It seems strange to be talking about Simon Pegg in Comic-Con month without mentioning Comic-Con - and, in fairness, we don't seem to have managed it very well here. This Pegg news has nothing to do with Star Trek 2 but it's definitely intriguing in its own right, thanks in part to his Twitter tease over the past few weeks.

The cat and the bag have officially parted company. Pegg is playing a children's-author-turned-crime-writer in British indie A Fantastic Fear Of Everything. Pegg's novelist, Jack, becomes so unhinged by his research into gruesome Victorian crimes that a big Hollywood break spins into a hideous, paranoid nightmare. According to the synopsis: "Jack is forced to confront his worst demons; among them his love life, his laundry and the origin of all fear."

It's pitched as a 'psycho-comedy' and sounds like it'll be somewhere at the Young Poisoner's Handbook end of the black comedy spectrum. Aside from that fantastic name, it's notable for boasting not one but two directors with musical pedigree: one-time Radiohead promo creator, Chris Hopewell, and ex-Kula Shaker Crispian Mills. Mills, of course, has seriously impressive movie DNA flowing through those tie-dyed veins too: his grandfather was Sir John Mills and his mum is Hayley Mills.

As Pegg recently told Slate: "It’s a really odd but brilliant script... just a little low-budget British film but I’m very excited about it.”

A Fantastic Fear Of Everything is produced by Keel Films with extra financing - and studio space - provided by the Pinewood Group. Universal have picked up European distribution rights. Expect to see it on our screens sometime next year.