Pegg: Star Trek Beyond Was Fun
2 min read
Some might think that having to write a movie in half the normal time would be stressful, but for Simon Pegg, it was “fantastic fun.”
“It was emotional highs and lows all the way because we were under a lot of pressure, because the timeframe was a lot smaller than it would normally be,” he said. “You write a film of that size, you usually get a year or so, but I think we started maybe six months before we went into production, if that. Just under six months and we were already in pre-production, which meant that things had to be designed and set pieces had to be created and the pressure on us to deliver was extraordinary, but me and Doug Jung, together with Justin (Lin) and our producers Leslie, just stood up to it and did it, and actually by the time we started shooting, it had become pretty fun. It was tense the whole time, but it was a pretty amazing train set to get to play with.”
Fun or not, once Pegg was finished with Star Trek Beyond, he was ready to pack it in for a while. Yeah, it’s amazing and I feel very grateful,” he said, of writing the kinds of films that he loved as a boy. “It makes me unsure of what I want to do next really. Once I finished Star Trek Beyond a couple weeks ago, I got home to my home in the UK and I just thought, ‘I don’t really want to leave again.’ I honestly had this feeling of maybe I should just quit now. I don’t know.”
So what’s next for Pegg? “I feel like I’d maybe like to diversify,” he said. “I’m going to be tied to a few big films for a while, because I know we’re probably going to make another Mission: Impossible and who knows if we make another Star Trek? I don’t know but it’s a possibility. I have big movies to do. I feel like maybe I’d just like to go small. I specialize in comedy, it’s something I enjoy, but I don’t consider myself to be a comedian or even a comic actor. I’m just an actor and I’d quite like to do a wide variety of things and just keep it interesting really.”
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Crossing fingers, nowhere to go but up as far as I’m concerned after Into Dreckness.
Oh yeah, tell us it was rushed–that’s how you’re gonna get the buy-in from the hardcore fans.
Not interested. Waiting for the new TV series.
They rushed Wrath of Khan.
If this movie bombs, it could very well destroy the new trek TV series before it even starts filming.nnLike it or not, you all need to support this movie or risk losing the TV show.
Can we hear something from the actual director and other writer too?
“our producer Leslie” – fanboys have been so busy hating on JJ and his team that I have no idea who this is.nnnPegg is surprisingly cagey regarding another Trek movie. Surely he knows Pine and Quinto are already signed up? But like Daniel Craig after the recent Bond movie, I guess he just needs a long holiday to recover….
the die hard fans need to go away… i think we’re all pretty much done with them. they are like a crazy ex girlfriend who hates you but at the same time wont leave you alone. actually trek fans don’t know what having a girlfriend is like so i guess that’s a bad example.
Rubbish. This movie will get 90% of the sales from non-trekkies who won’t watch a show. If you want the new show to be successful you have to (shock-horror) PAY FOR IT.
Leslie was the original name for the character that Wil Wheton played. TNG, in 1997, was going to have a transgenedered main character — the miniskirts on the men also led into this too. Not sure what happened, but it was very progressive.
Yippee Ki-Yay?
Pretty much this. Trek just doesn’t translate well to film. It never has. nLooking forward to the TV show as long as it’s prime universe.
The year was 1987, and I’m not sure if the world was ready for Wil Wheaton in a miniskirt. nnI’m not sure it is now either!
You need to get your head out of your rear end. The hardcore fans are what kept “Star Trek” on the air when NBC tried to cancel it decades ago. The hardcore fans are what kept the franchise alive for a long time. The show literally wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for them. Now, does that mean there’s some sort of disproportionate sense of self-entitlement and/or propriety on the long-time/hardcore fans’ part? For some, yes. But don’t lump everyone all together into the same basket. What the longtime fans want is a return to the more thoughtful, intelligent, articulate, character- and issue-oriented science fiction show that “Star Trek” used to be and made it so unique in the first place. Yes, in order to make “Trek” profitable on the big screen you have to modify the format to appeal to a broader audience (to make a return on the investment of making the film in the first place). But I feel confident in speaking for a LOT of longtime fans who were appalled and disheartened by the direction the reboot took once Orci &Kurtzman & Bad Robot got on board. Suddenly, it became all about juvenile humor, brainless explosions and running and fighting, riddled with so many gaping chasms in logic and plain old fashioned commonsense storytelling that you could drive an entire fleet of aircraft carriers through them.nnIf the powers that be – and the casual fans – want to dismiss the longtime fans out of hand and regard them as irrelevant, then they’re free to do so. But I would hope that they all consider that many of us vote with our wallets. I have not paid a dime for ANYTHING “Star Trek”-related in many years, particularly since the reboot. If this new series shows signs of being anything even remotely like the Orci/Kurtzman/Abrams films, I won’t pay to watch it. I won’t waste my time or money. Many fans – and I count myself among them – have instead already begun to turn to other outlets to get their fix of the REAL “Trek”. That would be fan series like “Phase II/New Voyages” and “Star Trek Continues” as well as films like “Countdown to Axanar”. Those are shows which show proper respect and acknowledgment of everything that made “Star Trek” so unique and marvelous in the first place and build upon it, rather than to reject it for a generation of people who spend the vast majority of their time with their eyes planted on the screens of their cell phones, as the Abrams films did.nnOh and while we’re on that note, good job playing into the tired old stereotype of the sexless geek living in his parents’ basement. I suppose since you’re here and going to all the trouble of posting on this board, you’re familiar with what it’s like to not have a girlfriend yourself – ? Pot, meet Kettle. I’m sure you’ve much to discuss.
It should be there is nothing wrong with it after all women wear trousers and jumpers all the time so men should wear a skirt, a dress, heels or any other clothes that they are happy to wear if if they want too. Whats wrong with a man in a skirt or a dress?
This. 100% nnIt was a bad move by Paramount to reboot/alt-universe Trek, which has incredibly divided the fan base. Such a shame.
It was also very short-sighted, from an economic standpoint. I’m 45 years old, and have been a fan since I was twelve. Until the reboot came along, I was the kind of fan who bought the vhs tapes (then the DVDs) of the films, the posters, models, soundtracks, comics, novels, etc. Now, that’s spread out over a good number of years, but because the franchise overall remained true to itself and a quality product, I was willing to invest the time and money into it. As a result, Paramount made, over the course of over three decades, QUITE a bundle of cash from me and lots of fans like me. nnAlong comes the reboot. Paramount makes a very quick buck off the films and perhaps the DVDs, but beyond that… How are the comics & other memorabilia based on the Abramsverse selling, as opposed to the same type of merchandise based upon the Prime Universe (adjusted for inflation, etc.)? I’ll bet’cha not nearly as well. So, how sustainable is that, from a profit-based point of view? It makes these reboot movies all the more dependent upon making a ton of cash at the box office in order to keep the entire affair afloat. The reboots make money in a quick burst, but burn themselves out. Short-term, the reboots look like winners. But LONG-TERM, it’s the Prime Universe which will inevitably prove to make MORE money for the studio.
Depends upon what kind of legs we’ve gotta look at! If we’re talking a pair of stems like Brenton Thwaites, then I’m all for it! 😉
the only problem with star trek are the loons like yourself… when tng came out all TOS fans whined… cried… why? because it was new and different. same for every incarnation since. trek fans pretend they are on the cutting edge but they are just like all the other losers who find something and stick with it and don’t like change. go away. star trek can only keep living if the losers like you die off. go away. for the sake of kirk and company go away. watch your reruns on netflix and spare the rest of us of your delusions.
Agreed legs should at lest be shaved or if not then have a good pair of tights on to hide any hairs.
…except Paramount just makes the movies now. In the Viacom split, the old Viacom was renamed CBS and retained control of the TV franchise, legacy and beyond. nSo, setting aside what we Prime fans might dislike about the Abrams films, as an economic move, Paramount made an incredibly canny decision to reboot the film franchise the way it did since the only thing it can enact force upon and profit from directly is the movies. I don’t know what kind of deal they get for merchandising the reboot but I’m guessing it benefits CBS more than the new Viacom. Paramount probably only has limited say in how the new show will work as well. nnNemesis bombed and the TNG cast was getting old, the other spin offs were not viable self-starters, the script for Star Trek The Beginning instilled little confidence. Paramount entrusted twice the budget of the last film, $120 million, in a reboot from a hotshot director they had seen do well with Mission: Impossible 3. They made it a summer blockbuster event and promoted the hell out of it and it paid off with grosses no other Trek film had seen even with inflation. The formula was repeated to likely a lesser overall profit but better overseas traction with the sequel. nAgain, this is really all Paramount can do to stay in the Star Trek game, and from a numbers standpoint this is the most popular and profitable Star Trek has been as a movie franchise in 30 years.
But from Paramount’s perspective they got two $400 million films out of a franchise that never grossed that much even with inflation. We have to understand that it’s actually CBS that controls everything except the film franchise, so from a business standpoint it was a brilliant move for Paramount’s own interests to do what they did.
All evidence to the contrary with Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, the Undiscovered Country and First Contact.
Glad you’ve cleared that up. I’ll print it off and issue it to all the womenfolk.
You took the words right out of my mouth. My own observation has been that it didn’t take long for the JJ movies to end up in the bargain bin. Meanwhile, the other movies and series are still selling at a premium.
None of those films were anywhere near as good as the best (or even above-average) TV episodes. Those movies weren’t really about anything (except Voyage Home, but its ‘save the whales’ premise was beyond ridiculous), but popcorn action movies set in space. Star Trek is best as a thoughtful and thought-provoking TV show, and with today’s rich, multi-threaded storytelling on the best shows, Trek could be really great.
You’re not getting a ‘prime’ universe series, but one set in the universe of the new movies (and with different characters to boot)-the prime universe has had its time, and nobody gives a shit about it anymore.
You sound pretty deluded with your butthurt rant. Real evolved.
Is that why all the old material still sells at a premium and is re-released every few years? Your deluded.
It doesn’t fracking matter what you want-they’re not going to do any more movie or TV shows set in the previous continuity (aside from Star Trek Online continuing.) That one’s had it, and its fanbase is dwindling due to age. As for the merch, CBS will have to start making merch based on the new movie and TV show too, for the same reason. So I say that it’s you that’s the deluded one.
Nothing. Ask the Scots.
Wrath of Khan was about coming to terms with aging and death. Undiscovered Country was a Cold War analogy.
Err…. sales figures show otherwise. Merchandise for the old shows and characters outsells that for the new films by a good margin, and old-fart nostalgia dollars are only a part of it. A new generation of fans are spending their money on those old faces and shows. They have become perennials. The new films have potential, but they have not lived up to it yet. Kang does hope that this new film will help change that.
Hmm. Have we heard anything from the other writer?
CBS can’t count on those sales forever; they will have to start cultivating the viewers of the movies that are younger, and the viewers of this TV show, even if the profits aren’t as big at first.
Seriously, it’s like him and the director don’t even exist..
hardcore fans are never enough to keep a show going or make a movie a mega hit.nand pleasing them is not always the best thing either.
maybe Pegg is the only one who has the time to talk about the movie while the others are working on it 😉