Stephen Merchant Surprised and Exhausted by Portal 2

The co-creator of “The Office” talked with 1up.com about his role as Wheatley, how tired he is from the effort, as well as how surprised he has been by the fans’ response:

“But now I’ve been very pleased by the response people have had to it. What I was really pleased by how people seemed to respond to it in the way they do with a movie they’ve enjoyed, or a TV show they’ve enjoyed. They seemed to respond to it as entertainment. It never occurred to me that people would respond to it in the way they do with other stuff I’ve done. I felt like, ‘Oh, actually this is a really legitimate, creative art form now.’ Video games have expanded and developed and are so sophisticated right now that, yes, of course, they rank alongside movies and whatever else people really take to their hearts.”

Apparently Merchant is an ex-gamer who knew nothing of the original Portal when he agreed to do the role. Beware some minor spoilers in the middle of the article, if you haven’t finished playing.