'Me? A 主要な man? Are you having a laugh?' Ricky Gervais takes on Hollywood
Bowie composes for him, America lionises him and now the Oscars want him... Ricky Gervais is Britain's hottest comedian - fact. But can he really take on George Clooney?
No one does 拷問d self-疑問 like Ricky Gervais. ‘率直に, when I got to your shoot, I thought the worst,’ he says as he leafs through the pictures.
Not trying to be 冷静な／正味の: Funnyman Ricky Gervais
‘I said to myself, “井戸／弁護士席, no one told me about a Rolls-Royce.” What would be next? Were they going to ask me to lounge on it? Because then I was worrying people would think, 持つ／拘留する on, he’s a knockabout comedian ? why’s he trying to be 冷静な／正味の?
'But in the end it wasn’t that bad. I thought, “Oh God, so someone’s going to see me not smiling by a Rolls-Royce. It’s not the end of the world, is it?”
'But you see I am a 支配（する）／統制する freak. Unapologetically. Because in any art form, even one as lowly as TV comedy, there’s no place for 僕主主義.
'Not that I lose my temper. I’m too embarrassed. I can’t even send soup 支援する now. There could be a snail in it and I wouldn’t send it 支援する, ’原因（となる） I don’t want anyone going, “Ooh, he’s getting above himself…” ’
It’s alarming just how David Brentish Gervais really is. Not literally ? he’s immensely likeable and funny and ひどく intelligent. But the 劇の mood swings and the man nerisms ? the gurning and the gulping, the smoothing 支援する of the hair, the hysterical high-pitched squawks and giggles ? make you realise, as if you ever 疑問d it, that Brent wasn’t a hard 行為／法令／行動する at all.
When he first bumbled into the lounge 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 of? his マスコミ-type 私的な members’ club, no one 解除するd their 注目する，もくろむs from their MacBook 空気／公表する laptops.
This may have been because of the unwritten club 支配する that members should nonchalantly ignore stratospherically famous people in their 中央; or because they preferred to ignore the fact he was wearing an incongruous freebie 黒人／ボイコット 爆撃機 jacket with THIS SIDE OF THE TRUTH (his next film but one) emblazoned in gaily coloured 資本／首都 lettering on the 支援する.
He makes hilarious, wincing 非，不，無-PC gaffes at 正規の／正選手 intervals. He’s also utterly driven and surprisingly earnest, and 反応するs with touching bewilderment when I ask 危険に 調査（する）ing questions such as how rich he is, what he earned for his last film and what he thinks of the co-星／主役にする of his new film (T?a Leoni) 存在 unavailable to 促進する his big new Hollywood 主要な-役割 movie (Ghost Town) because her husband (David Duchovny) 宣言するd himself to be a sex （麻薬）常用者 and checked into rehab.
‘Oh no!’ he swallows, horrified.
‘I don’t talk about my own 私的な life, so I can’t comment on anyone else’s.’ (Pause.)
‘It’s just not fair.’ (A longer, more thoughtful pause.)
‘It is a shame she can’t 促進する the film, though.
'Is she definitely not 促進するing the film? Really? I might have to say something.
'As in, you know, come on, what are you thinking? We want a good 開始 週末!
'We did a 審査 and the 長，率いる of the studio couldn’t make it because his wife was ten minutes away from giving birth. Someone said he’d sent his 陳謝s. I said, “権利. So he prefers his wife to me?”
‘That’s what happens when you’re really worried about a 事業／計画（する）.
‘I rang David Bowie for Extras,’ he says, referring to a scene in which Gervais’s character Andy Millman is serenaded by Bowie and an entire nightclub with the song, ‘See his pug-nosed 直面する, pug, pug!’
‘I phoned him up and I said, “Did you get the words? We were thinking of something やめる retro, you know, like Life On 火星.” And he went, “Oh yeah, shall I just knock
up a quick Life On 火星 for you?”
He made a 類似の faux pas when 狙撃 a graveyard scene for the same series.
‘The 場所 経営者／支配人 said we only had two hours and had to be out by midday because there was going to be a funeral.
'I said, “Oh, that’s 承認する. The funeral won’t 乱す us.” And she had to say, no, it was more that we might 乱す the funeral.
'I said yes, of course… How pathetic is that?
'I may 同様に have shouted, “Do you know who I am?” I felt like the worst person.
'Oh my God, I’m such a bad person!’ He throws his 武器 up in the 空気／公表する, buries his 長，率いる in his 手渡すs, then peeps through his fingers.
‘I remember when there was a 力／強力にする 削減（する） in London the day before the first Office went out.
'I said to my girlfriend, ‘Oh, ******* hell, I hope that doesn’t 影響する／感情…’ He looks so mortified he can’t finish, so out of 儀礼 I do it for him, and say, ‘You said you hoped it wouldn’t 影響する／感情 The Office’s 見解（をとる）ing 人物／姿／数字s, then you felt bad about people in 昏睡s or on life-support systems in hospitals.’
‘What?’ he says incredulously. ‘People in 昏睡s? Now you’ve made me feel worse! I just thought I should feel bad because I hadn’t thought of people just not having TV in general. But you’re 権利! 昏睡s! Oh God!’
'They told me I was the lead... I said, 'Who'll 支払う／賃金 $10 to see that? You need John Cusack'
Gervais seems to have an obsessive 利益／興味 in what we think of him, which is probably what has made him so successful, and what took him from 存在 a failed pop 星／主役にする and something of an underachiever in his 中央の-thirties to London 無線で通信する 駅／配置する Xfm ? where he met 令状ing and 事実上の／代理 partner Stephen Merchant ? and comic greatness.
The Office, the 文書の-style sitcom about a self-obsessed boss living in 平行の to reality ? pompous, spineless, despised, only redeemed at the bitter end ? is 定期的に 投票（する）d one of the best two sitcoms of all time, と一緒に Fawlty Towers, and even more 定期的に 勝利，勝つs 完全な; it’s the biggest-selling DVD of a TV series ever.
Extras, the follow-up show, in which stellar showbusiness 指名するs were 説得するd to humiliate themselves, was almost as popular; there have been sell-out stand-up shows, Golden Globes, a 抱擁する US 見解／翻訳／版 of The Office, Hollywood cameos, children’s 調書をとる／予約するs and the most downloaded podcasts ever. All of which has made him one of Britain’s most successful and richest comedians.
And now there’s Ghost Town, his first big movie 役割, a surprisingly tender Manhattan romcom in which Gervais plays
a sociopathic dentist whose sudden ability to see ghosts makes him their 気が進まない 的.
They beg him to finish off their 商売／仕事 in the real world, which can then 解放（する） them from their purgatory. It feels like a Cary 認める movie and is genuinely feel-good; it’s just this 味方する of saccharine.
Ricky Gervais behind the wheel of a 1957 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud
‘Oh, I 予報する a lot of cynicism.’ He （一定の）期間s out a headline in the sky: ‘Ricky Gervais Leaves Behind British Movies To Do Schmaltzy Hollywood.
'It’s always dangerous when you’re a comedian thinking you’re George Clooney. But I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to do this one.
'I’ve been sent 100 films in the past five years. I got one after the second episode of The Office went out in America. They told me I was the lead. 'I said, “Who’ll 支払う／賃金 $10 to see that? You need John Cusack.” They’d never had anyone talk themselves out of their first lead. So I pointed out that the 役割 was a 29-year-old. Then they said, “We can change that.” It’s like that over there. It’s incredible.
‘When I 発射 This 味方する Of The Truth, the company gave me a 私的な jet to use.
'The first time I got a big trailer was on Night At The Museum (with Ben Stiller). It was a 抱擁する 予算, £60 million. I was only on 始める，決める for a couple of days.
'They put me in this 抱擁する 控訴 in a beautiful hotel in Vancouver. Then I went to the 始める，決める, stood in my trai
ler, which was like this’ ? he spreads his 武器 out wide ? ‘and the director bounced over to me and said, “Is everything all 権利? Trailer 承認する?”, and I said, “My trailer? It’s bigger than my hotel 控訴!” And he suddenly looked 関心d and said, “Do you want a bigger hotel 控訴?”’
It’s funny, Gervais’s canonisation in America. He 代表するs everything that the US is 恐らく incapable of embracing ? isn’t he the one whose humour resolutely 的s 少数，小数派s?
In Extras he 強襲，強姦s a dwarf, 落ちるs out with his （軍の）野営地，陣営 co-writer after 説 that he’s ‘too gay’, 乱暴／暴力を加えるs the Bafta 委員会 by snorting コカイン in the loo on 儀式 night with Ronnie Corbett, derides the homeless and gets caught up in endless knots over 人種差別主義, homophobia and 無能にするd gags.
Hollywood 主要な man: Ricky in Ghost Town
He sighs ひどく.
‘The people who complain are always the ones who think they have to fight for the 権利s of those people,’ he says.
‘I got a lovely letter from someone with MS thanking me for explaining that MS is a real 病気, and another from someone with two autistic daughte
rs 説 thank you for exposing the prejudice we 苦しむ every day of people not understanding. They get it.
'There was one 新聞記者／雑誌記者 who said, “Ricky Gervais should not be on television… the stuff he comes out with about 強姦, and children with 癌”, and so on. Then he gave it away by 説 two of his friends had been to see the show in Brighton! 井戸／弁護士席, 持つ／拘留する on! Go and see it yourself!’ (Much shrieking.)
‘Thing is, I wish that people were cleverer. I know the problem is that they’re not. But you can’t pander to them.
'If you’re doing comedy for everyone, you’re doing comedy for no one. The more you water it 負かす／撃墜する for everyone, the いっそう少なく there is.
'John Cleese said that some people deserve to be 感情を害する／違反するd. And anyway, I don’t want to get everyone in the world. You can’t 立法者 完全に against stupidity.
‘Some people thought The Office was real. Steve (Merchant) was on the Tube the day after the first Office episode went out and one woman said, “Did you see that 文書の last night about that awful boss? Wasn’t it hilarious!”
'And the other one went, “No, that wasn’t a 文書の. That was a sitcom.” And the first one went, “井戸／弁護士席, it wasn’t funny.” Hang on! You just said it was!’
With its 星／主役にする-studded support cast, Extras 証明するd just how wildly popular Gervais had become on the 支援する of The Office.
‘We got people 説 awful things. Like Kate Winslet, just after she was in the biggest film of all time, talking about the 大破壊／大虐殺.
'And having Samuel L Jackson, Ben Stiller, Les Dennis ? that was so の近くに to the bone ? and David Bowie. I was so respectful when Bowie was in the room; I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to help him to his seat like he was the ローマ法王 ? not that he needs it; he looks better than me.’
Of course, he was able to call on David Bowie because it ふさわしい Bowie perfectly 井戸／弁護士席 to be in the same 軌道 as Gervais, who was 投票（する）d の中で the world’s 最高の，を越す 40 most 影響力のある people in a Ti
me magazine 投票.
‘Nelson Mandela （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 me. They 手配中の，お尋ね者 a 引用する from me. I said, “I’m furious. He was
in 刑務所，拘置所 for 25 years. What’s he done?” I （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 負担s of ridiculous people. 法案 Clinton. Michael Jackson. Ludicrous.’
'At school I was never a bad kid, I didn't start 解雇する／砲火／射撃s or kill frogs'
It’s certainly a ludicrously long way from his childhood in Whitley, Berkshire, where he was ? by 11 years ? the youngest of four children.
‘Dad was a labourer and Mum was a housewife. We lived on a Fifties 会議 広い地所.
'I had my own room because my brothers and sisters had all left by the time I was 12. It all felt so normal. I didn’t know I was poor until I went to university.
‘Dad couldn’t help me out with my homework because I was やめる an academic. I could read by the age of three. He got up, went to work, （機の）カム home, had his tea, watched telly and was in bed by 10pm, because he had to be up at 5am. I would go to bed at 10pm too, because I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be fit for school.
'Mum would say, “But it’s only ten o’clock. Have a coffee.” And I’d go up and she’d stay up by herself. I’d think, I could stay up and watch The Sweeney and feel s*** tomorrow, but I’d rather not. I’m the same now.
‘I was like an 実験 for my brothers and sisters, practising for when they had kids. I had to fight to get in on the conversation and was teased, but I was spoilt 同様に. You become gregarious and 去っていく／社交的な.
'People like that are usually either funny or nauseating. Or probably both?’ He looks at me questioningly.
‘At school, I was never a bad kid, I didn’t used to start 解雇する／砲火／射撃s and kill frogs, but I was too smart ? I’d answer 支援する. I’d 勝利，勝つd up the RE teacher to try to make him look stupid.’
His attacks on the RE teacher were 奮起させるd by his sudden 転換 at a young age from unquestioning 約束 to unblinking atheism.
‘In my working
-class 環境, a mother thinks it’s better for a son to be a God-恐れるing Christian, because it keeps him out of 刑務所，拘置所. Which is 全く untrue.’ (He 現実に has 人物／姿／数字s to 証明する his point.)
‘Jesus is an 未払いの baby-sitter for some mothers. All she wants to do is get you grown up without dying.
‘And I believed. Jesus was my hero until I was eight. I was doing a picture from the Bible and my older brother （機の）カム in and asked what proof there was of a God.
'Within an hour I was an atheist. I didn’t tell Mum. Apart from anything else, I was in the choir at church and I got paid 25p a week.’
He is as 科学の in his approach to children. He and his partner of 25 years, TV 生産者 Jane Fallon, see no 推論する／理由 to be married or have kids.
‘We didn’t want to 延期する our lives for 20 years. Which seems very selfish, but then I think having kids if you don’t want them is selfish.
'It’s bad enough with the cat. When I go away I check about 30 times to make sure the door is locked.
'If I had a baby I’d stay watching it forever just to make sure it was breathing. And we couldn’t have done what we’ve done with our careers.
'Anyway, you can just get them now. You can go anywhere. I’ve seen these people go and get one that’s already been made.’
In Extras, there’s a running gag that Andy Millman lost his virginity late to a woman who looked like Ronnie Corbett.
‘Yes, I was a late developer,’ Gervais 譲歩するs. ‘I went to an all-boys school. So thank God I was.’
When I ask him if at one 行う／開催する／段階, during his long lean years, he felt he would never 達成する anything with his life, he replies, ‘I never sat 一連の会議、交渉／完成する thinking, “Oh my God, I’m 35, I’ve got to do something.”
'I just thought something would happen, because ? and this is from an atheist ? I thought I was a good person. I’ve never 傷つける anyone. I’ve got a good group of friends. I’ve got a stable 関係.
I’ve got a good family. I’ve got an 承認する 職業. I live in a nice place. It’s all 罰金 anyway.’
These last personal questions pretty much see him off. He’s already gone over the allotted time, and he darts 支援する 負かす／撃墜する the stairs.
I look out of the window の上に the Soho street below to see who の中で the 特使s, doormen, 商売／仕事 folk and 早期に lunchers watches the 進歩 of the 極端に famous man with THIS SIDE OF THE TRUTH branded on his 支援する.
No one does; no one even notices him.
‘Ghost Town’ is out on Friday. The ‘Extras’ Special and DVD box 始める，決める are
out on November 3
