Simon Pegg: From notable nerd and zombie bait to Tom Cruise's friend

By ANNIE S. ALEJO

Benji Dunn [Simon Pegg] with Ethan Hunt [Tom Cruise] in Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol

MANILA, Philippines In 2004, British actor and comedian Simon Pegg starred in Shaun of the Dead, which he described as a romantic zombie comedy and homage to the movies of George A. Romeronotably, Night of the Living Dead. Romero was reportedly so impressed that he asked Pegg and director Edgar Wright to appear in his 2005 film Land of the Dead, the fourth installment in the horror directors Dead series. Pegg and Wright agreed but insisted on playing zombies instead of the slightly more prominent role they were offered.

But it was after the completion of Shaun of the Dead that Pegg was asked whether he would be abandoning the British film indusry, presumably for a bigger slice of the Hollywood dream. Legend has it that Pegg deadpanned, Its not like Im going to run off and do Mission: Impossible III!

Well the actor (also a writer, film producer and a director) had spoken to soon. The following year, there was Pegg, all cushy in a lab role as an I.M.F. technician playing opposite Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible III, which came out in 2006.

This, Pegg reprises the role of Benji Dunn in the upcoming Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, making him the only actor from the series other than Cruise and Ving Rhames to appear in more than one of the films.

Pegg says, I think theres a reason why its called Ghost Protocol and not Mission: Impossible IV because it felt to me almost like the beginning of a new chapter in the story of Ethan Hunt (Cruise). According to Pegg, [Ethan] finds himself out in the field in a situation where hes not been ! before, where hes teamed up with people that he doesnt even know and doesnt necessarily like.

Characteristically, he also quips, [Its] kind of almost like a family drama. And this dysfunctional dynamic within the new team, he adds, is what tends to overshadow the bigger threat in the film, which is global annihilation.

But Hunt isnt the only character that goes on a transformation of sorts. I think the film also represents a new chapter in Benjis life, Pegg enthuses. When we last saw him he was a lab guy And when J.J. [Abrams, one of the producers, along with Cruise] said, What if Benji took the field exam and became an agent? I was like, Absolutely! (laughs).

He still has that puppy-ish enthusiasm of the new guy, he says, [and] as much as [Ethan] likes Benji, he doesnt actually want to spend a huge amount of time with him; but Benji is like, Im working with Ethan Hunt!

As far as the action goes in Ghost Protocol, Pegg notes that while CGI is a medium that offers so much, it is also something that can be overused.You can pretty much do anything these days but what I think Tom was at pains to do with this one was make sure the physical aspects of the film were there."

Cruise, of course, is known to do his stunts for the Mission movies. Yes he did hang off the Burj Khalifa. I was there and we were higher up than a helicopter would fly, it was scarily high, Pegg relates. Tom spent like two days running around on the outside of that building. I dont have any problem with heights but I was like, I cannot look... It made your stomach drop

Pegg, whom moviegoers have last seen in this years alien comedy Paul, admits to still having moments where he would pinch himself to see if it wasnt all a dream. Absolutely I do and I think it would be weird if I didnt, he laughs. My book was kind of about that sensation of often finding myself in a situation where I could tell my younger self that I was here.

Mid this year, Pegg released the book called Nerd Do Well, which chronicles his lif! e from h is geeky childhood with a Star Wars obsession to actually working with Steven Spielberg [in this years The Adventures of Tintin]. Working with Steven Spielberg, a guy who has inspired me my whole life, you come to set and you do your job and you dont get silly, but there is still room to jump up and down in the corridor when youve finished your days work, he says, amused.

I found a stand up routine the other day that Id done in 1989, a friend had recorded on his video camera, and I was talking about Spielberg and making jokes about Close Encounters and Sigourney Weaver all these people that Ive now worked with and become friends with. So the thrill of being on a film like Ghost Protocol is never lost to me, he shares.

And even now when I consider Tom a friend, a guy that I can actually relax with, if he emails me or something, Im still really excited. Ill show Maureen, my wife, and Ill go like, Look, its an email from Tom Cruise!

Pegg, for his part, start shooting Star Trek 2 in January, where he would essay his same role he had in 2009s Star Trek. He and Wright have also finished the first draft of a new filmpossibly the one called The Worlds End, the third and final chapter of The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy [the first two chapters being Shaun and Hot Fuzz].

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol hits Philippine theaters on Dec. 15, and Pegg only has this to say: I saw an unfinished version of the film [earlier], with a couple of effects missing, and it was just brilliant it genuinely had me on the edge of my seat and I know what happens in the film (laughs).

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