Simon Pegg says Star Trek has always been ahead of its time
Like his engineer character Scotty, Simon Pegg got right into the mechanics of Star Trek Beyond.
Pegg, best known for his films Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, co-wrote the latest film, which jumps back in the Star Trek timeline to just before the original television series timeline began.
In a wide-ranging chat, Pegg reflects on the death of co-star Anton Yelchin, the difference between spoofing a genre and taking it seriously, the turbulence around Sulu's gay backstory, and why Star Trek has always been a franchise ahead of its time.
"We're living in an era when people want to build walls between countries, when we should be knocking walls down," says Pegg, who describes science fiction as a great tool for examining the present and projecting the future.
We meet the crew of the USS Enterprise two years into their mission, when they're forced to abandon ship and confront a ruthless enemy bent on destroying the federation.
"[It's important that it] not just be an adventure in space, it had to have some kind of allegorical weight and relevance ... This sort of anti-collectivism which exists right now; that's the thrust of our villain."
The fast-paced, action packed blockbuster, directed by Justin Lin of The Fast and the Furious fame, hits theatres next week.
