Simon Pegg is near and dear to the tiny blackened hearts of us Sideshow residents. Pegg is of course the star of Spaced, the classic UK cult comedy series that Showcase plays back to back each Sunday night at 10PM. But Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, the films he has made with his friends Nick Frost and Edgar Wright are two of our all time favourites comedies and genre flicks! Pegg was strutting about TIFF promoting his latest film, the romantic comedy, Run, Fatboy Run, directed by David Schwimmer. The new film hit #1 in its first weekend in the U.K., so we were very happy indeed to have Simon share 15 minutes of his 24 hours at the Toronto International Film Festival with Showcase.ca.

Here's our conversation:

Sideshow:
Let’s do this in a very behind the scenes kind of way. We are walking from the photo shoot to the next interview. How are you?

Simon:
How glamorous is this? I’m all right. I am loving the Toronto whirlwind at the moment.

Sideshow:
By whirlwind, how long are you going to be with us?

Simon:
I got in last night at approximately 6 o’clock and I shall be leaving tomorrow at approximately 6 o’clock. I am annoyed that I am staying such a small amount of time. I have been here already this year to do press for Hot Fuzz and apart from when I came here for Land of The Dead, I have only ever stayed here for a day at a time and the more I see of the city, the more frustrated I get. It’s clearly a buzzing town.

Sideshow:
Speaking of Land Of The Dead, will you have a chance to see Diary Of The Dead?

Simon:
I was trying to get in touch with George Romero today because I know he is in town and I wanted him to see Run, Fatboy Run because it’s essentially like Shaun Of The Dead without zombies.

Sideshow:
What are the connections? Tell me more.

Simon:
Between Run, Fatboy Run and Shaun of The Dead? I guess the setting is similar because it’s in North London but that’s where the familiarity ends. I guess the character that I play is the closest I have played to Shaun since, which is basically a hapless North London loser.  I think if my character in Run, Fatboy Run, Dennis was faced with a zombie apocalypse, he would get eaten immediately. He doesn’t have the wherewithal to marshal his zombie fighting skills like Shaun did.

Sideshow:
Speaking of Shaun, speaking of Hot Fuzz, what is next for you and Nick Frost and Edgar Wright?

Simon:
Nick and I are writing something now as a side project, called Paul that we’ll be shooting next year. Edgar and I have hit our third idea, for the third in our blood & ice cream trilogy. I think that is going to be crackin’. We are not saying anything about it yet but at the moment the sure thing is it will be the answer to the equation, Hot Fuzz x Shaun Of The Dead.

Sideshow:
Mysterious! I also heard a rumour that you might be doing something new with Spaced?

Simon:
It’s only a rumour. It’s been left too long now. The worst thing I can think of doing is spoiling what we did by doing something that isn’t as good. The people who have been into the show have been so faithful and loyal and knowledgeable about it, and appreciative of it if it was anything less than the best ever, it would be a big mistake, you know? It’s a hard one.

Sideshow:
I think we can draw a Star Wars analogy there.

Simon:
Yeah exactly. That might be a really clever thing to do. Purposefully make a really bad Phantom Menace-style episode.

Sideshow:
All CG, no actors or costumes. A fully CG Spaced.

Simon:
That would be great. All CG, with no depth and a very annoying central character.

Sideshow:
They are doing it with Beowulf. I think you could work it. Look at Ray Winstone!

Simon:
Yeah, I saw that. You know what is weird about that is I am sure it will be stunning to watch, but if the sprites look as much like the actors as they do, why not just get the actors?

Sideshow:
Well the thing is Ray Winstone is totally ripped as a 30-year-old Viking warrior.

Simon:
Ah, well that makes sense. But I saw Anthony Hopkins and I thought it looks just like him!

A black limousine pulls up at this point and we jump in.

Sideshow:
So I wanted to ask you about collaborating with David Schwimmer.

Simon:
Actually, David and I did a movie last year called Big Nothing, which was shot partly in Vancouver. Which kind of came…it was a pretty damp script but it’s not as bad as people said it is. You can get it on DVD and make your own mind up. And obviously I have been in other films like 24 Hour Party People and Mission Impossible 3, but this is one of first films I have kind of helmed, not helmed…

Sideshow:
But you do have a writing credit on this film.

Simon:
Basically I did a polish on the script. I don’t want to downplay Michael Ian Black’s contribution because it was his script and I sort of did the translation. Brought it over to the UK and did the cultural and linguistic scripts on it. It was already very much an amiable romantic comedy with some big laughs in it.

Sideshow:
So how did you get connected with Schwimmer? Band of Brothers?

Simon:
Yeah but it’s a weird sort of thing. It’s almost been a series of coincidences. It’s not like when did Band Of Brothers we thought man, we have got to work together. We barely spoke on it, as it was a massive job and virtually every English actor under the age of 30 was in it. That was our first crossing of paths. Then he saw Shaun of the Dead and when this script starting knocking about, he called me to talk about the possibility of me doing it. Then it went away and we did this film Big Nothing, and when we were doing that he said to me I still might be directing Run, Fatboy Run, do you still want to do it. And I said, yes. So it’s kind of complete serendipity that we have worked together three times now.

Sideshow:
So Nick Frost and you are doing a new project and you and Edgar are going to be working on a separate project. Will the three of you not be uniting again?

Simon:
Oh yeah, Edgar will probably produce Paul and be there as a creative, script editor. But he is directing Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, and also Ant Man.  We are keeping it fresh. We have an open relationship – we can see other directors and he can see other actors. It’s fine.

Sideshow:
Any super hero costumes in your future? I saw that Seth Rogan is doing Green Hornet and now Edgar is doing Ant Man…the field might be opening up for you.

Simon:
I think I almost can’t be any kind of protagonist in Ant Man. As important as it is for me and Nick to do Paul, it’s important for Edgar to flex his muscles independently. We’ll probably crop up in Ant Man in some capacity, I am sure.

Sideshow:
Perhaps as part-time British Avenger The Black Knight?

Simon:
Yeah or Captain Britain. Or Night Raven, or any of those sort of London street stalking vigilantes. I wouldn’t mind playing The Flash in the adaptation of the Justice League America that I think is coming out either.

Sideshow:
That''d be great. In the meantime, what is next for you? More comedy or genre stuff or a drama perhaps?

Simon:
Yeah I guess so. You kind of just want to do the good stuff. A lot of the time, particularly with what me and Edgar Wright, you come at it with very straight beginnings. We play it all pretty seriously. For example, Shaun of the Dead has some moments of complete seriousness in it.

Sideshow:
That gut eating scene outside of the Winchester was very real.

Simon:
Very real. But it was important for us to the scenes, such as when I shoot my mom, to not make that be a flippant joke. We spent the whole film making you care about that character so it was important that when she met that terrible end, that even though it's littered with little jokes, it’s not played clownishly. I don’t think the leap from this stuff to straight stuff isn’t so enormous as it might first appear.

Sideshow:
Not to unduly veer back to the gore, but I think that you guys have always brought that level of hardcore effects in as well. Like in Hot Fuzz, the kills are insane. Like the steeple through Timothy Dalton’s jaw?

Simon:
People love that bit. That and the other steeple death when the crenellation is pushed, that was our ben parker in the boat moment, you know Spielberg and Lucas would always go back and watch that. Me and Edgar and Nick would always go back and watch that because the audience would always go OOOOOHHHH…

At this point the limousine arrived at the next venue and we hoped out. Simon posed for the above pic and was off to the races! Thanks to Simon for doing the interview and of course, to Jessica Edwards of Murphy PR for the sweet hookup!