By Ali Ikram
British comedian Ricky Gervais has all but secured small screen immortality with his hit series The Office.
But the movie business is proving a much tougher challenge; he is taking the lead role directing and penning his latest effort The Invention of Lying.
The movie calls upon the audience to imagine a world where no one is capable of saying something that is not true
Gervais' character accidentally discovers that the ability to fib in a world where everyone is telling the unvarnished truth is not always a bad thing.
“I celebrate the fact we have the compassion and imagination to lie when we think its right,” says Gervais.
The film that is also co-written and directed by Gervais recalls cinema classics like Frank Capra's It’s a Wonderful Life - as much message as mirth.
Gervais says he wanted the comedy to standout from low-brow romantic comedies.
“I also wanted it to be an antidote to all these awful sex comedies that are coming out aimed at 14-year-old boys laughing at breasts and erection jokes,” he says.
“You should aim a bit higher when you get given $20 million, you should aim for Cary Grant and if you fall short you've landed on slightly higher ground.”
But the star still had time to drop by and sing Elmo to sleep on a recent episode of Sesame Street.
Like so many great British comedians Ricky Gervais has struggled to find the sort of vehicle that will make him a bankable Hollywood star.
And with his latest effort enjoying only a lukewarm critical response, the search might have to continue.
In the end, Gervais says he does comedy for himself, settling that you can’t please all the critics.
“If you are good or if you're passionate and not going to compromise, more people are going to hate you than like you but you're doing it for yourself,” he says.
The Invention of Lying is released in New Zealand cinemas next Thursday.
3 News
To watch Campbell Live's interview with Ricky Gervais, click here