By COLE MORETON
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Ricky Gervais on his new movie "The Invention Of Lying"
'We tried to do It's A Wonderful Life. I thought it would be even more shocking if you started watching a sweet romcom that suddenly went, "There's no God and we're all going to die. The futility of life is dreadful, and I'm going to lie to my dying mother."' A son dreams up Heaven as a comfort; soon a religion is built on the lie.
Gervais is a very public unbeliever who attacks religion in his stand-up shows, but like Richard Dawkins he goes for easy targets like creationism, not the subtleties of grown-up faith. I suggest his unshakeable confidence in science is another kind of faith, but he laughs in my face.
'The Invention Of Lying isn't atheist propaganda. It's a fictional world. In my world, there's no God. Whether you believe there is or isn't a God, organised religion is something else. They can't all be right. I don't know why they're arguing.'
Ricky Gervais
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'When my mum was dying, and she had about nine months, I planned if she ever asked if there was a God I would go, "Definitely." She didn't ask. Gutting.'
I laugh because he wants me to, but it's not funny, really.
'No,' he says, quietly. 'It's sweet. And it's sad and messed up.'
Why was he ready to lie?
'It would've served no purpose, telling a scared person that there is no God and this is the end.'