Yet Again Simon Pegg Promises Work Will Begin on ‘The World’s End’

Yet another press interview for Simon Pegg, and yet another question about the third part of his “Three Flavours Cornetto” trilogy –“The World’s End” — that his pal Nick Frost and their director Edgar Wright, have been working on for what feels like seventeen years. While in the past the actor has enjoyed playing possum over when he’ll get the damn thing written — it was announced as a working title some years ago, but nothing since — we can take some solace in the fact that at least he’s setting some time aside to work on the script. Aside from demonstrating that he’s now a seasoned veteran at doling out meaningless buzz phrases (he wants this film to be “ahead of the curve”… no kidding) in an interview with Ain’t It Cool News, he also insisted that the scripting would hopefully be happening “very, very soon,” before the actor has to go off and get even more famous in “Star Trek 2.”

It’s been seven long years since “Shaun of the Dead,” catapulted Pegg, Frost and Wright into international success. While when separated the end products have always been a mixed bag (Pegg’s “Big Nothing” and “Run Fatboy Run” have thankfully passed into the annals of obscurity, the less said about Frost’s turn in “Pirate Radio” the better) the trio have managed to keep their heads above water in a tough town, satisfying even those who still clamor for the halcyon days of cult hit “Spaced”. After “Hot Fuzz” sealed the deal and “Paul” saw the final emigration of their British sensibilities to American shores (admittedly, sans Wright), you’d think ‘The World’s End’ would have been rushed into production. Not the case.

In fairness, all three have got a lot on their respective plates. Pegg has both “Mission:Impossible – Ghost Protocol” and “Tintin” landing later this year; whilst Wright — finally shorn of his endless “Scott Pilgrim” inter-planetary tour — remains busy with various things: Marvel’s “Ant Man”, obviously, and “Baby Driver”, set up at Working Title, chief among them. Whether or not the pressure of still having this project hanging round their neck like a millstone is a problem, Pegg’s clearly feeling the itch to get this one done, or he’s sick of fielding questions from every movie news outlet who speculate about the project’s progress like they’re looking for the Lindbergh baby. He’s promising to “confound” audience expectations whilst staying true to the style that made them a success in the first instance.

“Edgar and me have been very determined — that we’re going to start in earnest very, very soon — to not just do the same thing again, to do something very different. Not to the point of alienating people who want something, but just give people something new and something different. You can’t just stay where you are forever. You have to mutate to survive, and I think we’re going to make sure that we do that. I’d hate to become stale and predictable. People are already making films that are kind of like the sort of thing we might do. I want to stay a little bit ahead of the curve at least,” Pegg told AICN.

For the time being, though, we’ll have to make do with yet another tease, but at least there’s some form of a loose timetable now in place. “We already started the conception process, so it’s just a question of when we can get together. I’m just about to start shooting a movie here in the U.K., so maybe between that and ‘Star Trek’ we might get a chance to bang out a first draft if we’re lucky,” Pegg said. So don’t take it as gospel just yet, but rest assured Pegg and Wright do want to get this sooner rather than later if they can clear some room in their tremendously busy schedules.