Friday, September 18

• Ricky Gervais Compares His Cemetery Junction to Saturday Night Fever

  Ricky Gervais' The Invention of Lying opens October 2, but the British comedian is already working on his next project. Cemetery Junction re-teams him with The Office and Extras co-creator and director Stephen Merchant. Gervais describes their first big-screen collaboration to Collider as following "the minutia of human behavior".

  I suppose it's about class. It's a romantic drama I suppose. It's funny though. It's sort of a return to what Steve and I do best ... the minutia of human behavior. It's set in the early '70s and it's about a group of twenty-somethings that try to escape that stifling small town sort of mentality. One of the lines that inspired us is from [Bruce Springsteen's] "Thunder Road." It's a town full of losers and we're pulling out of here to win. It's like our Saturday Night Fever.

  Gervais says the movie is definitely inspired by his own life.

  Well, everything you do is autobiographical. Yeah, I grew up in a town called Redding and I had older brothers and sisters so it's all my memories of growing up. It's not a depressing, gritty British movie about blue collar and working class ... it's quite a celebration of that. I had great memories of growing up in a working class estate. I remember it being sunny all the time. So we're putting that on screen. It's not people wallowing in degradation. There was a nobility in poverty when I was growing up. My mom was poor but she was planting roses and she was cleaning the steps, you know what I mean. You didn't feel sorry for yourself.

  Cemetery Gates stars Gervais alongside Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, and Matthew Goode, as well as a younger cast of unknown British actors, a move Gervais says was necessary.

  We cast wide and new. So it's four completely unknowns. The terrible thing in England is if you interview a thousand people, five hundred of them will talk like they're going into a Guy Ritchie movie and the other five hundred will be Mr. Darcy. So we had to find cool, working-class kids with no profile who could be John Travolta and James Dean and people like that.

  How the younger cast of unknowns (Christian Cooke, Tom Hughes, Jack Doolan, Felicity Jones) relate to the story was explained to RottenTomatoes in more detail by Merchant.

  It's about a group of working-class lads in the '70s, one of whom aspires to be better than his dad — played by Ricky — and not go to work in a factory. Instead, he goes to work for Ralph Fiennes' character; a sort-of white-collar job. He finds a role model in him but in doing that he starts to drift away from his friends who are still in that world. It's the story of them, really, and whether that friendship will last.

  
  
  Next Showing: Cemetery Junction is scheduled to open April 7, 2010

  Posted 09/18/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Ricky Gervais | Stephen Merchant | Cemetery Junction

Sunday, September 13

• The Invention of Lying TV Spot Bonanza

  

  Ricky Gervais's newest comedy, The Invention of Lying, has been hailed by Star Trek's J.J. Abrams as an "important comedy", and to prove it Warner Bros. has unloaded a slew of TV spots.

  The comedy, written and directed by Gervais with newcomer Matthew Robinson, depicts a world where no one has the ability to lie, with the exception of Gervais. The movie opens October 2 and stars Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey, and Jonah Hill.

  Check out just a sampling of the TV spots below:

  For even more Lying, watch all the TV spots here.

  
  
  

  The Invention of Lying - Trailer

  Trailer for this comedy about a world where everyone tells the truth all the time

  Posted 09/13/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Ricky Gervais | Matthew Robinson | The Invention of Lying

Friday, September 11

• Ricky Gervais in Bromance with J.J. Abrams, but Still Turned Down Star Trek Role

  There's no denying it: British Office star Ricky Gervais and Star Trek director J.J. Abrams are locked in a bromance. Evidence of this bromance surfaced when Abrams praised Gervais' upcoming comedy The Invention of Lying.

  Ricky Gervais proves, once again, that he is the master. Not only of comedy, but social commentary. The Invention Of Lying is as funny as it is biting, wholly original, and surprisingly moving. Is there such thing as important comedy? Turns out there is, and this is it.

  

  Then Gervais turned around and praised Abrams.

  Star Trek was my favourite film of this year. He's a genius, he's like the new [Steven] Spielberg. And he said [Lying] was an important comedy. It's embarrassing talking about it but I put it on my website immediately!

  Turns out the bromance started years ago when Gervais was cast in Abrams's TV show Alias. And since then, Gervais admits Abrams has tried to cast him in other projects, including an unspecified role in Star Trek.

  [Abrams] offered me a couple of parts I couldn't do, one in Mission: Impossible and one in Star Trek itself but I couldn't do them because I was busy. I'll work with him again one day and I've thanked him, I've thanked him very much.

  Hug it out already, you two!

  
  

  Posted 09/11/2009 by Ryan

  Related: J.J. Abrams | Ricky Gervais | Star Trek | The Invention of Lying

Friday, July 10

• Cemetery Junction Trailer Very Unkind to Ralph Fiennes

  Cemetery Junction, a new comedy written and directed by the creators of the British version of The Office, Ricky Gervais and Stephan Merchant, has taken a new approach for its first teaser trailer. While no footage of the actual movie is presented, Gervais and Merchant instead appear as themselves and proceed to bring out one of the movie's stars, Ralph Fiennes, to unmercifully poke fun at the typically serious actor.

  The movie, about three men working at an insurance office in the 1970's, also stars Emily Watson, Matthew Goode, and Julia Davis. Cemetery Junction is set for release on April 7, 2010. Check out the trailer below:

  
  

  Posted 07/10/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Emily Watson | Ralph Fiennes | Matthew Goode | Julia Davis | Ricky Gervais | Stephen Merchant | Cemetery Junction

Wednesday, May 20

• Rickey Gervais Embarrasses Ben Stiller

  You'd think even a comedian would have the decorum to dress appropriately for a tour of the White House. Not so, in the case of British actor Rickey Gervais (The Office). When filming Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Gervais and the film's star, Ben Stiller, were invited on the tour at the last minute. Apparently, Gervais had already sent his business attire out to be laundered, so he showed up for the historic meeting in his pajamas.

  Stiller was not amused. In a recent interview, Stiller said:

  They told us to dress business. I wore a suit and tie. And Ricky Gervais, British Ricky Gervais, shows up in a black t-shirt and draw string yoga pants. It's very beyond casual, like ready to meditate or something. And then he's running around like, "Oh, this is where our American president lives! Where's the dog?"

  Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian also stars Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart, Owen Wilson as Jedediah, Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt, Hank Azaria as Pharaoh Kahmunrah, Christopher Guest as Ivan the Terrible, and Steve Coogan as Octavius, and Dick Van Dyke as Cecil Fredericks.

  
  
  

  Night at the Museum 2 - Trailer

  Ben Stiller Stars - Releasing May 22, 2009

  Posted 05/20/2009 by BrentJS

  Related: Ben Stiller | Ricky Gervais | Night at the Museum

Thursday, September 18

• Ricky Gervais Owns Social Discomfort

  The dead do not go quietly -- or at least that's what Ricky Gervais discovers in Ghost Town. As a curmudgeonly dentist who has a near-death experience, his character is especially annoyed to find that one of the side effects of surviving is an entourage of ghosts. And, of course, they all want something from him. In our interview with Ricky Gervais, the stand-up comic, perhaps best known for his role in the British version of The Office, talks about being called the "Master of Uncomfortable Humor."

  
  
  Next Showing: Ghost Town opens nationwide September 19, 2008
  

  Ghost Town Trailer

  Cast includes Greg Kinnear & Tea Leoni

  Posted 09/18/2008 by reelz

  Related: Ricky Gervais | Ghost Town

Wednesday, August 1

• Movie news: Damon, Gervais, and Black

  Looks like the golden boy from Boston has another project in the works. Matt Damon, whose third installment of the Bourne series, The Bourne Ultimatum, opens on Friday is finally getting his passion project with director Steven Soderbergh off the ground.

  According to MTV.com, the two men have been trying to get their movie, The Informant, under way for years and filming is finally scheduled to start next spring. In it, Damon will play Mark Whitacre, the real-life whistleblower from Archer Daniels Midland who was defrauding the company while also ratting them out to the FBI. Not exactly what one would call a company man.

  British funnyman Ricky Gervais (Night at the Museum, Extras) has signed to star in Early Retirement, a comedy about a workaholic who retires to spend more time with his family, says Variety. No directors are attached yet.

  Jack Black has another high-concept comedy in the works, says Variety. Universal plans on making The Lost Adventures of Stone Perlmutter Jr., a mockumentary about an Indiana-Jones like adventurer who has a disasterous journey in seach of such artifacts as Yetis and the lost tomb of Jesus. Black will, of course, star.

  
  

  Posted 08/01/2007 by reelz

  Related: Jack Black | Matt Damon | Ricky Gervais | The Lost Adventures of Stone Perlmutter Jr. | The Informant!

Sunday, June 10

• Leoni, Gervais, and Kinnear - Oh my!

  Actress Téa Leoni (Spanglish, The Family Man) has signed on to star in Ghost Town, an upcoming romantic comedy that will co-star Ricky Gervais (Extras, Night at the Museum) and Greg Kinnear (As Good as it Gets, Little Miss Sunshine), says Variety.

  Ghost Town is written and directed by David Koepp (Secret Window, Spider Man). In it, Gervais will play a "misanthropic dentist" who dies and then is revived while receiving a colonoscopy.

  Afterwards, he has the power to see dead people--namely a ghost (in the form of Greg Kinnear) who wants Gervais to break up the impending marriage of his widow (Leoni).

  Sounds like Ghost Town has the makings of a very funny movie. Do you think there is any way we can pre-order our opening night tickets now? Seriously. We're asking.

  
  
  Next Showing: Ghost Town begins shooting in New York this October.

  Posted 06/10/2007 by reelz

  Related: Greg Kinnear | Tea Leoni | Ricky Gervais | David Koepp | Ghost Town