Ricky Gervais has good taste and a brain

Dec 21, 2006, 12:10 GMT

Ricky Gervais claims he has turned down around 80 film roles because they were "rubbish".

The comedic actor says he has even refused parts in Hollywood hits 'Ocean's Twelve' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean' because he felt they were not up to his high standards.

He told Britain's Daily Express newspaper: "It's better to do good TV than a bad film. OK, it's a film, but so what? It's rubbish. It's on the side of the buses for a week and then straight to DVD. I've probably been offered about 80 films. Half of the films I've immediately said no to, they're British. The half that are left are rubbish."

Gervais - who stars in new family film 'Night At The Museum' with Ben Stiller - claims he was once offered a leading role, in a project he refuses to name, but turned it down because it wasn't challenging enough.

He revealed: "I said, 'Look, you want John Cusack for that.' You can see they just want some roly-poly comedian of the moment. If the part could have been offered to 10 other people, I'd rather they had it. What's the point of me doing it if it could be done by anyone?"

(C) BANG Media International