Simon Pegg, 'The World's End' Star Revealed Insider Knowledge During Reddit AMA

Simon Pegg's career has been on a roll since the 2004 zombie comedy hit Shaun of the Dead. A writer, comedian and actor, Pegg starred in two of the recent Mission Impossible films, played Scotty in both of the recent Star Trek movies, and is about to star in The World’s End, which debuts Friday. The sci-fi comedy reunites Pegg with his longtime friend, actor Nick Frost, and director Edgar Wright.  

Pegg, Wright, and Frost have been working together for years. Wright directed Pegg and Frost’s BBC comedy series Spaced (which is available on Netflix), and in the films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, their sendup of buddy-cop action movies. 

The World’s End is a take on the Body Snatchers sci-fi genre. Five childhood friends return to their hometown for an epic pub crawl, only to discover the residents have all been replaced by robotic clones. As hype surrounding the movie grows, Pegg, Frost, and Wright took to Reddit yesterday, to answer their fans’ burning questions. Here are six of the most interesting revelations from their AMA.

1. Simon Pegg Doesn't Drink Alcohol

In Shaun of the Dead, Simon Pegg’s character thinks the best way to survive the zombie apocalypse is with a good pint at the local pub, and in The World’s End, Pegg leads an epic pub crawl. Hell, in the poster for the latter, Pegg is holding out a pint as if it were some kind of magical elixir — and he’s a teetotaler?

Pegg also revealed that he's not much of a soccer fan. As he put it, “I would rather drink bleach than watch soccer.” Fortunately, Nick Frost is both a soccer fan and has a love for Stella Artois.

2. Pegg and Frost Share God-Awful Taste in Music

Pegg’s favorite band? The London Boys, a band that, luckily, never made its to the States. The London Boys make Pet Shop Boys seem hardcore. Imagine a sound like the worst of Wham!, and outfits that would appeal to both Milli Vanilli and the Village People. Their two hits, “London Night” and “Requiem,” are pretty much identical, but Pegg says he doesn’t listen to anything else.

Frost’s favorites are a little more acceptable: “Erasure … and the Eurythmics.”

3. Chemistry Lessons

Simon Pegg attributes his chemistry with Nick Frost to their long friendship. “We've known each other for 20 years, and what you see on screen is underpinned by genuine friendship, and that can only be an aid to the working environment.” Pegg and Frost say their relationship has gotten even better since they each got married and settled down.

4. How They Would Fight a Zombie Apocalypse

Like his character in Shaun of the Dead, Simon Pegg's weapon of choice for fighting zombies would be "blunt objects." "Guns are very well, but they have to be reload[ed]," Pegg says, "They are going to run out of ammo, so: blunt objects. Always, always, always."

Nick Frost is more like Michonne, from The Walking Dead. His weapon of choice is a long broadsword, because, as Frost put it, “You’re far enough away that they can’t bite you.”

5. Fear of Fences

Simon Pegg has had to jump over fences in three films over the last 10 years. His character in Hot Fuzz was an ace at it, but in The World’s End, Pegg is back to the same clumsiness he had in Shaun of the Dead: every time he tries to jump a fence, he knocks it over.

Director Edgar Wright revealed that fence jumping is something of an obsession for him. “When I used to walk to school … I always wanted to take a shortcut through gardens, and I never did, so I'm living vicariously through the movies.”

6. No More Toilet Cakes

Back in 2007, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg were sharing a hotel room in the United States while promoting Hot Fuzz, and Frost received a huge birthday cake that he could hardly eat. So he decided to flush the cake down the toilet for fun, and filmed himself doing it. This turned into a three-part YouTube series, and many similar videos have since been posted.

Asked when they’d last flushed a cake, Pegg said, “We haven't flushed any cakes since 2007, because it led to a lot of wild cakes growing in the sewers, which led to a lot of problems in New York.”