Ricky Gervais to Star as David Brent in ‘Office’ Movie Sequel
UPDATE: Gervais took to his Facebook to clarify the upcoming project. “Just to be clear, I am not making an Office movie,” wrote the comedian. “I’m doing a documentary film about David Brent trying to be rock star. Just Sayin”
Ricky Gervais will reprise his most famous character, David Brent, in a new movie sequel to the original U.K. version of The Office, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Life on the Road, which will begin production next year, is set 15 years after the end of The Office, when Brent was deemed a “redundancy” and let go from his job at Wernham Hogg. “He’s a sales rep now, selling cleaning products up and down the country, but has never really given up on his dream of being a rock star,” studio BBC Films said in a press release.
In hopes of finding that elusive free love on the free love freeway, Brent takes matters into his own hands and self-funds a tour and album; his efforts are captured mockumentary style, à la the original show. “He thinks it’ll be like [Martin] Scorsese filming the Rolling Stones, but it turns out to be a ‘where are they now’ documentary,” the statement adds. “He has to take a few weeks off work and cash in a couple of pensions, because the session musicians in the band are costing him more than he’s getting in ticket sales. Tragic.”
The original Office, which Gervais co-created with Stephen Merchant, aired for two seasons on the BBC and concluded its run with a two-part Christmas special in 2003. The show, of course, then came stateside, where it starred Steve Carell in the bumbling David Brent-esque boss role and ran for nine seasons.
Gervais has hardly slowed down since the U.K. Office ended: Along with a number of movie roles — including The Invention of Lying and Muppets Most Wanted — the actor notoriously roasted Hollywood during three gigs hosting the Golden Globes. He’s kept up his TV work as well, creating and staring in the series, Extras, for which he won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2007; he’s nominated in the same category this year for his titular turn in Derek, a new comedy series that he also created airing in the U.S. on Netflix.