It’s no secret that we’re madly in love with Ricky Gervais (click here for our Oscar coverage, which slammed the show but touted the terrifically talented Mr. Gervais). And though we never watched The Office (either version, British or American), we have been huge fans of his HBO programming, namely Extras and The Ricky Gervais Show, the latter an animated laff riot also starring Gervais’ fabulous writing partner, Stephen Merchant, and their oddball foil, Karl Pilkington.
And now, not only is Gervais about to launch a new show, Life’s Too Short, an observational comedy that stars little person Warwick Davis (with appearances, natch, by Gervais, Merchant and a plethora of cool stars), it’s just been announced he’ll once again be hosting the Golden Globes. Wow! The Hollywood Foreign Press may be a small group of bad journalists always on the take, but they know how to deliver ratings: Bringing back Ricky to insult them and a slew of Hollywood superstars, including Charlie Sheen and Robert Downey Jr.(which he did at this year’s ceremony), is ingenious, cuz he’s got an insider/outsider viewpoint that is absolutely hilarious, as well as right-on.
And lest we forget, Ricky also made a memorable appearance this past season in Larry David‘s Curb Your Enthusiasm (below), making the dude, if we do say so ourselves, kinda peerless!
We did love David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method and believe that he’ll be nominated, along with the brilliant Michael Fassbender as Dr. Carl Jung and a glorious Keira Knightly as patient Sabina Spielrein. Ralph Fiennes (seen above with Gervais and Merchant, who wrote and directed the little-seen Cemetery Junction, which, btw, also featured Watson), makes a great directorial debut with Coriolanus. But the film, about a brutal war (what war isn’t?), is difficult. Still, Vanessa Redgrave should get a supporting actress nod.
We are also looking forward to George Clooney’s The Descendants (and haven’t yet seen The Ides of March, with Clooney and Ryan Gosling, based on a play we caught at the Geffen Playhouse, Farragut North – click here to read about that and the recent death of Gil Cates), Steven Spielberg’s War Horse (Watson’s in that, as well), and the sexual addiction flick Shame (also starring Fassbender).
So, stay tuned for more from us on those end-of-year films – and whatever else strikes our fancy. But in the meantime, Ricky Rules, even in God-awful gold lame boxer shorts, tee hee!
