Ricky Gervais Calls ‘Special Correspondents’ Costar Eric Bana a ‘Stupid, Big, Lumpy Idiot’

Tell Us how you really feel! Ricky Gervais jokingly called his Special Correspondents costar Eric Bana a “stupid, big, lumpy idiot” in a recent interview about his new Netflix comedy, out on Friday, April 29.

“I thought he was this fantastic, brooding actor, and an action hero as well,” the British comedian told Entertainment Weekly of the Munich star. “And I found out he’s a putz like me, which is good. He’s an idiot. He’s a stupid, big, lumpy idiot, just like me. But he’s got great comic timing.”

Ricky Gervais and Eric Bana — Gervais and Bana (right) in ‘Special Correspondents.’

The film features Gervais as Ian Finch, an engineer at a New York City news-radio station, and Bana as Frank Bonneville, a spotlight-seeking reporter whose star is waning.

The pair are sent to Ecuador to be special correspondents from the field, but when Ian loses the tickets and the passports, they decide to instead just feign their trip altogether.

Eric Bana and Ricky Gervais — Bana (left) and Gervais in ‘Special Correspondents.’

“I come up with the idea that we can fake the war,” Gervais told the publication. “So we go to this Spanish restaurant across the road from the radio station and we start faking reports. Of course, it gets out of hand, we pretend we’re missing, we pretend we’ve been taken hostage, and it all goes a bit haywire. And we’re couped up together. The meat of the film is these two Laurel and Hardy–esque people getting under each other’s skin.”

The celeb-heavy flick also stars Vera Farmiga, America Ferrera, Benjamin Bratt and Kelly Macdonald.