Simon Pegg Brandishes a Rifle and a Mustache in ‘Kill Me Three Times’

Actor, comedian, and English person Simon Pegg has taken on a variety of roles over the course of his career; he’s been a everyman (Shaun of the Dead), a cop (Hot Fuzz), a journalist (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People), a nerd (several roles), and even a futuristic engineer (Star Trek). But in Australian director Kriv Strenders’ upcoming film Kill Me Three Times Pegg will play something most might consider outside a comedic actor’s range: an assassin.

Aside from Pegg and Brazilian actress Alice Braga (Predators, Elysium), the cast of Kill Me Three Times will consist mostly of native Australians, including Teresa Palmer (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Warm Bodies), Sullivan Stapleton (Animal Kingdom), and Luke Hemsworth (brother of Liam and Chris Hemsworth; primarily a player on Australian television). Not much is known about the film’s plot, but it will follow several connected stories involving murder (possibly the work of an assassin). The role may seem a grim for Pegg, but consider his latest film The World’s End. Without getting into spoiler territory, Pegg’s character Gary King turned out to be surprisingly dark and even tragic.Throw in Pegg’s dabbling in the action genre with the third and fourth Mission Impossible films and Hot Fuzz (a satire of action films that had a fair amount of action itself), and the mustachioed man with the gun in Kill Me Three Times’ first official photo doesn’t seem like such a stretch.

Also, the nature of Pegg’s role can only be guessed at by this point. Strenders only has few films to his name currently, but they vary in tone and style. Boxing Day (2007) was a harsh film about an alcoholic father trying to reconnect with his family, while Red Dog (2011) was more of a heartwarming film about a community’s relationship with a stray dog. So, Pegg’s comedic chops could come into play.

Kill Me Three Times is being produced by Tania Chambers and written by James McFarland. According to twitchfilm, “the film has secured distribution in Australia and New Zealand via Hopscotch Entertainment One. Sales activity for the rest of the world is launching at the American Film Market this week.”