It always helps a film being touted for sale at the Cannes Film Market when it has a big name attached in the lead. [Luckily for Peter Chelsom’s next project, Hector And The Search For Happiness, it has nabbed the services of one Simon Pegg.](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-simon-pegg-happiness-326840s-326840)
Chelsom worked with Tinker Lindsay to adapt the script from Francois Lelord’s bestseller. The plot focuses on an unusual but personable London psychiatrist (Pegg), who is facing a professional struggle because his patients just don’t seem to be getting any happier. So he sets off on his own mission to find a little joy.
Chelsom seems convinced he’s found his next gig and his man. "I've been searching long and hard for a film that would bring me back to my European sensibilities. Not unlike **Being There **and Forrest Gump, Hector is a contemporary love story, a fable wrapped around a very human hero's journey,” he said in a statement picked up by the Hollywood Reporter. “Nobody does the innocent abroad better than Simon Pegg: he is not only a brilliant comedian but also a very touching actor. He is the Hector that you want to follow to the ends of the earth."
Pegg, of course, is busy at the moment. He’s just finished shooting the Star Trek sequel and has moved on to guest starring in Frank Darabont’s new TV series LA Noir. This September should see him kicking off work on The World’s End with Edgar Wright, with Hector planned to shoot after that. He’ll next be seen on screen in A Fantastic Fear Of Everything, which arrives on June 8.
There's some sort of irony in going from a Fantastic Fear Of Everything to a Search For Happiness, but it sounds like Pegg is heading in the right psychological direction anyway. And unlike Will Smith's movie, at least he can spell happiness.