Simon Pegg pulled off a great on-set prank on Star Trek Into Darkness

Simon Pegg offered a little extra dose of humor during filming of Star Trek Into Darkness

While filming his part as Lt. Commander Montgomery “Scotty” Scott on Star Trek Into Darkness, Simon Pegg had tricks up his sleeve that helped lighten the mood on set. He even came up with one practical joke that some cast members took seriously.

According to Screencrush, Pegg is somewhat of a prankster in real life so it’s not surprising that he would pull a prank on the cast of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek film, which was the sequel to the 2009 film that rebooted Star Trek: The Original Series, setting it in the Kelvin timeline. And the prank took on a life of its own, becoming an epic joke that was the best one he’d played.

Simon Pegg had the cast members convinced his prank was real

Pegg told cast members that there were “ions” in the air around the set in the laser room and to keep themselves safe, they needed to apply a special cream. Crew members began to play along, and the makeup team even took part by producing some fake cream, called “Neutron cream” that supposedly protected the actors. And they dutifully dotted it on their faces and other body parts. Benedict Cumberbatch was so convinced that the ions were real that he even blamed a bad take on them!

He also told the cast that because of the ions, occassionally moving their body would help. First Assistant Director Tommy Gormley even instructed the cast to do a little jumping as “it always helps with the ions.”  Watch the hilarious video above to see the moments when the cast members learned the truth about the ions! The truth wasn’t revealed until the last day of filming, but the cast were all good-natured about being had even though they’d all worn the cream.