Simon Pegg inspired to do stunt by Tom Cruise
SIMON Pegg has been inspired by Tom Cruise to do more stunts.
The 50-year-old actor plays Benji Dunn in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise opposite Cruise, 57, as Ethan Hunt and Pegg admitted that seeing Cuise perform his own stunts has made him want to carry out some action sequences of his own.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Pegg said: “Certainly with ‘Mission’… When we did ‘Ghost Protocol’ and Tom did that amazing stunt off the Burj Khalifa, there was this palpable thrill when we watched it with an audience. It was because the audience knew that it was Tom actually doing it. In this age now where we can literally see actors do anything because of CG and green screens that enable us to create these super fanciful realities, when you get back to someone actually doing something, there’s a tension that’s kind of evaporated a little bit in the wake of all this artificiality.
“And I think a little lightbulb went off in Tom’s head, and he just thought, ‘This is what we should do. We should make sure we deliver this authentic thrill’. And it makes us all want to do it. We’re all like, ‘Absolutely’. If there’s something I can do, safely, and the insurance people are okay with it, I’ll do it. So far, that’s pretty much been everything. Fortunately, Benji tends to be tapping a computer and telling Ethan where to go, but if the chance arises, I’m there.”
And Pegg also revealed he is thrilled that director Christopher McQuarrie decided to give all of the main characters in the movie franchise – including Benji – their own individual arcs.
He explained: “McQ has always been at pains to provide that for these characters. He wrote on ‘Ghost Protocol’ as well, so he’s been involved in three of the Mission: Impossible movies that I’ve done. For all the massive stunts, set pieces and action, what is most important to him is underpinning all of that with characters you genuinely care about so those moments of peril genuinely resonate. You can watch a film where there’s the most incredible action, but if you don’t care about the people that it’s happening to, then it’s completely hollow.
“The other night, McQ was saying that each set piece was about 20 minutes of the movie. So, in between those moments, he gets to spin his character arcs and explore the nuances of each character.”
Meanwhile, Pegg has refused to rule out a ‘Hot Fuzz’ sequel.
He believes that the movie – the second in the ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ with co-star Nick Frost and writer Edgar Wright – has the most potential for a follow-up.
In an interview with Movieweb. com, Simon said: “I think it’s the one film out of those three movies that lends itself to a sequel, in that, those kind of buddy-cop action movies were often sequelised.”
Pegg suggested that the potential film could focus on Frost’s character – policeman Danny Butterman – being transferred to the city, mirroring the events of the movie, when Pegg’s Nicholas Angel is transferred from London to a small village.
He added: “We already joked about having a ‘Crocodile Dundee’ reversal of it being Danny in the city... The hypothetical sequel would be Danny and Angel in the big city together.”
The ‘Mission: Impossible’ star added there has also been talk of a movie involving Andy Wainwright and Andy Cartwright, played by Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall respectively.
He teased: “We also had an idea for a spin-off with the Andys, with Paddy (Considine) and Rafe (Spall).”
However, Pegg admitted he and Wright were keen to move on from the trilogy, which also includes ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘The World’s End’. The star explained: “Edgar and I, when we’ve done something, we want to move onto the next thing.
“All of those films, they have an arc and then they finish... We made Shaun of the Dead, and the sequel to that film is Hot Fuzz, and the sequel to Hot Fuzz is The World’s End. They’re a thematic trilogy rather than direct sequels.”
Pegg also joked that is “probably too old” to play Nicholas Angel again. — Bang
Showbiz