Simon Pegg visits WIRED to give answers to his most searched for questions on Google. How many of the Mission: Impossible films is Simon Pegg in? Is Simon Pegg good friends with Tom Cruise? Where did Simon Pegg and Nick Frost meet? When was Simon Pegg on “Top Gear?” Which Simon Pegg films make up the Cornetto Trilogy? Answers to these questions and plenty more await on the WIRED Autocomplete Interview of Simon Pegg.
Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: Brad Wickham
Editor: Cory Stevens
Talent: Simon Pegg
Line Producer: Jamie Rasmussen
Associate Producer: Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Talent Booker: Lauren Mendoza
Camera Operator: Caleb Weiss
Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen
Production Assistant: Caleb Clark
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Supervising Editor: Erica DeLeo
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: Brad Wickham
Editor: Cory Stevens
Talent: Simon Pegg
Line Producer: Jamie Rasmussen
Associate Producer: Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Talent Booker: Lauren Mendoza
Camera Operator: Caleb Weiss
Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen
Production Assistant: Caleb Clark
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Supervising Editor: Erica DeLeo
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Category
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TechTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Simon Pegg, and this is the Wired Autocomplete Interview.
00:07I'd ask my daughter that, actually.
00:08She's a big fan of this, by the way, the Autocomplete Interview.
00:12When I told my daughter I was doing this, she was very excited.
00:17Thank you very much.
00:18What is Simon Pegg's address?
00:21New movie.
00:22It's Mission Impossible, The Final Reckoning,
00:25the eighth installment in the Mission Impossible series,
00:27and my sixth movie after 20 years of chasing around after Tom Cruise.
00:32And what a movie it is.
00:34I thoroughly recommend seeing it theatrically because it's huge, gigantic.
00:38When is Simon Pegg in Mission Impossible?
00:41All the time.
00:43I mean, really, since 19...
00:45No, since 2005, when I joined for Mission Impossible 3 as Benji Dunn,
00:50who at the time was a sort of laboratory kind of guy.
00:53He was just in the labs at the IMF, analyzing hard drives and stuff.
00:58And then he decided to enroll in the field agent program
01:01between 3 and Ghost Protocol.
01:04I always say it's because he had such a fun time, like, guiding Ethan through Shanghai,
01:08and he kind of got off on the rule-breaking a little bit.
01:10And he thought, right, I'm going to be an agent.
01:11And then ever since then, I've been a secret agent.
01:15No more so than in the new film, which, you know, you see Benji get to a point.
01:20We've never seen him before, and that was extremely fun to play.
01:23I mean, a crazy evolution from...
01:25I mean, I was pretty tubby in Mission Impossible 3
01:27through to being what Benji becomes in The Final Reckoning.
01:31That's taken 20 years, and it's worth the wait.
01:34What's the evolution of filmmaking like?
01:36Mission Impossible has two lives.
01:41It has the life where it was done by different directors.
01:44You had Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams, and Brad Bird.
01:49And then Christopher McQuarrie came in as a writer on Ghost Protocol
01:54and then thereafter directed the next four films.
01:56I mean, we were still using magazines of film on Rogue Nation
02:00before we switched to digital.
02:02The digital switch meant that the camera could be so much more agile.
02:06You know, we could have more complicated rigs
02:09that didn't have to carry great canisters of film,
02:11do stuff that we hadn't been able to do before.
02:14Not least when Tom jumped off the cliff on the motorbike.
02:17We had, like, cameras on the bike so that as it cartwheeled away,
02:21it caught Tom falling behind it.
02:24And then we had to go down into this valley to retrieve the bike
02:27and the cameras on the off chance that they didn't kind of get broken.
02:31And we got some good footage from that.
02:33Where was Simon Pegg when the lights went out?
02:37On Top Gear.
02:38When was Simon Pegg?
02:39I beg your pardon.
02:40I was on Top Gear, I think I did it, like, in the early 2000s.
02:45Oh, no, I did it for Hot Fuzz.
02:46And then I think me and Nick did it maybe for The World's End.
02:49I'd had a blast doing the laps.
02:52I broke the gearbox on two cars.
02:54And that's why I'm banned from driving.
02:56Is Simon Pegg good friends with Tom Cruise?
03:00No.
03:01Hate the guy.
03:02Yeah, I mean, we've worked together for 20 years.
03:04And it's been a real pleasure to sort of, I guess, see behind the myth.
03:11You know, Tom Cruise is a mythic figure.
03:13And he's very smart in the way that he kind of curates that
03:16because it maintains a degree of mystery about him.
03:20And in that regard, he feels like a movie star in the old-fashioned sense,
03:25you know, back before social media,
03:26back before the kind of celebrity journalism you have these days
03:29when you only ever saw these people at awards ceremonies, you know.
03:32It's been a pleasure to kind of see behind the curtain, as it were,
03:37and see a kind of quite a normal person, would you believe,
03:42with just an extraordinary commitment to his craft,
03:46just 100%, 100% of the time.
03:50That's why he's where he is.
03:50It's not a mystery.
03:51It's not a kind of, you know, there's no kind of secret code
03:54to how you become Tom Cruise.
03:56You just do it the way he's done it.
03:59And I couldn't do that.
04:01I couldn't dedicate that amount of passion to one thing.
04:06And he does it, and it's extraordinary.
04:08I've got to walk my dogs and stuff.
04:10Well done, Tom.
04:12Okay, here we go.
04:14Does Simon Pegg live in America?
04:17No, Simon Pegg does not live in America.
04:20Simon Pegg lives...
04:21I was just talking to myself in the third person.
04:23I live in the United Kingdom, just north of London,
04:26and I'm happy there.
04:29My whole family lived there.
04:30I've come over to the States and, you know,
04:32rented a place for a while.
04:34My kid was born here, Tilly.
04:37She is an American citizen.
04:38She has an American passport.
04:40But movies are made all over the world now,
04:42and you can kind of be anywhere to make movies.
04:44You don't have to live in Hollywood to make Hollywood movies.
04:47And I'm happy at home because, you know,
04:50I've got all my nice stuff next to me.
04:51As much as I delight in coming to America, I live in the UK.
04:55Can Simon Pegg actually draw?
05:00Yeah, I can draw.
05:01Not as well as the characters I've played.
05:03The artists who did my work,
05:04Jim Murray and Jason Brahill mainly did my artwork in space.
05:10And Paul, they're fantastic artists
05:13and have drawn comic books and video game designs
05:17and way better than me.
05:20I can doodle.
05:21I'm a much better drawer than my wife
05:23who draws...
05:26I mean, it's incredible.
05:29When you see her...
05:30Actually, you could probably hang her artwork in galleries.
05:32It's that weird.
05:35She draws a cow.
05:36It looks like a puddle.
05:37It's very strange.
05:38But, you know, I love her.
05:40And partly for that.
05:42What is Simon Pegg like in real life?
05:45Boring.
05:46I don't know.
05:49I mean, I'm just a kind of regular guy, you know?
05:51I enjoy normal things.
05:53I watch a lot of TV and movies.
05:55Yeah.
05:55I try and keep things very normal in my private life
05:58because things can be so extraordinary in my professional life.
06:02Not least, you know, being in Mission Impossible.
06:04It's nice to get back to just regular things.
06:06Water in the garden.
06:08Walking the dogs.
06:09Just, you know, having a cup of tea.
06:11Watching a bit of TV.
06:12I'd like to think that I'm nice.
06:14I mean, if you've ever met me and I've been grumpy,
06:16it might be that I was just having an off day.
06:20I hope not.
06:20I always try and be pleasant with people
06:23because I know what it's like when you see someone
06:25and you think, oh, I know them.
06:27It takes a lot of guts to go up and say hello.
06:30So you try and accommodate that as much as you can.
06:32But if I've ever gone,
06:33no, I don't want my pictures taken with you,
06:36it's because I'm having a bad day.
06:38Come see me on a different day.
06:40I might be nicer.
06:41Simon Pegg.
06:42Beatles.
06:43This might be my Beatles impression.
06:46I do a couple of people.
06:47Paul is sort of like this, you know,
06:48it's also like that, you know.
06:50Paul came to the premiere of,
06:51the New York premiere of Mission the other night.
06:54And I was walking down the stairs and I heard,
06:56Hey, Simon.
06:57It's around, it's Paul McCartney,
07:00who I've met a couple of times over the years.
07:01He's a lovely guy and an idol of mine.
07:04I love, love, love the Beatles.
07:05And then there's sort of George Harrison talks like this,
07:08a bit sort of back there.
07:10Ringo talks right at the front of your mouth like this, you know.
07:13And then John was more sort of contemplative, you know,
07:16as he got a bit older.
07:16I'm a massive Beatles fan.
07:18There is no pop music without the Beatles.
07:20They are the progenitors of everything that followed.
07:24It's incredible to me that the Beatles existed for about eight years.
07:28When you look at the breadth of style and tone and innovation
07:32that they sort of brought the world
07:34in the short period of time they were alive,
07:36it beggars belief.
07:38I am in love with the Beatles.
07:40And that's a fact.
07:42Thank you very much, Caleb.
07:44Was Huey based on Simon Pegg?
07:48That's Huey from The Boys.
07:50Yes, he was.
07:51The comic book of The Boys, which appeared in 2008, I think.
07:55Derek Robertson, who's the artist,
07:57drew Huey as me for some reason.
07:59I think he'd seen Space, our TV show,
08:02and obviously thought I would never amount to anything
08:04and sue him.
08:06So he drew Huey as me.
08:08And I found out about this and was delighted
08:11and got in touch with Derek and said, thanks.
08:14I'd never, you know, had a cameo in a comic book before.
08:17And then DC, who published The Boys at the time,
08:21before they decided to walk away
08:22because it was too extreme,
08:24sent me a message saying,
08:26please don't sue us.
08:27And it didn't even cross my mind.
08:29I was like, oh, that's really cool.
08:30When they came to make the TV show of The Boys
08:32and Jack Quaid,
08:34one of my favorite human beings on Earth
08:36and my television son now,
08:37got the role of Huey,
08:39Eric Crickley, the producer,
08:41asked me to come and play Huey's father,
08:43which is why I am in The Boys
08:46and delighted to be so.
08:47It's an incredible show.
08:48For me, the definitive Huey is Jack.
08:51Where did Simon Pegg and Nick Frost meet?
08:55We met on a balcony in Crickerwood, North London,
08:59in 1994.
09:01He was a waiter at a restaurant
09:02that my girlfriend worked at.
09:04She said, there's a guy at work
09:06that I think you might like.
09:08And I did.
09:09And we ditched her
09:10and we ran away together.
09:13And then I started to write Nick
09:14into things that I was making
09:16because I just wanted to hang out with him more.
09:19Nick hadn't any plans to become an actor,
09:21but obviously took to it like a duck to water.
09:24So that is where that relationship was born.
09:27And he was very on that night.
09:29I remember he was,
09:30I could feel that he was trying to impress me.
09:31He was doing a lot of his bits.
09:32The thing that impressed me the most
09:33was that when I left the party,
09:35he was asleep next to a gigantic speaker
09:38holding a can of red stripe.
09:40And I thought this kid's got something.
09:41Does Simon Pegg like Invincible?
09:44Yeah.
09:45I mean, back in the day when I,
09:47I don't read comics so much anymore,
09:49but I remember when we made Paul,
09:52we put my character Graham
09:55in an Invincible t-shirt
09:57because I think I was reading it
09:58round about that time.
09:59Robert Kirkman, of course,
10:00same author as The Walking Dead.
10:02We wanted Graham and Clive
10:03to be very sort of up on what was cool.
10:06Obviously, this is way before
10:07it became a TV show.
10:08We're pretty much bleeding edge,
10:11me and Frost.
10:11But like I said,
10:12I don't read comics so much anymore.
10:15I'm old.
10:15I'm 55.
10:16How the f...
10:18How to meet Simon Pegg?
10:21I don't know.
10:22I've started doing a few conventions
10:24here and there
10:24because they're really fun.
10:25I don't know.
10:26What's a nicer thing
10:27than to spend a weekend getting loved?
10:29So if you come to a convention
10:31and I'm there,
10:33we can meet
10:33and we'll have a little chat.
10:35I'll probably charge you
10:36an exorbitant amount of money
10:37for a signature.
10:38That's not my decision.
10:39That's what is part of the thing.
10:41If I do it for free,
10:42cash me outside.
10:43On the way out,
10:43just come up
10:44and we'll do it for free.
10:48What is Simon Pegg's...
10:51Best movie.
10:54That's not for me to answer.
10:55I mean,
10:55I think a lot of people
10:56would probably say
10:57Shaun of the Dead
10:58in the same way
10:58that a lot of people say
10:59Star Wars is their favourite Star Wars movie
11:01because it was like the first one
11:02and that was our first...
11:04my first time leading a movie.
11:07Different people say different things.
11:08Some people say Hot Fuzz.
11:10Some people say The World's End.
11:11Some people say Paul.
11:13Some people will say Star Trek.
11:14And it's hard for me to say
11:15because it's such a subjective thing,
11:18you know,
11:18whether you like films or not.
11:20I have films that some people love
11:21and some people hate.
11:23The same film.
11:24What is the Simon Pegg trilogy?
11:26Well, I mean,
11:27there's been a few.
11:28The Cornetto trilogy,
11:30which is Shaun of the Dead,
11:31Hot Fuzz and the World's End,
11:32which I made with Edgar Wright.
11:34We wrote together
11:35and Edgar directed
11:36and I appeared in.
11:38The Cornetto,
11:39for those of you here
11:40in the United States of America
11:41who don't know
11:41what a Cornetto is,
11:43and I pity you,
11:44is an ice cream confection
11:45from the UK,
11:46which is basically
11:47a sort of
11:48an ice cream cone
11:50with a topper.
11:52They come in like
11:53regular flavour,
11:54which is like chocolate and nut
11:55or strawberry flavour
11:56or mint flavour.
11:58And now there are lots
11:58of other Cornettos as well.
11:59When we did Shaun of the Dead,
12:01Edgar was absolutely adamant
12:03that the strawberry Cornetto
12:04was a panacea
12:06for hangovers.
12:08Like,
12:08if you had a hangover,
12:09strawberry Cornetto,
12:10a little bit of fruit zest,
12:12a bit of sugar,
12:13boom,
12:13you feel better.
12:14So we had Ed,
12:16Nick's character in the film,
12:18ask for a Cornetto
12:19the morning after
12:20a heavy session.
12:21And at the premiere
12:22of Shaun of the Dead,
12:24we got free Cornettos.
12:26And we were just
12:27a bunch of young filmmakers,
12:29you know,
12:29we didn't know
12:30that you could get
12:31free ice cream.
12:31And we were so blown away
12:33by the fact that Cornetto
12:34had basically provided us
12:35with a fridge full of Cornettos.
12:37We thought,
12:37let's put it in the second film
12:39as a reference back
12:40to Shaun of the Dead.
12:41So Nicholas Angel
12:42and Danny Butterman
12:43are eating Cornettos
12:45in the car
12:46in Hot Fuzz
12:46at one point.
12:48I think we repeated
12:49the one and a thing
12:49from the shot line
12:50from Shaun of the Dead.
12:51So self-indulgent.
12:52We realized after that
12:53we needed to put a Cornetto
12:55in the third film
12:56in The World's End,
12:57which you glimpsed
12:58very briefly at the end.
12:59We really played
12:59the long game
13:00with the reveal of that one.
13:01And then they just became
13:02known as the Cornetto trilogy
13:04because it is
13:05a singular thread
13:07running through
13:07all three films.
13:08So if you ever come
13:09to the UK,
13:10get yourself a Cornetto.
13:12They're really delicious
13:12and have a think about me
13:16when you're eating it.
13:17There is also Star Trek,
13:18Star Trek Into Darkness
13:19and Star Trek Beyond
13:20that I was in
13:22and I wrote Star Trek Beyond
13:24with Doug Jung.
13:25Shout out to Doug.
13:26And I've been in
13:27six Mission Impossible films,
13:28which is two trilogies
13:29and quite a few Ice Age movies
13:31as well.
13:33So they're not trilogies.
13:34So I've answered
13:34my own question.
13:35What movie
13:36Simon Pegg
13:38Things Come True?
13:40Oh, that's, yeah.
13:41Okay, that's
13:41Absolutely Anything,
13:42which is a movie
13:43I made with Terry Jones
13:44who directed
13:45The Life of Brian,
13:46one of the greatest
13:47comedy movies of all time.
13:49And I was in
13:50with the other
13:51Monty Python team
13:52and Robin Williams
13:53was my dog in it.
13:55And it's a crazy movie
13:56that Terry wrote
13:58about a guy
13:58who has gifted
13:59the ability
14:00to make anything
14:01come true
14:01that he wants to happen.
14:02It's a crazy movie
14:04and it was lovely
14:05to work with Terry.
14:06He was a legend
14:07of British comedy
14:08and someone I grew up loving.
14:10And it's a bit daft,
14:12but if you've got
14:12a spare 90 minutes,
14:14give it a look.
14:15What movies
14:15are Simon Pegg?
14:18Oh, I've missed this bit.
14:20What movies
14:20are Simon Pegg together?
14:22And Nick Frost in together.
14:23Okay, so
14:24Shaun of the Dead,
14:25Hot Fuzz,
14:26The World's End,
14:27Tintin,
14:29Paul.
14:30I think we're kind of
14:30both in one Ice Age movie,
14:32although not together together.
14:33TV show spaced.
14:35So we work together
14:36as much as we can,
14:36Nick and I,
14:37mainly because
14:38it means we can hang out.
14:39Particularly now,
14:40we used to live together
14:41when I was young,
14:42when we were both young.
14:43We could see each other
14:44every day
14:45and that was great.
14:46But then we got married,
14:47we had children,
14:48we moved to different parts
14:49of the country.
14:49We text every day,
14:50but we don't get
14:51to see each other much.
14:52So making a film
14:53or a TV show
14:54is the perfect way
14:55to hang out.
14:57So if for nothing else,
14:59we'll do it again
14:59for that reason.
15:01That's all the boards.
15:02That was a lot of fun.
15:04It's very funny
15:04to see what people are asking.
15:06But, you know,
15:06ask me in future
15:07and I'll give you
15:08a straight answer.
15:09Thank you very much,
15:09Wired.
15:10I had a blast.
15:10I had a blast.
15:10I had a blast.
15:11I had a blast.
15:11I had a blast.
15:12I had a blast.
15:12I had a blast.
15:13I had a blast.
15:13I had a blast.
15:13I had a blast.
15:14I had a blast.
15:14I had a blast.
15:14I had a blast.
15:14I had a blast.