UK: British comedian Ricky Gervais attends the London premiere of his big screen romantic comedy "Ghost Town."

Record ID: 219557

  • Title: UK: British comedian Ricky Gervais attends the London premiere of his big screen romantic comedy "Ghost Town."
  • Date: 15th October 2008
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 14, 2008) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) RICKY GERVAIS SAYING: "He is the nicest man in the world. I was talking to him once. How he used to know Laurel and Hardy and we have got such a love for those two. And he said he used to visit Stan long after Oli had died and Stan was still writing sketches for them, which is so sweet. And everyone who I have met who has met Dick Van Dyke says he is nicest man in the world and he is great, so it was a real complement." RICKY GERVAIS TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) RICKY GERVAIS SAYING: "All I know is that I took all my money out of the bank today and I brought a gun, so I am fine. But good luck to British films, thank God for lottery funding."
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2008 12:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVA9RGXLOEGCRZ1SWTOWVVYMH6LO
  • Story Text: "More, 'com than rom," is how Gervais describes his performance in his first role as a Hollywood leading man in Ghost Town.
    British Comedian, Ricky Gervais, best known for his leading role as David Brent in the smash hit sitcom 'The Office', crosses the Atlantic to Manhattan to take on his first ever Hollywood leading role as an uptight dental surgeon Dr. Bertram Pincus, in the romantic comedy, Ghost Town.

    "The script was the best thing I read in five years, it was very me." Gervais told Reuters at the London premier of his film on Tuesday, October 14.

    "You say Hollywood lead, I sort of know what I am doing with this.
    If I was doing the 'Matrix,' or Die Hard, I would probably struggle a bit. But I am playing a floored character that is very sort of real and normal in everyday. It is one of the sort of things that I do. It is a 'rom com', it is more 'com' than 'rom'. It is all very sweet though."
    Bertram Pincus, hates chit-chat, doesn't like the living much, and now, after a colonoscopy gone wrong, suddenly starts seeing ghosts after he is revived from the operating table where he had died.
    The film follows Dr. Pincus's relationship with his neighbor Gwen (Leoni) as her ghost hubby Frank, played by Greg Kinnear, tries to persuade him to engineer a break up between Gwen and her fiance, a humorless lawyer.
    Gervais likens the film's plot to classic comedies made 30 to 50 years ago.

    "It is also a bit of a throw back, like early Woody Allen and 'It's a Wonderful Life' and it has got a real nice touch to it. It is a grown up comedy."
    A master in deriving comedy from awkward social situations, Gervais has recently been praised by fellow funny man Dick Van Dyke as being one of the 'funniest people on the planet'.
    Recalling the last time that the two actors met, Gervais repaid the complement.

    "He is the nicest man in the world," Gervais said. "I was talking to him once. How he used to know Laurel and Hardy and we have got such a love for those two. And he said he used to visit Stan long after Oli had died and Stan was still writing sketches for them, which is so sweet. And everyone who I have met who has met Dick Van Dyke says he is nicest man in the world. And he is great, so it was a real complement."
    The film has widely been regarded as a success for Gervais in North America, and looks to open in the UK with a positive buzz about it on October
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