Exclusive: Simon Pegg Talks Star Trek, Mission Impossible, & More

Simon Pegg is a very busy fellow. After starting out with fan favorite films such as Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, Pegg has risen to stardom and earned roles in many more hit films, including Star Trek and the upcoming Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation.

Earlier today, ComicBook.com caught up Pegg for an exclusive, red carpet interview before Paramount's CinemaCon 2015 event at Caesar's Palace.

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CB: You're a guy who's living the dream. You're a fan of all this stuff, you love movies, now you're acting and writing movies, it's so cool. We're in Vegas, everything seems pretty good! So, what's going on?

SP: It's good. It never stops being crazy and great but I try and also approach it, not like just a fan boy. It's my job, I can't just be running around going "Woo!" all the time, even though it's tempting! It's extraordinary and to be in my third Mission: Impossible movie... I never knew I'd be in one, let alone three!

That's awesome, congratulations. I don't know how Rogue Nation ends so I can't say if you'll be in any more but great run so far.

Right! We'll see.

Tell me a little bit about Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation. I hear you're ready for the Benji spinoff! What's going on with Benji in Rogue Nation? Does Tony Stark swoop in an upgrade the armor?

Yeah! That would be cool, wouldn't it? We've had sort of this universe building, now it's time to start cross pollinating. I think kind of like Star Wars - Avengers - Mission!

We're getting a Transformers universe. Why not mash them all up?

It's the next thing! Cross pollination. I'm in!

But then what happens when two of your movies cross over? Which character do you play?

I did think that at some point I was going to have to be doing Star Trek and Mission at the same time. Thankfully, the script changed for Star Trek so it didn't happen at the same time but there was a point when JJ Abrams said to me, 'You know, you might have to do both movies simultaneously?' And I'm like, 'Well, how is that gonna happen?' And he said, 'I don't know!' Thankfully, it didn't.

That sounds like a good problem to have, though!

Yeah, it's not a bad problem admittedly.

With Leonard Nimoy passing away, is there any sort of tribute we can expect with the upcoming Star Trek 3?

It would be crazy not to pay a tribute to Leonard in some way. His part in Star Trek and his effect on the world through Star Trek has been enormous... It's also the 50th anniversary of the show as well, so I would hope there will be some kind of acknowledgement. What form that takes? Wait and see but he is literally a legend and his passing is very sad.

Wonderful guy from what I've heard. I never had the pleasure of meeting him.

He was extraordinary and getting to work with him was a real pleasure.

There's gonna be stunts in Mission: Impossible. Do you do your own stunts?

When I'm allowed to. The insurance may step in and say, "No! Because.. You might be killed." So, it's important to get a professional in. But - if it's permitted, I will do it because it's important for the audience to see that it's you and not the stunt professional. As soon as it's a stunt person, the audience relaxes. They go, "Oh, it's just a guy who does that for a living." But if they see it's you, like you know, with Tom on the plane, the jeopardy there suddenly increases ten fold.

Yeah, well he's hanging on the side of a plane! If they asked you to do that were you going to hang on the side of a plane?

I do whatever they ask me to do within reason, yeah!

Pegg stays busy, that's for sure. You can catch him in Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation on July 31. After that, he'll reprise his role as Scotty in 2016's Star Trek 3, which he is also writing.