Ricky the fence
Gervais films cameo in De Niro movie
Ricky Gervais is to make a cameo appearance opposite Robert De Niro in a new fantasy film.
He has just recorded a scene as Ferdy The Fence in Stardust, an adventure story based on Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel which is due out in cinemas next years.
The film was shot in Pinewood Studios, where Gervais has just finished working on the second series Extras – days before the fire that gutted the giant James Bond sound stage there at the weekend.
In his latest video podcast, Gervais said: ‘My scene was with Robert De Niro. How could I turn that down? Just think of that, the world’s greatest actor – and Robert De Niro – in the same scene’
Gervais’s character is an unscrupulous ‘occult salesman’ who draws the wrath of a sorceress, played by Michelle Pfeiffer.
A scene showing Ferdy arguing with De Niro’s Captain Shakespeare was screened at the Comic-Con convention in San Diego earlier this month. Director Matthew Vaughn said: ‘This is really raw footage,’ adding he was ‘so proud of the content,’ that he wanted the comic-book fans to see it.
Boosh star Noel Fielding and Little Britain’s David Walliams also appear in the film as members of the ‘chorus of ghosts’, while Green Wing’s Sarah Alexander plays Empusa, another sorceress.
Click here to view Gervais’s video diary from the Extras set.
Published: 31 Jul 2006
