Pegg on playing Scotty in the upcoming Star Trek movie:

"Well, I tried to make it brand new because I think it would be a disrespectful thing to James Doohan to go and just impersonate his Scotty. He took on the role as this physics genius and engineer in the great tradition of the Scottish because, of course, they invented a lot of important things in contemporary industrial society. I thought I’d go and approach it the same way he did, which was to start from scratch. So I tried not to watch - as much as I love the original series - I tried not to watch too much of it, because I wanted my performance to be a tribute to him and what he did with the character and not be an impression. It’s a dangerous line you tread, really, because if I started doing an impression of Mr. Doohan then that might look like I was making fun of him, and that is the absolute last thing I would ever want. He’s a legendary character and as an actor he genuinely created one of the most significant characters in modern sci-fi. It was daunting. It was like, ‘Sh*t, I’m going to be Scotty.' And I had to approach it very carefully."

Pegg his initial reaction to getting the Star Trek part:

"I got an e-mail from J.J. [Abrams]. I stepped off the plane and then switched on my phone and it said J.J. Abrams and I thought, ‘Oh great, I haven’t heard from J.J. in a while. I wonder what he wants?’ And it was just one sentence. It said, ‘Do you want to play Scotty?’ That’s all it was. I kind of looked at my wife, I showed her the e-mail, and she laughed and I laughed and we carried on laughing until we hit baggage reclaim. And then I phoned J.J. when I got home and went, ‘Are you serious?’ And he said, ‘Yes’ and I said, ‘I don’t know. Of course I’d like to play Scotty, but is it the right thing for me to do?’ I’m tying myself into something which could run and run and J.J. said, ‘Well, if the worst thing that happens is we get to spend three months together every three years and have a great time, what’s the problem?’ And I thought that was a good argument, so I said yes."

On the public’s reaction to him getting the part:

"It’s been mixed, actually, and I understand why. I’ve noticed some people have been like, ‘Great!’ and some people have been like, ‘I don’t get it. Why is he playing that part?’ And I completely understand because Star Trek is very precious to a lot of people and they want it to be right. But, as I’ve said, my kind of party line on it is - obviously I can’t reveal anything about the film itself, but as a Star Trek fan , if I wasn’t in the film I would want a Star Trek fan to be making a film and it is being made by a Star Trek fan. J.J. is that person. He’s exactly the person that those people should want and the decisions that he makes are in accordance with that love. So, you know, relax."

Simon Pegg on how Run Fatboy Run has taken off with fans:

"It was remarkable. I think because we never really thought about it in the making of it, we just wanted to make the film we wanted to see and make. Shaun of the Dead was an absolute labor of love, and the fact that we were so specific in how we made it and what we did, and the fact that a lot of people conned onto that and appreciated it is a nice vindication for us. We never wanted to just make something and think, ‘Okay, what are the Americans going to think of this?', because I think the American audience is a literate, intelligent audience, they get stuff the same as any cinema audience. And the minute you start underestimating them, or pandering to their basic instincts, then you make Meet the Spartans or whatever, which there’s a place for. We realized things were going crazy when we started hearing back from the likes of Sam Raimi and Quentin Tarantino and ultimately George Romero, who really got onside for us. We were hearing from all of our heroes, basically. It was incredible. Every day was like, ‘What?’ Suddenly I was on the phone with George Romero after years of loving his films and making a film that was entirely a love letter to him. So suddenly he’s calling me up saying, ‘Do you want to come and do a voice in Diary of the Dead?’ It doesn’t get any better than that."