The Office bloke Ricky Gervais busts out the laughing gas as a dentist in new flick Ghost Town.
You play a dentist bastard in Ghost Town. Did you do something to your teeth for the role? They look weird...
No, they’re my own teeth. What, do you think I put these things in for interviews? I’m also wearing a fat suit and I’m much taller than this as well. I’ve just put shoes on my knees when I came in. I’m a fat superstar with bad teeth.
Ghost Town director David Koepp told us you said you’d never do a kissing scene. Is that because of your teeth?
I have three rules — no kissing, no nudity, no talking to yourself. I hate it when you see characters in films put the phone down and say to themselves, “That’s weird, he doesn’t usually call on a Wednesday.” The ending of the film had a kissing scene and it was this Hollywood thing. I thought, “This doesn’t solve anything. It’s a schmaltzy ending that assumes the rest of their lives are OK.”
What made you take the Ghost Town role?
This is the best script I’ve had in five years. I laughed at this character of a rich, successful, clever man going around saying, “You’re all idiots”, which appealed to me. I’ve always liked those wisecrackers that laugh in the face of adversity but it still doesn’t do them any good.
Will you ever make The Office for the big screen?
Never. They want us to do a live show of it. It’s bizarre. A fake documentary at the theatre? No, I won’t do it. I think there’s a German
Office they’re making.
Funny people, ze Germans. Are you surprised the American version of The Office has done so well?
Yes, because any remake of the last 30 years has fallen by the wayside, either before production or by the third episode. But I’m not surprised America gets it, for two reasons. Firstly, it isn’t as English as you might think. It’s about wasting your life, it’s boy meets girl. And all my influences are American. Everything I’ve ever loved, from Laurel and Hardy,
The Simpsons, Woody Allen, the Marx brothers, through sitcoms like
Cheers, Arrested Development and
Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Do you get into better parties now you’re famous?
I don’t go to them. I’m not in it for that. I’ve never been in it for that. I sort of despise them in a way because I despise the people who network for these parties to try to meet people, or try to align themselves with people, or try to be seen with people. De Niro doesn’t go to those parties. He doesn’t live his life like an open wound and do reality game shows. He doesn’t call the press when he’s going to turn up at a certain place. And he’s the best actor in the world.
James Swanwick
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