Universal Pick Up Gervais’ Truth

Shooting on Ricky Gervais’ new movie, and his directorial début, This Side Of The Truth, begins on Monday in Boston, and to mark the occasion, Universal Pictures International has picked up all distribution rights outside of the US.

Warner Bros had already tied up the domestic deal, and now the film is guaranteed to be released almost everywhere. Which shows how much weight Gervais’ name now carries in Hollywood and beyond.

We’ve already seen the cast take shape with Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, Louis C.K., Tina Fey, Christopher Guest, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hodgman and Jonah Hill all signing on for the project.

The plot looks intriguing, and the cast looks strong in every department. Plus, with Gervais’ keen eye for detail and almost anal fixation on perfection, I can see this being one of the best releases of 2009.