Ricky Gervais - Life On The Road

JurassicMarkJurassicMark Posts: 12,799
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Ricky Gervais to make David Brent movie
Ricky Gervais is to bring David Brent back to life on the big screen, more than a decade after The Office ended on BBC2.

Brent, the actor and comedian’s most famous creation, will appear in Life on the Road, a film about the paper merchant turned travelling salesman’s last-ditch attempt to be a rock star.

The film, shot in the now familiar mockumentary style of The Office, is backed by the BBC and will go into production next year, it was confirmed on Tuesday.

Anyone else looking forward to this?

Have been watching his spoof guitar tutorials on YouTube and still find his David Brent character so funny.

Comments

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,538
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    No. He's wringing the goodness out of everything he touches lately. I used to be a massive fan of his but Derek and the endless rolling out of David Brent has made me grow tired of his act.
  • Flat MattFlat Matt Posts: 7,023
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    I can't say that the plot sounds particularly interesting.

    If he feels he must bring Brent back, he should come up with something better than that.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 703
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    Not liking the sound of this.

    The Office Christmas Special was the perfect endpoint for the character of David Brent. After desperately trying to impress Finchy for the past two series, he finally tells him where to sling his hook after realising what a nasty bugger he is. He meets a nice woman who genuinely likes him for who he is. There's a genuine progression for him there - a happy ending away from the cameras where he can finally grow as a person.

    But by the sounds of this, he's been robbed of that happy ending. He's stuck where he was at the start of the Christmas Special - selling cleaning products and being a bumbling idiot around the cameras.

    There was a Comic Relief special Ricky Gervais did last year in which he revisited David Brent and it was awful. He was still a travelling salesman and there was no evidence that the events of the Christmas Special had changed him at all. The film looks like it will tread a similar path, and that's a crying shame in my opinion.

    I probably shouldn't pre-judge a film based on a press release, but this sounds like it's going to be dreadful. Good writing would be for Gervais to acknowledge the fact that the character has changed but still make him funny. The fact that he's had to pull Brent back from his happy ending and undo the character progression evident across the course of the series shows just how poor his writing has become in recent years.

    If Brent can only be funny in an Office-style mockumentary format being socially awkward and lacking in self-awareness, then clearly Gervais doesn't have much faith in the character. We need to see more if this is going to work. If not, then it's probably going to be an unfunny retread of much better work he did fifteen years ago. A waste of everyone's time then. I wonder if Stephen Merchant will be involved with this? Probably not I'd imagine, and who could blame him? :(
  • ritchritch Posts: 2,566
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    ^
    can't really argue with that. seems a bit of a lazy move to me. His recent stuff hasn't grabbed me either, I found Derek ridiculously sentimental. If his writing isn't what it was, or he has run out of ideas he shouldn't damage the decent stuff he has done in the past. I'd rather he re visit extras personally.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,660
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    ritch wrote: »
    ^
    can't really argue with that. seems a bit of a lazy move to me. His recent stuff hasn't grabbed me either, I found Derek ridiculously sentimental. If his writing isn't what it was, or he has run out of ideas he shouldn't damage the decent stuff he has done in the past. I'd rather he re visit extras personally.

    Derek was initially a series of shorts he did for the Paramount Comedy Channel after the 11 O'Clock show ended. He basically went back to an idea he had 14 years before after Life's Too Short didn't work out. They used to be Youtube but appeared to have been taken down now. Not sure if the video on here will work for you: http://perezhilton.com/fitperez/2011-10-04-ricky-gervais-bringing-a-derek-noakes-show-to-tv#.U-eNU-OIAa4
    But if he's going back to ideas from more than a decade earlier, I think it is safe to assume the well is running dry.
  • MotthusMotthus Posts: 7,280
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    This does feel like its 10 years too late and desporate move by Gervais!
  • Johnny ClayJohnny Clay Posts: 5,317
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    Hmm... what's that scraping noise?

    It wasn't so long ago he thought he was King of the heap presenting the Globes with his alleged 'edgy' humour. Wasn't that supposed to be his big take-off?

    Being snide to Robert Downey Jr may get headlines and media space, but you can bet RDJ has a far better understanding of how real Hollywood actually works.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,660
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    Hmm... what's that scraping noise?

    It wasn't so long ago he thought he was King of the heap presenting the Globes with his alleged 'edgy' humour. Wasn't that supposed to be his big take-off?

    Being snide to Robert Downey Jr may get headlines and media space, but you can bet RDJ has a far better understanding of how real Hollywood actually works.

    He's not a box office draw. He had a major role in the recent Muppets sequel which did worse business than its predecessor. Ghost Town didn't do very well, neither did Cemetery Junction, neither did The Invention Of Lying, Life's Too Short only got one series commissioned... the reality is he had two good ideas, one of which was exploited far longer and with greater success by other writers as an American spinoff. Even Parks and Recreation, which was originally going to be a spinoff, ended up separating itself and becoming its own show. Modern Family uses a similar format and also has had great success.

    I think the truth is he's not as talented as people initially assumed he was and his humour wore thin quickly for most people. So now he's having to learn to eat crow after trying to teach other people's grandmothers how to suck eggs when they were far better to begin with, taking his acorns of ideas and making them into mighty oaks that formed a forest of sustainability and profitability for them.
  • Tony TigerTony Tiger Posts: 2,254
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    ^I have a bit of a problem with the idea that profitability = quality. US Office wasn't a patch on the original, and I can't think of any British comedy offhand since Office/Extras that came close to either of them.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,660
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    Tony Tiger wrote: »
    ^I have a bit of a problem with the idea that profitability = quality. US Office wasn't a patch on the original, and I can't think of any British comedy offhand since Office/Extras that came close to either of them.

    Not even Pulling? Gavin And Stacy? Inside Number 9? Man Down? Toast of London? Alan Partridge Mid Morning Matters? How Not To Live Your Life? Cuckoo?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,664
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    Seriously starting to wonder if Gervais has suffered some major financial catastrophe - I can't see any artistic credibility in making this film at all, so it's got to be for the money, surely?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,660
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    kaybee15 wrote: »
    Seriously starting to wonder if Gervais has suffered some major financial catastrophe - I can't see any artistic credibility in making this film at all, so it's got to be for the money, surely?

    He already wheeled out Brent again for Equality Street/the Comic Relief skit and a series of tour dates. I think he's had a few good ideas but some costly bad ones so he's going back to the well rather than find new streams. It's also a matter of keeping his name out there and giving people what they want, just like Monty Python doing their sketches live recently. After The Office he said he'd never revisit those characters but then he did a cameo in the the US version, then the Comic Relief skit, then the tour and now this film. I think it is likely he's taken hits financially, particularly on Cemetery Junction, and now with the US version of The Office over, he's only going to see minimal royalties off of that from boxed set sales and digital store rentals. So rather than take more risks with new creations he's going for the safe bet.
  • Tony TigerTony Tiger Posts: 2,254
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    Um no, not really. With syndication money from US Office he never ever has to work again.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,660
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    Tony Tiger wrote: »
    Um no, not really. With syndication money from US Office he never ever has to work again.

    Then why trot out old material and characters if he has perpetual financial security?
  • Tony TigerTony Tiger Posts: 2,254
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    You'd have to ask him. And even then probably wouldn't get an honest answer. But money is not the issue at all.

    At a guess I'd say he's desperately hoping to claw back the acclaim of so-called "respected" critics, given that Life's Too Short and Derek were both rightfully mauled for being utter shite. He goes on and on about not caring what people think more than ever now, coincidentally when his material is at its most panned. I think he's hoping going back to his most beloved creation will inspire him to write better and critics to review him better.

    And if that is the case, he's wrong on both counts.
  • Johnny ClayJohnny Clay Posts: 5,317
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    ^ Indeed. I doubt Gervais has much in the way of financial worries.

    Fear of becoming washed-up however...
  • charliesayscharliesays Posts: 1,367
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    I think the truth is he's not as talented as people initially assumed he was and his humour wore thin quickly for most people. So now he's having to learn to eat crow after trying to teach other people's grandmothers how to suck eggs when they were far better to begin with, taking his acorns of ideas and making them into mighty oaks that formed a forest of sustainability and profitability for them.

    He's not as talented as people initially assumed? He's got The Office and Extras in his portfolio. Those two series alone earn him a permanent place in the comedy Hall of Fame, alongside Merchant.

    Though the rest of what you're trying to say gets lost in a mist of pointless pomposity.
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