What if luck was an actual thing? Meet Sam Greenfield, the world’s unluckiest person, who suddenly finds herself in the Land of Luck, where she must unite with magical creatures to, hopefully, turn her luck around. In this Goggler exclusive, we spoke to Luck‘s Simon Pegg about being lucky, Miyazaki, and fandom and geekery.
Umapagan Ampikaipakan: What is your relationship with luck and did it change after making this movie?
Simon Pegg: I think I would say that I was a fairly lucky person, if I was so inclined. But I’m a little bit conflicted about luck. I think we make our own luck. We make our own chances and we make something of the chances we’re given. And I think to ascribe that to something, to some other power, that affects your life might be a little bit untrue. But I feel lucky. I feel very lucky to be doing the job I love and to get to work on films like this. I would definitely say I was a lucky boy.
UA: I was reading You’ve Got Red On You, I’m a huge Shaun of the Dead fan, and it feels like there were so many moments which you could attribute to luck. The serendipity of so many things coming together to make that movie happen. Which then really kicked off your career. Do you have a lucky story? A moment when you felt, “Oh, shit, that was luck.”
SP: I think about my life right now and I think about meeting my wife, for instance. I think it was on a holiday I went on with Nick Frost, who I made Shaun of the Dead with, and we were walking down a London High street in probably 1999, maybe 2000. And we just decided to go into this travel agency. Just on a whim, we thought, let’s go and book a holiday. And we did. And it was on that holiday that I met my wife. And and now we have children.
You know, I think about that one little decision which led to so much. And it’s tempting to see that as being luck. But I think these things are more “chance,” more “coincidence,” and more making the most of those opportunities when they’re presented to you. I think we need to take responsibility for our own luck. And I do look back on that moment and think, if we just hadn’t had that thought at that time, then I wouldn’t have the things I have right now. And that, for me, is lucky.
UA: Watching this movie, I got some real Miyazaki vibes. Did you look to his work for inspiration?
SP: Yeah, I’m a big fan of Miyazaki. I’ve got a tattoo from Spirited Away here (*points to his arm*). And there’s another one from Princess Mononoke. I’m a big fan of Miyazaki and his animation. I did feel like when I got to play the part of Bob that it was in the tradition of those great characters.
As always, with animation, you see the character, then you get to see some animatics, which are kind of very early rough sketches of the character in motion. And from that, you extrapolate the the voice and the characterisation. And it’s almost impossible to do that without seeing what the animators have envisaged for the character. So it’s a bit of a relationship. You see the character, you create the voice, and then the animators then take your voice and they animate to it. So it’s a very symbiotic relationship between the animators, and the actors, and the script writers, to create the character. I didn’t actually think about that until you said it, but yeah, that’s the case.
UA: I figure you’re going to be having these deep philosophical conversations about luck for the remainder of this junket, so if you wouldn’t mind a question about geekery. I’ve always been curious about whether being in things like Star Wars, and Star Trek, and Mission Impossible, has changed your fandom and your relationship with fandom in any way?
SP: I think fandom evolves anyway as you grow older. I think definitely for me, with with being in Star Wars, it felt like the closing of my fandom because it was like it can’t get any better than that now. I was in this world, with those characters and creatures, and it was like the ultimate experience. And I feel like that almost closed the chapter on my my love of Star Wars in a lovely way.
I’m still attached to Star Trek and hopefully we’ll make another one of those at some point. And I love being around that. I try and maintain that fan’s perspective a lot of the time, just to keep it fresh, and keep it interesting. But at 52, I feel like there are a lot more important things in life than fantasy.
UA: This is what my wife keeps telling me.
SP: I think, you know, when there are such important issues in the real world, it kind of blows my mind slightly that people get so upset about what happens in places that don’t exist, to people that don’t exist. I get it. But, come on guys!
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