Ricky Gervais' email plea to Hoffman

The British comic star was desperate to get the Oscar-winning actor to appear in his new movie 'The Invention of Lying' - in which he stars in, co-directs and co-wrote - but had a restricted budget, so resorted to unusual measures to convince him.

He told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper: "I didn't know Philip Seymour Hoffman, but I sent him an email saying, 'Dear Philip, please do my new film. There is no money as I spent it on testicular implants. But don't think of them as my testicles, think of them as our testicles.'"

Ricky's unusual tactics paid off and he was thrilled when Philip found the email funny and agreed to a cameo in the film.

He added: "Philip loved it and it worked."

Ricky has also revealed he enjoys playing "chubby losers" because the characters he portrays on screen are so far removed from his real life.

He explained: "I've never felt like a loser because Bob Dylan said a man can consider himself a success if he wakes up in the morning, goes to bed at night and in between does exactly what he wants. And that is what I do, so I must be a winner."