Ricky Gervais: Kate Winslet Refused to Say an Offensive Line in Extras
According to CinemaDrame news agency, In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Ricky Gervais revealed that Kate Winslet was the only actor on the set of Extras (2005) who resisted delivering certain offensive lines. The show featured many well-known actors playing themselves.
Winslet appeared in the third episode of Season 1 as a nun who shelters Jews in a Holocaust-themed film. In one scene, a background actor named Maggie Jacobs tells Winslet’s character she wants to make a sexy phone call to her boyfriend but doesn’t know how to say it. Winslet offers advice, but Gervais says the original lines were very “offensive” and Winslet refused to say them.
Gervais, who co-wrote the script with Stephen Merchant, explained: “I think Kate had lines that were clearly offensive and she wouldn’t say them, but aside from that, she was happy.”
In that episode, Winslet says she would only act in a Holocaust film if she won an Oscar. Notably, she did win an Oscar in 2008 for The Reader, which is also about the Holocaust.
Gervais added that, contrary to his expectations, convincing celebrities to film the edgy scenes was “easy,” but two actors declined his offer: “One was Syd Little from Little and Large. He read the script and said it was excessive in swearing and everything. He was an old-school family comedian.” The other was Keith Harris, who said the whole series was “just a rude joke”: “This was pre-social media—before everyone realized celebrities aren’t any different from us—they’re idiots!”
