Simon Pegg Talks About Writing STAR TREK 3 and Visiting STAR WARS Set

While promoting Kill Me Three Times, actor and writer Simon Pegg sat down with Collider. In the interview Pegg talks about the "Terrifying!" task of writing Star Trek 3 and how Star Wars: The Force Awakens is going to blow our minds.

Pegg on switching from being just an actor in the Star Trek franchise to a writer too:

"On set, sometimes, there’s room for improvisation, especially for someone like Scotty who’s Scottish, but never anything more than little dialogue tweaks, here and there. Now it’s like, 'Okay, now you’ve got to write the dialogue.' It’s scary! Also, the timeframe we’re working in is extremely tight. It means we’re having to come up with the goods. We can’t be lazy about it. We can’t procrastinate. We have to come up with the stuff because the production is hammering on the door saying, 'When can we build this? What are we gonna we build? Who is in it?' I don’t know! Let’s [write] it and we’ll find out. It’s an interesting process."

On writing for established characters:

"It’s weird to walk into something and take ownership of it, in a way. Everything else that I’ve written has been mine, from the very germ of the first idea, or shared with Edgar [Wright] or Nick [Frost]. But with this, I’m walking into a realm that doesn’t belong to me, and I have to treat it with a degree of respect. Obviously, I always treat things with respect, [but] I have to abide by certain rules and do right by the original series, and not be too post-modern with it and not be too aware of itself. I have to try to take on the spirit of the show, rather than fill it with stuff that people will just go, 'Oh, yeah, that’s from episode something or other.' It’s more than that."

I'm very confident in Pegg's ability to write a great Star Trek film. This could put him on a slightly different career trajectory long-term.

Pegg on J.J. Abrams' approach to Star Wars:

"I’m immensely excited, having been lucky enough to visit the set. I’ve never been on a film set where everyone has been so invested in the material because they are emotionally and intrinsically linked to it, as people who work in an industry that was informed by the original films. Suddenly, they’re back in those environments, seeing those sets again and seeing J.J. work with real physical things, and models and puppets and masks. Also, the new technology will, of course, be involved in it. The original films were always about the cutting edge. They weren’t retro movies. They were very forward-thrusting, technological masterpieces, and as such, there will be that stuff. It’s going to be extraordinary. I’m so excited for people to see it. It’s going to be everything that we wanted 16 years ago and didn’t get."

This just backs up everything we've heard about how Abrams is approaching Star Wars. It's also great to see a huge Star Wars fan like Pegg gush about how good the film might be.

Pegg on taking his daughter to the Star Wars set:

"I took my daughter to the set, and she met BB-8, the droid you see in the trailer. She sat with him for ages, and just talked to him. The guys were operating it, just off camera, and she was there. I said, 'Come on, we’ve gotta go,' and she said, 'I just want to spend some more time with him and have another hug.' It’s just a ball with a thing on it, but it’s a testament to that character, how much he’s going to [have an] impact on audiences because he’s so full of life. And that goes across, for everything. Also, to see the old staples again is going to blow people’s minds."

I can't wait for the day when my kid is old enough to for me to introduce him to Star Wars. "I'm so excited and I just can't hide it" pretty much sums up how I feel about The Force Awakens. I have the Star Wars: The Force Awakens release date of December 18th, tattooed on my forehead, best decision ever! 

In the full interview with Collider, Pegg talks about working on Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation and other stuff in the works.