I adore Simon Pegg and everything he has done professionally. I also feel like he is a true "geek" in his own personal life and loves the culture as only a true fan from childhood can. So when he appeared on Sirius Radio's show 'Unmasked' and relayed a story about the first time he showed his 3 year old daughter A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, it juts drives home the point that he is someone who "gets it" and should be looked towards for opinions by big wigs on what geeks may want to be included/excluded from projects to come. Check out the story after the jump and how it may have influenced JJ Abrams in his production choices for Star Wars VII (a movie that Pegg is not even billed as appearing in!). I love this man....
So apparently, when he sat down to watch Empire with his daughter and Yoda came on the screen this is the exchange between them that occurred:
When he appears, I saw her sort of sit up. She looked at the screen and then she looked at me and then she looked back at the screen and she watched it for a bit. And then she said – ‘Daddy, he’s real!’ And I kind of like burst out crying. I was like – ‘You’re my child!’ And it’s because he’s there. He’s there interacting with Mark Hamill. Even if he was CG, we’d still know he wasn’t really there because he’s a sort of a little long-eared alien. But the fact that it was a puppet who’s existing in the same space as Mark Hamill, talking to him, it made her believe in him in a way that CG would never do.”
OH. MY. GOD. What a perfect way to raise a child, and the validation of her saying this has to make you feel good as a geek parent. But it gets better.
Apparently on a set visit to SW VII, he met up with his friend JJ Abrams. Pegg relayed the story to JJ, and JJ used that story as part of his argument with the big wigs and executives for more practical effects and puppets over full on CGI. Abrams had been making the case for practical effects all along, but Pegg's story literately put a face to the feelings and may have been the reason why they ultimately allowed JJ to do his thing.
When Pegg finally got the chance to visit the Star Wars set (and possibly shoot a role in the movie, depending on who you believe), the actor was approached by some of the puppeteers, who identified him as “the guy whose daughter saved Star Wars.”
“I know that J.J. had always planned to do that,” Pegg said of the new film’s use of practical effects, “but it was a nice little validation of that impulse, I think, to have a child of that age say that.”
Wow. Imagine being that kid.... her timely and TRUE comments may have helped save the new Star Wars films.... Congrats Simon, you got a good egg right there!!!
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