Simon Pegg recently confessed something he said is likely to get him into trouble.
“I think women write men better than men write women,” the actor contended. “Men tend to write women as their fantasy, and women tend to write men as what they really are.”
Keep in mind that Pegg is himself a screenwriter, one who has, by his own admission, struggled with this very problem.
The nerd hero’s feature screenwriting debut was the 2004 zombie horror comedy “Shaun of the Dead,” which he co-wrote with Edgar Wright. Of the writing process, Pegg noted, “Me and Edgar always said that our
Achilles heel was writing women. I think with ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ we worked so
hard not to make Liz the voice of reason, or a drag, or an obstacle to Ed.”
Pegg is currently promoting “Man Up,” a romantic comedy co-starring Lake Bell and written by Tess Morris. “Guys will tend to write the girl they want to
date rather than the girl who’s really out there, who is flawed, who is a bit
unpredictable,” Pegg elaborated.
He suggested that, instead of perpetuating unrealistic female characters by oversimplifying women, male writers would benefit from acknowledging and celebrating the flawed and unpredictable aspects of women’s personalities — of all personalities.
As for “Man Up,” Pegg is hopeful that the film’s genre won’t keep men from seeing it. “Rom coms shouldn’t be [considered a girl’s film],” he said. “If it’s a heterosexual rom com, it should be for men and women. It’s about both sides of the coin, you know.”
“Man Up,” which screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, opens in the UK on May 29. A US release date has yet to be set.
[via The Mary Sue]
