BIG NOTHING

Despite being married to a cop, Charlie Wood (David Schwimmer) a frustrated unemployed teacher decides to take revenge on life by joining forces with unpredictable scammer Gus Dickinson (Simon Pegg) and his ambitious ex-girlfriend Josie McBroom (Alice Eve) in their "fool-proof" blackmailing scheme. But, when absolutely nothing goes according to plan and things rapidly go from unimaginably bad to worse, he discovers that little in life is fool-proof ...or without a price.

Simon Pegg, plays Gus in Big Nothing.

Q: Can you tell me about the role you play and a little bit about your character?

SP: I play Gus Dickinson. He's kind of a sweet little con-man really. He's a bad boy but he's not totally evil. I think his schemes aren't within the realms of hurting people, he quite likes breaking the law but he doesn't mind if the person he's conning isn't such a nice person. But of course he gets into huge trouble because he's not as clever as he thinks he is.

Q: What was it about this character that appealed to you?

SP: I got the script sent to me by Jean-Baptiste and Andras and when I read it, it just really came off the page. The script was really artful and funny and exciting and full of twists and turns which is great. It's always nice to be surprised by something and Gus just seemed like a sort of loveable rogue – a sort of a chancer and a drifter and it was a real challenge, particularly as he's American and it means doing an American accent which isn't easy but it was all there on a page – it was fantastic.

Q: How did you work on the American accent?

SP: I could sort of do an American accent before, but we have a voice coach on set with us called Judith Windsor. Judith will come up to us between takes and work with us on the right pronunciation which is brilliant. Everyone thinks they can do an American accent but it's actually very difficult. They really chew their words around because they have a very specific way of talking and it's very gymnastic. People think that American accents are quite lazy and drawly but they're not, Americans have muscular jaws because they are constantly rapping their R's. It's nice to have Judith around to come and say no, you're wrong".

Q: Can you smell cigars?

SP: Err; yes I do smell cigars and Billy Asher told you to say that! Did he explain the massage thing? I had a massage on Saturday in the spa at the hotel we were staying in. The masseuse was massaging my neck and said "You feel like you've got quite a lot of crystals of lactic acid and toxins in you shoulders, did you have a cigar last night?" I had had a cigar, and I was amazed at the fact that she had identified the specific nature of the toxin in my body. It turns out Billy was in before me and had told me to say that so I am now on my guard. You got me Asher!"

Q: Tell me a bit about working with the rest of the cast?

SP: It's been great fun. It's a brilliant, very industrious cast and crew who are totally dedicated to the project. But they also know how to have a good time, so the level of industry completely matches the level of hedonism which takes place after hours! It's very hard to keep up some times I go back to my hotels and stay nice and centered for the next day, whereas they are all out getting pissed…I'm joking they don't really, but they are fantastic – David, Alice, Jon and Mimi have just been fantastic, and it's been a real pleasure to work with these people, they are extremely hard working. David's the centre of it and Alice is just the biggest pain in the arse I have ever worked with in my life… no she's not really! She is incredible, tenacious and a bundle of energy and when the camera turns over she utterly delivers, her accent is fantastic and it really raises a bar in terms of not slipping at all because she seems to be able to switch it on effortlessly. She's also great fun and she doesn't mind being teased. I have a younger sister so my relationship with her is similar to that in a sense. Our first scene together was pretty weird though – it was a full-on naked sex romp, so that was quite a strange way to start: "Hi I'm Simon, I'm Alice, climb on board…!" David's great – he has a real professionalism about him. He's been in this business intensively for a long time and you can see it. He really knows what's going on, he's fantastically focused and very, very, funny, and he really contributes. It's a joy. I've worked with him once before but I didn't really get to know him properly then, but this time we've really hit it off, and we've had a great time. He's fun.

Q: How's it been working with Jean-Baptiste the director?

SP: Jeb or Jean-Baptiste Andrea as he's known on the credits is brilliant. He's a very, very fine director and he's a complete geek just like me. We geek out about shit together, and his sensibility is a wonderful combination of European French and American which is fantastic because there are wonderful elements of humour in all those cultures and he seems to have it all. He's very laid back and great to work with. I've loved every minute of working on it.

UK Release: 1 December 2006

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