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Mark Millar And Ricky Gervais – Are They The Same Man?

Mark Millar And Ricky Gervais – Are They The Same Man?

This isn't the first time that Mark Millar has been compared to Ricky Gervais. Both are Brits who have made it big in the US, first in their respective fields of comics and sitcoms, then in Hollywood. Both have a penchant for blowing their own trumpet in a non self-depracatory fashion, even overblowing it on occasion. Both are big friends of Jonathan Ross. And both also have the habit of praising US culture while putting down the UK equivalent in interviews and general commentary.

And today they were both on the BBC Radio Five Live film and review show with Richard Bacon, plugging their respective movies, Kick-Ass and Cemetery Junction. You can listen again to it here.

The show let us know that the weekend's UK cinema takings had been so high that Kick-Ass has the label of the highest UK grossing opening for a movie, ever to open third in the top ten", beaten by Clash Of The Titans and How To Train Your Dragon.

We get another version of how Mark Millar pitched Kick Ass to Matthew Vaughn, the reaction to the c-word in the audience – in that the audience wait two beats before uproariously laughing, how Mark Millar's cameo as a homeless Glasweigan drunk got cut out, and that the costume woman just told him he could wear his normal clothes, and a thorough fisking of the Daily Mail review and its author Christopher Tookey.

"In Hit-Girl, the film makers have created one of the most disturbing icons and damaging role models in the history of cinema."

"That should be on the poster."

It's a good interview with all sorts of interesting nuggets, comparisons to Clockwork Orange, and the explanation for Tookey's review as being the ventriloquist dummy of the puppet masters at the newspaper behind him.

There's also the sexualisation aspect of Hit-Girl that Tookey talks about.

"Deliberately sells a perniciously sexualised view of children"

Millar replied "The sexualising children thing is insane… Chloe is prepubescent and every piece of flesh is covered up apart from her chin. She's wearing intentionally baggy clothes… He's the only person who's said that which makes me slightly worried about him."

There's also a long discussion over the rating for the movie, a 15 instead of an 18, and what it means for changing BBFC approaches and judgments, the multiple appearances of Larry Lamb in Superman movies,and how superheroes keep up to date.

But what would happene when Ricky and Mark met? Would there be an Blinovich-effect explosion of matter destroying the unknown universe?

No.

Because they didn't meet. At least, not on-mike. There was a news flash inbetween their appearances and that was it.

Could they possibly be the same man? Is Mark just Ricky putting on a Scot accent? Or is Mark doing his best Reading patois?

It would explain so much.

***

And in other audio, director/screenplay writer/commentator Brendon Connelly writes exclusively on film for /Film. But that agreement doesn't include audio. So here, for Bleeding Cool is an audio commentary to the first of the new Doctor Who episodes.

Listen to the audio here…

And Brits can get the visual here. Non-Brits, well, I know you have your methods…


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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