Simon Pegg in Run, Fat Boy, Run Courtesy of Picturehouse

Simon Pegg
As a tightly wound British bobby transferred from the metropolitan streets of London to the quiet lanes of the English countryside in Hot Fuzz, Pegg paid homage to the Jerry Bruckheimer-esque buddy-cop movie — but with high tea and Wellington boots. Shaun of the Dead was Pegg's nod to the zombie horror flicks of the past, yet set in England and sweetened with dollops of humor and romance. Pegg is one of the few contemporary British comedians to transcend the cultural divide that separates American and UK sensibilities. With Friends' David Schwimmer helming his latest release, Run, Fat Boy, Run is Pegg's foray into the romantic comedy genre but this time set against the cutthroat world of amateur marathon running.

When did you hear about the script and did you know David beforehand?
We had worked together on Band of Brothers and then on another film that we shot in Vancouver. I'd read the script and liked it as a slightly broader, more conventional romantic comedy. And then the opportunity arose to rewrite it — attempting to make a character who jilts his pregnant girlfriend sympathetic was too much of a challenge to pass over. When I got involved it was a complete screenplay — I polished it and transferred it to a UK setting and did a few little bits and bobs on it.

It was originally written to be set in New York, right?
That was the setting. It was all to have revolved around the New York City Marathon and the Mr. Ghoshdashtidar, the Indian character, was an Italian guy called Mr. Giacometti. It was much more of a New York story so we transferred it to London and made it much more [British].

Was that a harder sell, given this is David Schwimmer's debut as a director?
I think he really wanted to do this script and the film was optioned by a company called Material whose objective is to make films in London. So it was the only way it was going to get made. Rather than say, "Okay, I don't want to do it then," he stayed with it. And he had spent a long time in the UK. He was in theater there, so it wasn't like he was in a completely alien environment. He was equipped to do the job.

It is just that his background and persona are so New York...
Yeah, even though Friends was shot in L.A. He knows London well enough. He gets it. When we were doing the location scouts for where Dennis lives and where Libby lives, I was adamant that it should be shot in the part of London where people live, not the part where people visit. I knew there was going to have to be a balance in the film because inevitably the marathon was going to be passing the kind of landmarks that you are always seeing, which is kind of tiresome, if you ask me. So I wanted to offset it with "real" London and David was really keen to get that across. So we shot in Hackney and Durlston and other parts of northeast London. It was all location — there wasn't a single studio day.

Is that easy to do in London?
In some parts it is. Locking down streets is tough. And the closer you get to the center, the harder it gets. Fortunately, we did a lot of the stuff at night when there weren't so many people around. I've just shot in New York for How to Lose Friends & Alienate People and that was amazing but it made me relieved that we didn't shoot this in New York; logistically it would have been really hard. I love New York. I have this affection for it. I'd want to live there but I think shooting there is hellish. It's a real adventure.