Steve Pratt talks to Ricky Gervaise about the spread of his career to both sides of the Atlantic as he prepares for a sell-out stage tour to Newcastle.

INVITING a Hollywood star to guest on his BBC2 comedy series Extras has given The Office star Ricky Gervais a shot at Hollywood stardom. American comic actor Ben Stiller, who appeared in the opening episode of Extras, returned the compliment by asking Gervais to appear in his latest movie Night At The Museum.

Gervais, who became a star on both sides of the Atlantic as office manager David Brent in the BBC series he wrote with Stephen Merchant, plays the director of the Natural History Museum where exhibits come to life at night.

"It was great fun, I'd worked with him before so I knew what to expect. I just got an email out of the blue, him saying, 'I've got a part for you in this new film I'm doing - do you want to return the favour, no pressure?'," recalls Gervais.

"I wouldn't have thought it was the next thing for me, or even one of the things I would have done - a Hollywood blockbuster, and I'm pretty sure it will be a blockbuster, although I do enjoy them. I'm not a film snob at all. I much prefer a really good Hollywood blockbuster than a thought-provoking art house movie because entertainment is sort of where it's at."

But Gervais was keen that the special effects - and plenty are employed to bring the museum's exhibits and stuffed animals to life - didn't overshadow the comedy. He's always looking for what he calls "comedy plus", explaining, "I don't see the point of just doing knockabout comedy because it's quite easy to make a load of people laugh, it's often a reflex action. But to make them cry is harder without manipulating them and this film doesn't do that. It doesn't skimp on the comedy, it's got heart and it's visually amazing.

"The visual effects, fantastic as they are and they are incredible, are a supporting role in the story and that's the way it should be. There are so many films now where you know the story is a supporting role to the visual effects - it's someone showing off with a big bag of toys, and this film doesn't do that."

Night At The Museum was Gervais's second US movie - not counting voicing a pigeon in the summer's animated hit Valiant - after For Your Consideration. This is an improvised comedy from the maker of This Is Spinal Tap and director Christopher Guest cast Gervais because he was a fan of The Office. Guest is also one of the funny men - Garry Shandling is the other - Gervais meets in TV inteviews being shown on C4 over Christmas. The busy Gervais is also touring his stage stand-up show Fame next year, including sold out dates in Newcastle.

Gervais doesn't believe the award-winning success of The Office has changed his outlook. "The first two weeks of The Office took me by surprise, but I still think I have the same attitude now as I had then - don't aim at the audience, don't aim at winning awards, just aim at doing it for you and there are enough people in the world who think you've made it for them.

"If you water it down and aim at trying to be the biggest thing in England, you might be but it'll be for a couple of years and it won't go global. Things don't change, the same universal themes were nailed 100 years ago with things like Laurel and Hardy, and it's just a matter of how much you water those down and ruin them for an audience. Just never panic."

Night At The Museum is the evidence that the Extras guest stars might provide work for Gervais. He knew that Stiller was a fan of The Office, shown on BBC America over there.

"It was probably getting a million and a half across America, so it was small. But of those watching, half a million worked in Hollywood, so we approached people we knew had said their favourite show was The Office and they said yes.

"That gives you that kudos, that little bit of faith. If Extras had been awful or they'd had a bad time, you'd quickly use up your goodwill if you couldn't back it up. But I still feel when I get someone like David Bowie that they're doing me a favour and I'm always grateful."

Escaping from the shadow of David Brent can't be easy and Gervais admits that McPhee, the museum director in his new movie, is Brent in the sense that he's got a blind spot.

"David Brent's big thing, I suppose, is mistaking respect for popularity. But McPhee thinks that it's silly, he says he doesn't need popularity. So he's similar and very different, he's more tragic than Brent because he's probably alone a lot. It's nice to inject that sort of heart into a film. It's my first experience of anything like that and it's the first time I felt a bit like an actor." The massive Natural History Museum set was the opposite to The Office which "was a chair and a table" and Gervais found the whole experience glamorous. "We were flown out there first class and stayed in the nicest hotel in Vancouver, which was amazing. Then we went to my trailer and it was huge. We went on to the set and the director came up and said, 'hi, is everything okay, is your trailer okay?' and I said, 'it's bigger than my hotel room'. And he went, 'do you want a bigger hotel room?'. I thought, 'this is the place for me'."

l Night At The Museum (PG) opens in cinemas on Boxing Day and For Your Consideration (12A) on February 2.

* Ricky Gervais Meets Christopher Guest is on C4 on Christmas Day at 11.05pm and Ricky Gervais Meets Gary Shandling is on C4 on Boxing day at 11.15pm.

* Ricky Gervais brings his stand-up show Fame to Newcastle City Hall on February 20 and 21. Both shows are sold out.