Sunday, 5 October 2008

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Simon Pegg: Steven Spielberg asked me to star in Tintin

Sean Of The Dead star says the ET director was his childhood idol

Simon Pegg first found fame in the TV series Spaced

Simon Pegg has admitted that he was gobsmacked when Steven Spielberg called and asked to meet him.

The Shaun Of The Dead star has been a huge fan of the director since he first saw ET aged 12.

‘I shook his hand and chatted about films,’ he says. ‘Steven’s smoking a stogy [cigar], cap on head, like he’s always been since I was a baby.

'Then he said to me: “Hey, maybe you and [Spaced co-star] Nick Frost could play the Thompson Twins.” In Tintin. A Spielberg movie. To work with him is beyond…’

But Simon, 38, says that despite the allure of Hollywood, he won't be leaving his London home to move to California.

‘LA can be the most exciting place on earth and it can be the darkest, loneliest place ever,’ he tells Culture. ‘If you’ve got nothing to do, there’s just these big empty wide streets that go on for miles…’

His latest film How To Lose Friends & Alienate People is out on 3 October.

Isobel Smith