Gervais on GTA IV: 'I targeted fat people'

Ricky Gervais has revealed the thought process behind his cameo stand-up role in GTA IV, stating that he chose to pick on fat people in his Liberty City performance because it's a "universal" theme.

"It had to be sort of, like, quite universal, because it's played all around the world. So, no parochial cultural references," Gervais toldMTV in an interview.

"So, uh... fat people. Got 'em everywhere, haven't you? Got fat people everywhere. [The UK's] got some... America's got a lot - I saw one on 'The Jerry Springer Show' and he was about 1,000 pounds, which was incredible.

"They had to take the side of his house off to get him to the hospital. Which is fine, and I felt sorry for him, but my first thought was, when he got to, say, 500 pounds, didn't he go, 'That's... a lot, isn't it? For a human.' Didn't he then go, 'You know what, I'm only going to have eight breakfasts today.'"

Gervais also revealed the surprising revelation that he originally turned the GTA IV role down: "They called up my agent, and like [I say for] most things, I went, 'Nahhh,'" he said. "And then they said, 'Are you mad? This is the biggest thing in the world. You're crazy.'

"I went to New York and they put me in Lycra for the day... I assume that was necessary [and not] them just having a laugh," he added. "[The designers] showed me what it would look like, and it was incredible. They made me thinner.

"And it did about $20 billion on its opening minute. People queuing around the block. Some of them don't even have anything to play it on! Some of them don't even live in houses!"

Courtesy of CVG.

May 20, 2008