Kirsten Dunst Joins Simon Pegg in New Film

At last night's screening of Hot Fuzz, star Simon Pegg was admittedly "chuffed" at the international success of the film, set for release here. "It's made $42 million in Britain, and it's No. 2 in Russia." Damn. Get ready to see a lot more of Pegg at the cineplex: the Spaced star said he's unlikely to make another TV series: "It almost makes you too famous because you're on all the time." He and longtime writing partner Nick Frost recently did a trek across America to research a screenplay they hope to complete by year's end. Pegg is also shooting an adaptation of Toby Young's controversial memoir about Vanity Fair magazine titled How To Lose Friends & Alienate People. Kirsten Dunst and up-and-comer Megan Fox are attached as co-stars. Could Oscar be in the offing?

On the heels of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz looks to be another cult phenomenon in the making. London police officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg), a hilariously stone-faced perfectionist, is transferred to a small English town filled with the usual eccentrics, including an acting troupe who stage Romeo & Juliet – Baz Luhrmann's wacky musical version, that is – and a neighborhood watch society named after an '80s gangster-rap group. A hangdog Nick Frost plays his sadsack, action film-obsessed partner, PC Butterman. Director Edgar Wright bills it as more of an "action comedy" than an "action spoof," although it pokes fun at the excesses of films like Point Break and the Action Movie To Top All Action Movies, Bad Boys II. And the list of actors making cameos is like a roll call of BBC AMERICA talent. (Amongst the familiar faces, look out for a barely recognizable Cate Blanchett.)