Kevin Spooner writes:
Legendary documentary maker, and star of BBC sitcom 'Upstart Crow' Ricky Gervais, has admitted he is a Leicester City fan. When I tracked him down to his one-bedroom flat in Slough (or wherever it is he lives), I asked him what first attracted him to the role.
"Well.....(pointing both index fingers at himself) ... success, mainly. I mean, I'm successful.... won awards and shit, and they're successful. I mean, hello! Winners of THE BEST LEAGUE IN THE WORLD, the P-r-e-m-i-e-r league yeah? I mean what have your team won?"
I point out that Manchester United won the F.A. Cup a couple of weeks ago.
"Right, the F.A. Cup, well done, no really, well done on that, nice little trophy, don't get me wrong, but it's not (grimaces)... the Premier League title is it?"
In fact, Mr Gervais, who is roughly middle-aged, has even been approached by Nick Hornby to star as Claudio Ranieri in his Hollywood movie version of The Leicester City Story.
"They gave Clooney a screen test, but he couldn't do the accent (points at self again); range you see, some have it, some don't. I'll basically play him as a chilled-out entertainer, with a penchant for expensive leather jackets."
I asked Nick Hornby at his North London home 'The Emirates' if The Leicester City Story was really hollywood material.
"I've thought about that," he said, "if they don't like it, I'll turn it into an insufferable middle-class comedy drama with a few references to Arsenal to keep working class viewers interested. In fact it'll be all about Arsenal, it'll make things simpler. The soundtrack can be culled from my Spotify playlist, and Ricky could play Arsene Wenger, 'cause he's great at accents."