Ricky Gervais has admitted he avoided making a movie for the best part of a decade because he was afraid that it would fail.
The funnyman has teamed up with long standing writing partner Stephen Merchant, as they share directing duties, on Brit comedy movie Cemetary Junction.
The movie is a 1970s-set comedy centered on three upstart professional men working at an insurance company.
In an interview with Contactmusic the actor said: "I think there'd be a prejudice if I was in it. There are prejudices out there - it's because people leap too quickly.
"They get one hit on TV and they try to make a film and it's dreadful. It's advertised for a week and then goes straight to DVD.
"You want to go in at a higher level. We resisted this for ten, 11 years."
"When The Office first came out we went round every film company and got offered a film deal. We took the card and said, 'We'll call you when we've got an idea'. We think we've done the film proud."
Gervais has brought together a cast of Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, Matthew Goode and Anne Reid and will be released next year.
But he is back on the big screen this week with his latest movie The Invention of Lying
Tagged in Ricky Gervais