EXCL: Pegg talks Trek!

In advance of this Friday’s release of RUN FATBOY RUN, our own JimmyO got the insane pleasure to sit and chat with Simon Pegg. Is it OK to be insanely jealous sometimes? Their interview is far-reaching and touches on a lot of topics but I wanted to share with you some brief tidbits on STAR TREK before the full interview runs later this week. Pegg says that while the film runs until April, he wrapped up his portion of filming last week. When asked about the chance to star in a STAR TREK film he said, “It really is very, very cool. And I was a fan of the original series and I dipped in and out of ‘The Next Generation’ and the following spin-offs. All of which I enjoyed to a degree. But I was particularly a fan of the first series, so its lovely to be re-visiting those characters, I feel an enormous amount of privilege and some, not a little, responsibility as well.”

As for how it all came about, Pegg says he was aware of the rumors that James McAvoy (WANTED) was in talks for the part but one day he turned on his phone and there was an e-mail from director JJ Abrams. “It was just one sentence, it said, ‘Would you like to be Scotty?'” It would seem like a pretty easy decision put Pegg says he actually took a lot of time to think about it. “I agonized over it for a couple of days, ‘should I do this, is this the right thing for me to do?’ And eventually I decided it was because, you know, I love my job and my job is pretty much as much as I can about having fun. And this seemed to be a really fun thing to do. ”

And for all those out there who are worried about the film and where it might go, Simon would like to put you at ease. “The people out there who are concerned have to understand that it is in the hands of someone who loves the franchise and you really couldn’t have it better then that.” As for working with Abrams he said he’s “a machine…an engine of enthusiasm” adding, “it’s great to have him working on the project.”

As far as spoilers, Pegg made secretmonger Abrams happy by simply saying, “I got to see a lot of cool things…”

For more with Pegg including STAR TREK, George Romero and, of course, RUN FATBOY RUN, check out the full interview later this week on JoBlo.com.