The Office Spin-Off Coming From Netflix And Ricky Gervais
By Jack Giroux/June 14, 2016 3:30 pm EST
Below, learn more about The Office spinoff.
During the Opie With Jim Norton Show, Gervais revealed Netflix has purchased David Brent: Life on the Road (via Variety). The Office star and co-creator is pleased he’ll have “20 million people see it than half a million people see it in cinemas.”
As for the plot, here’s what Gervais had to say about Life on the Road:
Obviously he thinks it’s like Scorsese following the Rolling Stones around, this documentary team, but it’s really sort of a Where Are They Now documentary and it’s even sadder and tragic… I’m trying to do like Anvil did for real. It was sort of sweet and tragic… He’s doing songs, it’s almost a musical, really.
[H]e hasn’t let go of this dream of being a rock star and he’s got a lot of songs together and he’s got a young band together that he’s paying through the nose for and they’re just sort of ripping him off. They’re sort of session musicians so he’s losing money. He has to cash in a pension, he does a little tour he wants the record companies to come along too.
Brent’s sad but funny predicament sounds about right. The film will show more of the character’s “private life than The Office ever did before,” Gervais added. If you want to get a sense of Brent’s onstage charisma and talent as a musician, check out a few episodes of “Learn Guitar With David.”
Two years ago, Gervais said Brent’s story would have “a theatrical release around the world because The Office, the original one, played in about 100 countries.” Considering the work he’s done with Netflix since then, it makes sense he’s now excited about the prospect of his film reaching a larger audience outside of theaters, although a theatrical release is still the plan for some territories.
David Brent: Life on the Road opens in the U.K. August 19th. No domestic release date is currently scheduled.
