It’s only been a few months since the release of Ricky Gervais’ The Invention of Lying, so I was surprised to learn that his next feature, Cemetery Junction, is gearing up for an April 2010 UK release. We featured a teaser for the film back in July, as well as some comments from Gervais in September. Now we have our longest glimpse at the film yet with a full trailer. Co-written and co-directed by his frequent collaborator Stephen Merchant, Cemetery Junction looks to be as big a stylistic leap for Gervais as Judd Apatow’s jump from 40 Year Old Virgin to Funny People.
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Both Jenna Fischer, from the US version of The Office, and Ricky Gervais, star and co-creator of the UK original, seem to have new acting gigs lined up. Fischer’s will be in a Farrelly Bros. comedy, while Gervais’ is in… the US version of The Office?
Hall Pass is an ‘open relationship’ comedy in which a pair of wives give their husbands permission to stray from the marital bed. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this only becomes an issue when the women too start to sleep with other people. Fischer’s husband will be played by Owen Wilson, and Jason Sudeikis will play the other ‘liberated male’. His wife is yet to be cast - place your bets, please.
An altogether more startling proposition is an appearance by Gervais, and in the character of David Brent no less, in the next season of The Office. Michael Ausiello at EW has two sources pointing roughly at this story, one of whom is Gervais himself:
I heard an unconfirmed rumor earlier today that Ricky Gervais was seriously considering reprising his role as original Office manager David Brent on the U.S. version… about an hour ago, Ricky Gervais took the stage at press tour… and hinted that he might do something with the U.S. Office next season.
Okay, I hope they have fun with this. I’m a fan of the US series and think they’ll probably give Gervais something good to do.
Hopefully you watched the great little teaser for Cemetery Junction, the new film written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. As great as that clip is, however, it doesn’t really give you any idea what the film is about. For that we’ll have to go directly to Gervais himself, who spoke about the film and his animated The Ricky Gervais Show while promoting The Invention of Lying in Toronto. Read More »
If you don’t think Ralph Fiennes can be funny, you probably haven’t seen In Bruges. And if you haven’t seen In Bruges four or five times to enjoy just how much fun Fiennes can be, you should probably watch it again. Meanwhile, there’s this lovely new trailer for the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant film Cemetery Junction, in which Fiennes co-stars. The teaser makes fun of Fiennes’ serious nature, suggesting that Gervais and Merchant also haven’t seen In Bruges. But we know they’re just acting. See the clip after the jump. Read More »
An international trailer has arrived at Yahoo UK for The Invention of Lying, once called The Other Side of the Truth, and while the new title is lame, the trailer has great moments. The film, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson, stars Gervais as a man in a world where no one lies. Ever. At all. Period. Until the day when Gervais realizes how to lie, which turns his world around.
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On May 20th, [adult swim] is scheduled to announce new shows and give a thorough update on its eight-hour programming block. TV Barn recently paid a visit to the mythical Williams Street office in Atlanta, where [as] founder Mike Lazzo let it be known that he’s acquired the UK-version of The Office: “That’s a done deal. It’s happening. …The only thing I don’t know is when to put it on.” The rather awesome acquisition follows in line with [as]’s recent importation of British comedy series The Mighty Boosh and the utterly craze Look Around You. Moreover, it’s yet another live-action addition to a nocturnal line-up built on signature, subversive, stony animation.
An upcoming [as] program that I eagerly anticipate sliming my mind and hundreds-of-thousands of others is entitled Totally For Teens. Numerous trailers for it—think ’80s after school specials suitable for Videodrome’s Civic-TV or 4chan—have hit the web, but the latest was too damn amazing not to share. Take a look and have your egg fried after the jump…
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Universal Pictures’ Illumination Entertainment have announced that they are developing a 3D animated feature film based on the Ricky Gervais children’s book series Flanimals. Simpsons writer Matt Selman is working on the script based on the four volume series illustrated by Rob Steen. The books take readers to a “far, far away to a distant planet” inhabited by 50 species of “ugly and misshapen” creatures.
Gervais will voice the lead character, a “pudgy, perspiring purple creature, goes on a mission to change the world.” ITV was originally developing a claymation television series based on the books, but the idea was scrapped for the feature film. Gervais has joked that “It will be great to play a short, fat, sweaty loser for a change. A real stretch.” Seems like the books were just about all the crazy creatures, and Selman is trying to form a narrative around the characters.
source: Variety
In this episode of the /Filmcast, David Chen, Devindra Hardawar and Adam Quigley debate the retitling of The Karate Kid, praise the tremendous new trailer for Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are, ridicule the changed subtitles of Let the Right One In’s home video release, and delve into the merits of Universal Soldier: The Return. Special guest Matt Singer joins us from IFC.
You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Join us next Wednesday night at Slashfilm’s live page at 9 PM EST / 6 PM PST as we review Fast and Furious.
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When I first heard about Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s The Men from the Pru it was an untitled TV project. This was before even Extras, and at the time, it was talked about as an immediate concern. For some reason, however, it never did end up on BBC2 as originally anticipated.
Even this time last year, when Gervais was calling the project by its name and spilling plot details, it was touted as television and not cinema. Now Variety have reported that it will be a film after all, and the second production from Sony International Motion Picture Group after The Damned United. Is the small screen too small - or not budgeted sufficiently - for Gervais new ambitions?
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In about 6 seconds, I will lose a lot of geek cred… 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… I’m not a fan of Ricky Gervais. There, I said it. Also, I have yet to get into either the British or American versions of The Office. ::gasp:: I know, a travesty. That said, I caught David Koepp’s Ghost Town at the Toronto Film Festival, and I didn’t hate it. I also didn’t love it either. It’s your paint-by-numbers romantic comedy, with a little dry humor thrown in for good measure.
In Ghost Town, Gervais plays a loner dentist who dies for seven minutes during a routine operation, and is now able to see ghosts. Living in New York City, you can imagine there are a lot of ghosts. The ghosts need Gervais to help them fix the various unfinished business before they are allowed to enter the after life. And once all of the ghosts realize that someone can see them, they won’t leave Gervais alone. So for Ricky, it is a nightmare instead of a gift. Ricky just wants to be left alone.
Greg Kinnear plays Frank, a cheating husband who narrowly escapes being crushed by a falling air conditioner only to be hit by a bus a second later (movie cliche #1). Frank offers to get rid of all the ghosts if Ricky can fix his problem, which is to scare off his ex-wife’s (played by Téa Leoni) “money grubbing” human rights lawyer fiancée. And of course, when a connection develops between Ricky and Gwen, the film goes into full-on romantic comedy mode.
Ghost Town is a movie that you’ve already seen. It’s a romantic comedy version of Ghost, with Just Like Heaven and Roxanne thrown in for good measure. It’s not bad, but the whole thing feels below Gervais. It’s like the guy from the British Office got trapped in a generic American romantic comedy. The main gag involves Gervais being caught by others talking to “thin air” and having to talk his way out of it. You can imagine that this gets old pretty fast. Kristen Wiig is wonderful as the quirky spray-on tanning surgeon who is responsible, but not legally liable for Ricky’s short lived death.
/Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10
