In my last article, an interview with director Vaughn Stein here, I covered my thoughts on INHERITANCE.
Here's a trailer:
If that trailer interests you, you're going to enjoy the flick!
And now, Simon Pegg!
Freddy Beans: How are you doing today Simon?
Simon Pegg: Good man, how are you?
FB: Hanging in there for being largely stuck at home.
SP: Aren’t we all?
FB: I saw INHERITANCE and really liked it. It’s an incredibly different role for you than usual. I feel you rose to that occasion. You not only needed to convince Lauren Monroe you should be free, you needed to convince us the audience. You did that. I was wondering if you could take us through the process of playing a man who seems helpless and slightly dangerous at the same time?
SP: It was a lot of fun to take on a character like this. It’s not something many have gotten to see me do before. You’re never really sure, where he’s coming from. Is he a victim? An oppressor? The script was such a neat little concept and compact thriller. It was a real treat to get to do something so different.
FB: Absolutely man and you killed it.
What was your favorite aspect of playing Morgan Warner?
SP: I kind of connect to having a physical appearance that reflected his incarceration. I had the opportunity with us getting delayed a little bit as well, where I tried to get into a physical state that looked like I might have been locked up for that amount of time. I ran a lot. I ran like 10 kilometers a day for three months. I was really skinny, much to the horror of my wife. So, it was fun for me to go through that sort of preparation. I hadn’t had to do that really. I’m not a method actor but it felt necessary. I wouldn’t look like I’d lived in a bunker for 6 months, but I looked slightly malnourished. I did it healthily. I didn’t starve myself. It was carefully done but that was quite a challenge.
FB: Absolutely. It really benefits your character and our belief in him as shown.
SHAUN OF THE DEAD, I love that movie so fucking much. Did you have any idea how successful it would become when you were making it?
SP: Our main focus at the time was getting it made. We somehow got that done. The script was bouncing around quite a bit. When we finally got around to making the movie, I’m not sure what aspirations we had beyond finishing each day. We made it in the UK and got to do the premiere with our families. We probably wouldn’t have had a U.S. release but AICN and Harry championed the film. It ended up getting a theatrical release and the rest is history. It’s a wonderful thing to have created something which has had a sort of lasting effect and still held in high regard by some people.
FB: Yeah man, thanks for bringing up AICN’s involvement too!
SP: Well, Edgar Wright and I are very grateful for that. We won’t ever forget that.
FB: I know you killed off most of the cast but is there any chance we’ll ever get a sequel?
SP: (Laughs) I think the sequel to Shaun is HOT FUZZ, and the sequel to HOT FUZZ was THE WORLD’S END. We didn’t want to create a franchise or retroactively spoil something we’d done before. That story ended. It had an arc and that arc finished. I think rather than do something else with the same characters, we moved into different genres. Of course, we had ideas. We’d half joke talk about it but I don’t really feel it’s necessary, ya know?
FB: I appreciate the shit out of that. Especially in this current environment, where a sequel is out every other week. It’s got to be hard to stand up and not do it. It’s probably a lot easier to give in and make some money.
You touched on SHAUN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ, and THE WORLD’S END, sort of being your sequels. What will you Nick and Edgar zoom your particular lens on next?
SP: Edgar and I have been talking about it. First, nothing has been done because the stars need to perfectly align. We have our separate careers and commitments. When Edgar is free to write something, I’m not. Or vice versa. It’s not about wanting to avoid it or anything. In some ways, it’s inevitable. We talk about it like it will happen at some point but it probably needs to be a synthesis of all those films. Take the passion and heartfelt nature of THE WORLD’S END, the nonstop joke machine that was HOT FUZZ and that cheerful naivety of SHAUN OF THE DEAD. We need to combine those three things to make the next thing work.
FB: You have the enviable position of starring in both the STAR WARS and STAR TREK franchise. Let’s settle this, which one is better? (Laughs)
SP: (Laughs) The thing the internet has done is its reduced discourse to this binary thing where you like one thing and also like this other thing. Or because you like this, you can’t like this other thing. There’s no sort of nuance anymore. STAR WARS and STAR TREK, besides their setting being in space, are apples and oranges. STAR WARS is a fantasy, more of a fairy tale than STAR TREK. STAR TREK is more science-fiction. STAR WARS is science-fantasy. I think saying one is better than the other is like saying football is better than basketball. They’re two different things and they can both be liked equally.
FB: Wonderfully politically correct answer. (Laughs)
I have been telling my girlfriend about SPACED forever. Do you know if it’s streaming in the U.S.?
SP: I think it’s on HULU. That was the first network to screen it. We did a big marathon at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin in 2008.
FB: Thank you!
What can you tell me about the next two MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movies?
SP: They will happen. We’re just standing by now, waiting for everything to resume. Cristopher McQuarrie has given himself enough room to create a character led piece over the next two films. He’s really making sure that each character has an actual arc. He’s given himself the situation to create those arcs over two films, not one. Mission has involved so completely over the last 15 years. I think it will continue to do so. I love the sort of continuing link between each film. Benji has really changed from being a lab guy, to being more of an agent in the field, to someone who’s experienced genuine terror and near death. That will have an affect on Benji. Going forward he’s not going to just reset, you know? When we see him next time, he’ll have been through what he’s been through, which is an interesting thing for me as an actor.
FB: It was an honor to interview you Simon. Good luck in the future bud.
SP: Thanks Freddy, really nice talking to you!
INHERITANCE is out now On Demand and Digital!
Stay safe out there everyone!
Freddy Beans (AKA: Ken Lewis)
www.freddybeans.com
