Gervais: 'Cemetery Junction is cool'

Ricky Gervais wants 'Cemetery Junction' to be a "British 'Rebel Without A Cause'".

The 'Invention of Lying' actor and comedy writer has tried to capture the essence of a number of classic movies in his latest effort, and believes the final result has both "glamour" and is "cool".

Ricky told The Guardian newspaper: "In this one, we've left irony behind. It's straight down the line. We're trying to do a British 'Rebel Without A Cause', 'Saturday Night Fever', with some funny bits, 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' set in Berkshire, that sort of thing. There's a glamour to it, there's a cool to it. It doesn't have to be depressing to be real."

His co-writer Stephen Merchant also claimed the film - a coming-of-age comedy drama about three friends growing up and trying to outgrow the small town they were born in - reflects their own experiences and resonates with their lives when they were advised by teachers not to pursue comedy writing.

He added: "We aren't fighting political injustice. We weren't raised in a brothel with a crack addiction. The thing that unites us is the upper-working-class/lower-middle-class world we come from, which was about keeping up with the Joneses, either making something of your life or growing old with a sense of resentment.

"That was what we saw around us, from family members unhappy with their lot to schoolteachers saying: 'What makes you think you can make it in comedy? You'd be better off working at the bank.'"