How Twitter responded when Midlands actor who starred in Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Star Trek spoke out on modern cinema
11:48, 19 May 2015Updated 11:50, 19 May 2015
Andy Yates - a restoration expert and deadringer for film star Simon Pegg - re-pointing the chimney at Sarehole Mill for Croft Building and Conservation.(Image: )
Midlands actor Simon Pegg's criticism of the film industry has caused something of a kerfuffle on social media this morning.
The Shaun of the dead star, who grew up in Gloucestershire before moving to Stratford-upon-Avon as a teenager, told the Radio Times modern day cinema had been "dumbing down" in recent years.
Pegg, who is co-writing the new Star Trek film said: “Obviously I’m very much a self-confessed fan of science fiction and genre cinema but part of me looks at society as it is now and just thinks we’ve been infantilised by our own taste.
“Now we’re essentially all consuming very childish things – comic books, superheroes. Adults are watching this stuff, and taking it seriously.
“It is a kind of dumbing down, in a way, because it’s taking our focus away from real-world issues. Films used to be about challenging, emotional journeys or moral questions that might make you walk away and re-evaluate how you felt about … whatever.
“Now we’re walking out of the cinema really not thinking about anything, other than the fact that the Hulk just had a fight with a robot.”
Many people on Twitter were left perplexed by the musings of the sci-fi hero who - along with friend Nick Frost - created the much loved Cornetto film trilogy.
Fittingly we've compiled this silly run down of how things unfurled...
There was some surprise at first.
Then people got caught up on Zayn Malik.
Before re-focusing on Simon Pegg.
That's Sir Simon Pegg.
Or is it?
Some tweeters struggled in the rush to post.