Simon Pegg Says Voicing Ice Age Character Buck Wild Is Tougher Than Making Mission: Impossible With Tom Cruise

Of the 100-plus movies and TV shows Simon Pegg made so far, 2009’s Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs will always occupy a very special place in his heart.

Not only did that third entry to the enduringly endearing animated series — following the misadventures of three prehistoric animals, a mammoth, a sloth and a sabre-tooth tiger — mark his debut as Buck the one-eyed weasel and dinosaur whisperer, it came out in the same year that his daughter Matilda was born. (2011’s Paul is special, too: Matilda was born during the production of that sci-fi comedy.)

Pegg would go on to voice Buck again in 2016’s Ice Age: Collison Course and now, The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, which premiered on Disney+ on Friday (Jan 28).

This time, Buck is front and centre in this spin-off where he has to save possum siblings Crash and Eddie (Vincent Tong and Aaron Harris) from a dinosaur uprising in The Lost World. Six Feet Under’s Justina Machado co-stars as Zee, a badass zorilla who lends Buck a helping hand.

Just as Dawn of the Dinosaurs will always remind Pegg of Matilda’s birth, Buck Wild will mark another milestone in his household.  

“And weirdly as this new Ice Age installment comes out, my sister just gave birth this week,” the British actor, who turns 52 next month, shares in a virtual press conference on Jan 13. “So, it's nothing but a joy to play Buck because it has all this kind of emotional resonance for me personally in my own family.”

Outside of the Mission: Impossible, Star Trek and Ice Age franchises, is there any other characters Pegg would like to revisit? How about top cop Nicholas Angel from Hot Fuzz?

Well, him and perhaps booze-hound Gary King from The World’s End, says Pegg. Both movies are part of The Cornetto Trilogy, which started with the classic zom-com Shaun of the Dead, all directed by Edgar Wright. Alas, he isn’t interested in making direct sequels to those films, no matter how beloved they are.

“Edgar and I do not like to linger,” Pegg tells 8days.sg in a separate Zoom chat from the UK. “We like to move on to do different things rather than doing the same thing over and over again.”

Will Pegg consider reuniting with Wright and Cornetto Trilogy alum Nick Frost on an animated feature? (Fun fact: Frost was the voice of Flynn the Elephant seal in Ice Age: Continental Drift.)

Pegg doubts his pal has the patience for animation. “His love for live-action is just too great,” says Pegg. “He only has a certain amount of time for certain amount of films. I don’t think his particular passion lies in that area. What we do next will be another live-action film. But it won’t be another film in the vein of the Cornetto series, it would be something different.”

Watch our interview with Pegg as he tells us more about his experiences voicing Buck, his daughter’s favourite Ice Age character and the main takeaway from Buck Wild for its viewers, especially young boys.

The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild is now streaming on Disney+. 

Photos: Disney+, TPG News/Click Photos