- Thomas Lockyer, Dog Soldiers, 2002. UK-US-Luxembourg, 2001. A military exercise turns bloody nasty in the Scotland wilderness – filmed in Luxembourg! An “unashamedly cheesy, high-octane werewolf movie… The Howling meets Rio Bravo in the Scottish Highlands,” said Derek Elley, Variety. Pegg was offered Corporal Bruce Campbell (nudge, nudge ) but his director mate, Edgar Wright, said Pegg’s first horror role had to be in their Shaun of the Dead. And so it came to pass… in 2004.
- Rowan Atkinson, Love Actually, 2003. Yes, imagine Shaun of the Dead as Rufus the jewellery salesman. Pegg (with The Office’s Ricky Gervais) was head of the new generation of UK comedy-innovators… like Atkinson and John Cleese before them. Soon enough, Pegg – and his often comedy partner Nick Frost – had their own company. Stolen Pictures.
- Jackie Earle Haley, Watchmen, 2008. Not so much “Who watches the watchmen?” as Juvenal asked, but who them playeth? In the 20 years it took to film Alan Moore’s DComic-book, directors came and went – Darren Aronofsky, Michael Bay, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Paul Greengrass. So did their choices for Walter Kovacs aka Rorschach, the masked vigilante: Pegg, Daniel Craig, John Hurt, Doug Hutchinson, Sean Penn, Robin Williams and the prerequisite outsider, Richard Hansard – more known for music than acting (three credits in 18 years). By which time, Pegg had risen from his own Shaun of the Dead, 2004, to JJ Abrams’ re-booted Star Trek, 2008 – at Paramount!
- Michael Fassbender, Inglourious Basterds, 2008. The deal was set and Pegg was to be Lieutenant Archie Hicox in Quentin Tarantino’s Wild Bunch take on The Dirty Dozen. But Steven Spielberg got in the way, having booked Pegg for The Adventures of Tintin. “I’m trying to remain upbeat,” declared Pegg. “As Tom Selleck said: Who the hell is Indiana Jones anyway? ”During The Hateful Eight promo in 2015, Tarantino confirmerd that Tim Roth’s character, Oswaldo Mobray, was really English Pete Hicox – Archie Hicox’s great-great grandfather!
- Jack Quaid, The Boys, TV, 2019-2021. The Scottish Hughie looks like Pegg in the comics by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Pegg said he was was “super chuffed” to be a comic book character. He was going to play him in the (heavily toned-down) series but the series took so long to happen= he finally plays the father of Hughie – aka Quaid, son of Meg Ryan andf Dennis Quaid. (The vigilante’s leader, Billy Butcher, was portrayed by Karl Urtban, Pegg’s co-star in the Star Trek franchise.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 5