In the new movie Ghost Town, unlikely hero Ricky Gervais plays a dentist who hates people and has bad teeth. Admittedly the last detail is not important to the plot of the film at all, but it is worth noting that Ricky Gervais is not an attractive man. He is not a handsome man. He is, like many stars of British television, a seriously funny man. He has what he himself describes as a "round face."Somehow, across the pond, being good-looking is not a prerequisite for fame. Simply turning on any of the BBCs can prove my point. The Brits have it right. US fans of The Office hopefully know that he is the genius behind both it and its vastly superior British mother version. That show cast very average looking actors to play very average people. This seems like the logical thing to do, but is in complete opposition with an American show like Friends, where the "ugliest" cast member was David Schwimmer, who was "kinda goofy-looking" at his worst. For those of us citizens of the good ol' US who have been lucky enough to witness this mastermind at work, he is without equal. The style and wit this first time actor/director/writer brought to the BBC version of The Office may very well have changed comedy as we know it, but this is fodder for a different post.
Gervais' film career has been thus far of purely the supporting variety. He has not had the experience in "background work" like Andy Millman, his lead role in his HBO series Extras; he has actually had lines more significant than "Don't go down there! There are snipers down there!" and he has actually stolen many a scene in kinda crappy movies like Night at The Museum and For Your Consideration. Gervais has now entered a different realm of stardom. He has now starred in a movie- he is the face of it- the guy on the poster. Two actors who are vastly more famous in this country than he is (Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni) have their names listed after his.
When I have brought up this idea with friends in recent days, they have argued that there have been plenty of non-attractive leading men. This very well may be true, but the examples my friends provided did not quite fit the bill. The most popular argument was Seth Rogen in the hilarious and moving comedy Knocked Up. While Seth is by no means a knock-out, he is definitely not an ugly dude. Gervais, on the other hand, is a pretty ugly dude.
So I guess I'm glad that an accomplished American director (Koepp) and a major Hollywood studio decided to take a gamble. They decided to cast a man who is not only unproven in the American market, but also not a looker. Granted, he is arguably the funniest British dude, but that is usually not enough, especially in a romantic role. This time, I am glad it was. Ghost Town is a fantastic movie.
