping to find a role in which I’m sitting down all the time. Perhaps I could even replace Patrick Stewart in the ‘X-Men’ movies.
Smart guy
Lots of respect for the franchise
See everyone, Simon Pegg was great casting. Not only will he make a great Scotty but he’s got some respect too and is proving that right now.
Go Scotty! I really like his passion for Trek. Simon Pegg is growing on me every time I read about him.
Simon Pegg as Professor X? That I’d love to see. :)
Good on Pegg for putting that snide LATimes interviewer in his/her place.
I am so tired of hearing him say the same thing over and over again. I guess he’s tired of being asked those same things? There are no Star Trek Leaks for us, my fellow trekkies. Pegg is not going to breach confidence. Maybe they need to work on the more weak minded. Sorry, that’s a Star Wars line. LOL!!!
Who is this jerk at the L.A. Times? Simon should have done his best Doohan impression and said,
“Laddy, don’t ‘ya think ‘ya should…rephrase that?”
I don’t know who that guy was, but I’d love to see Pegg Scotty-slap him across the mouth.
#6 Batts they are doing a real good job of keeping things under wraps but I suspect sooner or later someone is going to spill the beans on the plot details and everything else. In this day an age instant information you can’t keep things this quite forever. Sooner or later someone is going to talk.
The reporter from the Los Angeles Times should legally change his name to Jack Ass!
Borgus frat.
#3—I don’t think he has many fanboy detractors left after that exchange.
#5—Who was that guy, Charles? He (or she) certainly did have an attitude. What a jerk!
Very glad to hear there won’t be any wink-wink we’re too smart to take this seriously moments — at least that’s what I’m getting from Pegg here.
Blowed up 60s/70s TV shows have turned into 3 catagories of movies: excellent (including STII), stinkers (long list, including My Favorite Martian and Wild, Wild West) and stank so bad the studios should offer double your money back (even longer list, including Beverly Hillbillies, SWAT, and up to now anything made from Dr. Suess material.)
STXI must own its own space. It will obviously honor the original, but it can’t live there, neither can it be a crappy send-up as Pegg points out.
405 days to go… sheesh.
Total nerdfest? haha, I guess I will get that printed on a golden T-Shirt for 5/8/2009 ;))
Uh Oh! It’s the return of Harry Ballz. Wait a minute “I never left!” that would be the reply, probably?? How goes the battle, Harry? Maybe we need to send you over there to get some answers.
#8. Garovorkin
I agree with your optimism. Nothing can be that top secret and have no leaks. I mean common, look at the Us Gov’t.
#6 – You might as well get used to hearing the same thing over and over again. I hope not to hear any more about the movie than what has already been said. I’m one of those annoying people who like to be surprised. I find all trailers and teasers now give away too much of the films we would love. Either audiences are, indeed, generally dumber and need shiny stuff to interest them, or the studios just think they are.
If you keep reading sites like this (as I will) you might eventually see somone slipup and give too much away. Be patient.
But will there be enough power, captain?
Surely we’ll get him saying that, won’t we?
” So I decided to start from scratch and play a Scottish physics genius and engineer from Linlithgow who is a bit of a brawler.”
Sounds like Montgomery Scott to me. I know some people say they are getting tired of hearing from him, but how could you be? While he’s really out promoting a different project, every time he answers a Trek question he nails it right on the head, IMO.
To think, there was a time when he was actually leary of accepting this role, and there were people here who thought it was a big casting mistake. Now he’s practically out defending our honor in response to this a$$ at the LA Times.
JJ Abrams became a Star Trek fan after seeing TWOK. The writers are even bigger fans. If he (Abrams) makes a ST film with the same grit and mass appeal of TWOK, all the while operating with this enormous and unprecedented ST budget, I wonder where this jerk (the reporter in question)will be hiding then.
Hmmp. We’ll see.
LAT: That’s the smartest thing I’ve heard all day.
Pegg: It’s only 9:30.
LMAO… Brilliant!
Vic
It sounds like Pegg has got the Scotty role nailed down nicely and it does sound like he’s getting a little fatigued answering the same questions over and over again. Its time that the media move on to other topics with him like his latest movie, Hey has any one seen Run Fatboy Run yet?
I‘ll never actually regard the re-casts as our beloved characters, but as long as Pegg sticks to his “Doohan owns Scotty”, I’ll say that I do like his attitude and that I think he’ll be a fine Scotty for a new generation. His respectfulness seems genuine and that’s the most important prerequisite for a good portrayal, imo.
It always amuses me how people in the so-called “popular press” get off on publicly insulting Star Trek fans. “Total nerdfest”, is just the latest. There will undoubtedly be more as the premiere date approaches, They must have this irresistible need to feel superior. A psychologist could probably make some serious cash getting to the bottom of that.
Really, how many fans of other genres, shows, sports teams, what-have-you are so regularly and pointlessly insulted like Star Trek fans are? You don’t see this kind of disdain for fans of the equally-pointless “American Idol”, which has more viewers than Trek could ever dream of. You don’t see the Times insulting fans of John Grisham, whose books seem to be cranked out as if he were a Xerox machine. The Harry Potter fans who lined up around bookstore corners all night to get a copy of Deathly Hallows weren’t insulted in the paper the next day. Hell, even Miami Dolphin fans aren’t treated this badly! But if you’re a Star Trek fan, you’re fair game to be ridiculed, belittled and insulted however the local newspaper sees fit. Sheesh.
9
Yeah, it sure seems he was trying to lead in whatever direction he wanted. Kind of thing about journalism Ricky Gervais parodied on an episode of EXTRAS.
Simon Pegg is my New Hero , man i think we are so lucky to have pegg in the film, he really gets the role and star trek as a hole , i really hope the movie does well and we can see a few more movies with pegg as scotty !!!
Hmm that reporter must have BEEN A POSTER FROM TREKMOVIE!
Naw, they wouldn;t have been won over at the end.
@21
agreed , its a joke , they try to make all trek fans come off as the sterotypical social outcast loner , and i have no problem being called a nerd or geek but thats just me. And i dont get it , the last few years we have seen more fanboy stuff, it fine to be really into harry potter , or lord of the rings , or even comic books are kinda mainstream now thanks to all the movies, but just dont like star trek
which is just weird considering all really intelligent and famous people would like star trek . i guess the last laugh is on the media really , as they be as insulting as they want but people still love the shows and will hopefully go to new movie. i guess the last laugh is on the media , as the fact they insult the star trek fans is just a sign they dont get the franchise and are really out of touch .
Re: #21
The media disdain experienced by Trek-fans could be worse – just ask someone who was a fan of “Doctor Who” prior to 2005, say someone like Simon Pegg.
OK I’ve like Simon Pegg for a while now, but man this dude just gets better and better, his dry wit in the LA Times exchange is just great!
I’d totally want to be friends with him.
The more I hear from Pegg, the more confident I become in JJ’s approach.
What an honest and refreshing change from the drivel we got from B&B concerning Treks of the recent past.
Hey, Simon, keep it coming!
Ok. We need to get the LA Times covering why Tom Cruise is ‘still’ annoying, and get ‘both’ of them away from anything related to Trek.
horny – March 29, 2008
It always amuses me how people in the so-called “popular press” get off on publicly insulting Star Trek fans. “Total nerdfest”, is just the latest. There will undoubtedly be more as the premiere date approaches, They must have this irresistible need to feel superior. A psychologist could probably make some serious cash getting to the bottom of that.
Really, how many fans of other genres, shows, sports teams, what-have-you are so regularly and pointlessly insulted like Star Trek fans are? You don’t see this kind of disdain for fans of the equally-pointless “American Idol”, which has more viewers than Trek could ever dream of. You don’t see the Times insulting fans of John Grisham, whose books seem to be cranked out as if he were a Xerox machine. The Harry Potter fans who lined up around bookstore corners all night to get a copy of Deathly Hallows weren’t insulted in the paper the next day. Hell, even Miami Dolphin fans aren’t treated this badly! But if you’re a Star Trek fan, you’re fair game to be ridiculed, belittled and insulted however the local newspaper sees fit. Sheesh.
A: Great points — so we have to give the press a new story, judo like, so that it becomes the their new thread:
Revenge of the Nerds?
We will make being a Trek Geek cool again?
#30 . . . Trek Geek has always been cool!
I count myself as a proud member of this and all Trek-related Nerdfests, Geekfests, Dorkfests, Freakfests, Dweebfests sand Total-Gooberfests.
Leave the guy alone.
It’s like the reporter who grabs the 100 meter runner who’s won the race and is puffing and panting,trying to get their breath back and the reporter asks “What were your thoughts as you were crossing the finishing line?”
Ridiculous.
The best way to get back to the media about Trek not being just for nerds will be when Star Trek breaks box office records. I can see that happening with the new film…wait that won’t stop them. They’ve been doing this to Trek for the last 40 years.
I’ll admit that I was shocked to hear that Simon Pegg got the role, but I’m beginning to wonder if he is the best.
Paul McGillions Accent didn’t sound rough enough to be Scotty (Even though it is a very good Scottish Accent), and James McAvery didn’t seem like the brawler type. Simon Pegg really looks and sounds like he can play Scotty.
Oh, and we all know he can brawl. Just watch Hot Fuzz! I really hope we get to see him whip someone properly in this movie!
In the last few threads I’ve seen a lot of complaining about the lack of new info coming out on this film.
Add me to the list of people who want to be totally surprised by the plot. I don’t want to know anything more than I do already. Really. How fun is that if you go into the movie, knowing what’s going to happen? I am very thankful that Anthony puts spoiler warnings on the articles. I avoid them like the plague.
No trailer coming out this summer? No publicity photos for a few more months? Fine with me. I think stretching out a marketing campaign for more than a year, while sure to please Trek fans, is only going to lead annoy the heck out of the general public. They’ll get tired of it. Maybe it will affect their decision on whether to go to the movie. Why take the chance? I want EVERYONE to feel they must see this movie, I want it to seem new and fresh when it comes out. All of this because I want this movie to be Trek’s re-birth. Not its swan song.
Now don’t get me wrong, when we get close, I want to see Trek XI trailers on every TV commercial break. I want a publicity bliz bigger than what we saw for TMP. But let’s have a little patience. We’ve waited for years. We can wait a little longer.
Just my 2c
My respect of the LA times just went up 101%
#36—Well, there’s no accounting for taste…
I dig the ‘Scotty as a brilliant physicist’ approach. Wicked cool, right?
#36 I have never take the LA Times all that seriously anyways,how can you its pure Hollywood. Pegg is class all the way ,I just would like to see them not repeat the same old questions over again. We all know that he’s is going to be a fine Mr Scott, maybe not the original but he will honor the original and thats the whole point.
#35: “I want a publicity bliz bigger than what we saw for TMP”
There’s no way to top TMP’s promotion of a Klingon pitching in Klingonese ‘Star Trek Meals’ at McDonalds!
Also,
I don’t want to know plot points!!! I doubt many here do. I want a few pictures, though, as a concession for the release delay.
Just a few pics, that’s all! Enterprise, a uniform, a tricorder, etc. Even some pics of those toys would be enough. Then, I’ll stop whining until autumn. Promise.
Here’s to ya’ lad! Everytime I see one of these interviews, I get more and more excited about this movie. That’s saying a lot considering that I sobbed with joy (I literally played Handel’s “Messiah” in the background) when it was first announced.
As for #’s 35 and 40, I think that we as trekkies need to publisize the CRAP out of this movie.
“It’s only 9:30” ?!!
pwn!!!!!112
#40 I remember that McDonalds add Moogie , I still makes me laugh every time i think of it. I hope that Taco bell or one of the other restaurant chain ends up with trek does their homage to That classic Ad.
Roberto: I have spent half my life with NY Yankees and Giants fans riding in cabs in NY where the radio is on, and the guys are, with Queens accents, debating some foul call from 1996, or why Georgetown’s basketball legacy disappeared after 1983.
These guys are nerds, too. Even more psycho than we are. Sports fans make Trekkers look like life-focused individuals.
Anthony: Please get Simon Pegg on.
He sounds great, and he has turned lots of fan skepticism around. I get the impression it’s not a huge role. But if he is doin’ Doohan as Scotty, the tech manuals will have to wait.
Re: 29. fred – March 29, 2008
“Ok. We need to get the LA Times covering why Tom Cruise is ’still’ annoying.”
Not enough paper or web space for that one.
Pegg: I’m glad he’s not going the “Saturday Night Live” route in his take on Scotty. How he fits in wth the rest of the production remains to be seen in terms of believability.
So these are the FINAL interviews with Simon Pegg? Thank gods…
#30
Bob, we’ve *always* been we’re cool! It’s the rest of the world that’s always been out of step and needs to catch up to the coolness of Trek.
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
Trek gets much positive press and accolades; but some entertainment reporters are looking for juicy stuff that sells. And some of them are probably tired of hearing how fantastic every movie and upcoming performance is going to be( in any movie); Pegg certainly did well– Postmodernism? Have to check the Oxford on that. As for the movie I’ll wait to see what people think of it. STTMP was reviewed in TIME in 1979 with the review title “Warp speed to nowhere” (They got over 500 letters commenting on what some considered an unfair review– according to the magazine’s note to those who wrote in) and years later Shatner and Stewart are on Time’s cover.