Of course, thats the conclusion to the Cornetto Trilogy.
Do you have any plans to work with Edgar Wright after that?
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Oh, God yeah!
Edgar and I never sat down and said, Lets make a trilogy.
Weve been friends sinceSpaced, since beforeSpaced, actually, since we didAsylum.
Well always work together.
But with these films, we kind of set out to do three films that tied together thematically.
We had the idea of thematic sequels rather than direct sequels.
Thats kind of the thing.
After that, yeah, weve got loads of plans to do stuff.
I know Edgars gotAnt Mancoming up, and Im probably… And another two scripts hes written, which are fantastic, which hes going to develop.
InA Fantastic Fear Of Everything, you play a very unfortunate writer, beset by his own imagination.
Why do you think that is?
Especially considering Daisy inSpacedwas probably more true to life.
Because theyre the lowest on the food chain, particularly in the film industry.
It beggars belief, the lack of respect that directors and actors have for writers.
Not all of them, thats wrong to say.
I think thats why Edgar and I have this contained, protective circle around what we write.
We write it, then he directs it and Im in it.
Because we come to set, and every single sentence is sacred.
It annoys me sometimes that actors think they have the right to change a script.
Its like, youre an actor, so fucking act!
So theyre the little wimpy kids of the industry, so they get beaten about.
But also theyre the classic tortured artists.
Theyre very vulnerable, tortured characters.
This film has had quite a journey.
Whats it like to have that power?
And it looked to me like a short film.
They tend to be festival-based.
Its not like they run before features any more.
But Crispian just blew my mind in terms of his capacity to write.
I thought he was a guitarist, and hes not.
Hes a born filmmaker!
But both he and Chris were both debut feature filmmakers on this film.
Whats it like working with first-timers, as opposed to seasoned directors?
Its funny being more experienced on set sometimes.
Crispian was alarmingly okay with everything.
Longer than I ever have.
Oddly, we shot on the sound stage at Shepperton where his mum and dad met.
And we were like, this room is responsible for Crispians life!
If anything, the only advice I could give them was how to be jaded.
That was almost more evident to me than these guys.
Is there just more people on set?
Ultimately, it comes down to your time and resources and the environment youre in.
However big the set youre in, youre still just filming that little moment.
Unless youre filming five cameras on an exploding bridge or something.
The catering changes enormously.
[laughs] British catering… Weve got some brilliant catering firms, but we dont have craft services.
And I would move to America for that reason alone!
What particular craft services dishes do you wish they had over here?
You know, like hot and cold sandwiches.
you’ve got the option to scoop up handfuls of yoghurt.
You shouldnt really do it, because you get fat.
But its good when its all high protein.
This film seems to be almost in contrast to a lot of the Hollywood work youve done.
Is that what attracted you to it?
And so it was a no-brainer for me to say yes.
Theres nothing funnier than a pasty white guy gangsta rapping.
Hes this Withnail-ian, post-Tramp character.
Classic Bruce Robinson sort of affected down-and-out.
And yet hes a fucking bad boy when it comes to rap!
Hes a big NWA fan, Ice Cube.
And I had to go for it when it came to do that rap.
I just had to, totally seriously, attempt to be as black as I possibly could.
And it was a nice little character thing.
Your characters flat itself almost seems like an homage toWithnails cluttered flat, in a way.
It is, very much so.
So its just too big for Jack, and the room is so giant, and hes so small.
Its like hes the little boy lost, literally.
And that was all Chris production design.
Theres so much detail in there, as well.
There was shit in every drawer!
Every book was relevant, every record.
It was so meticulously put together.
Youll feel the completeness of the set.
I remember, when we didPaul, someone had written Clives novel, The Alien Queen.
There was like seven or eight pages of novel in there, that was written!
And I just remember thinking, This is amazing, no ones going to see this!
You get to participate in that world.
InStar Trek,I have a Starfleet ring, my Academy ring.
And youll see it flashing on my knuckle every now and again.
I wanted to punch somebody in the face, so they got an imprint of my Starfleet ring.
Do you get to take that stuff home?
I stole my badge this time.
They were so strict with us last time.
And on my last day, it was such a loose goodbye, everyone was really chilled out.
[laughs]
In keeping with the films title and plot, whats your greatest fear?
I think, probably, critics!
[laughs] No, I dont know.
Probably falling short of what I want to achieve.
Death is obviously one that were all scared of.
And I think all our fears go back to that one, even fear of spiders or balloons.
But, I guess, failure.
I asked Chris and Crispian.
Chris said drowning, and Crispian said spiritual annihilation.
[laughs] Thats so Crispian!
Was he like that on set?
All psychedelic and mystical?
He has an element of that about him.
[laughs]
Simon Pegg, thank you very much for your time!
A Fantastic Fear Of Everythingis out on the 8th June in the UK.
