‘Pull my hair,’ says Ricky Gervais, leaning towards me, face down, shouting. ‘Pull it!’ He wants me to grab a handful and give it a yank, to prove there’s no wig, but I don’t know if he’s joking or angry. ‘You win one award, you’ve got the room. You win two awards, it’s “Yeah, good luck to them.” You win 25 awards and everyone in that room hates you,’ said Ricky Gervais, who has multiple awards. ‘Do you want to check I haven’t got lifts in my shoes?’
Gervais has gone manic, grinning wolfishly with a fire in his eyes as if he’s about to bite my throat. His dark hair seems real enough close up, but all I asked – and all I really want to know – is if he wears a corset. ‘A what? Why?’
A corset. You know, to keep it all nicely in place around the stomach region. He is a star, after all. The romantic lead in his own film, The Invention Of Lying, which comes out on DVD tomorrow and sets him alongside Jennifer Garner. As a Hollywood leading man… ‘Definitely a bit of sarcasm there,’ he says quickly. ‘And your left eyebrow went up. A hint of sarcasm. Or incredulity.’ I know what “leading man” means here. Not Brad Pitt and George Clooney. It means Woody Allen and Stan Laurel.’ Read the rest here