While two seasons and a Christmas special was initially enough for Ricky Gervais‘ groundbreaking hit “The Office,” it seems that he’s not done with well-meaning but hapless David Brent. This year alone he trotted out the character for a new sketch during Comic Relief, and notably for a 10-minute short, entitled “The Office Revisited” (watch it here). But it doesn’t end there. If things go according to plan for Gervais, we could possibly see a full blown cinematic outing for the character.
In a recent THR profile, the magazine reveals that recent YouTube channel series “Learn Guitar With David Brent” (yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like) is the first step for what Gervais hopes “will be the basis for a movie about Brent trying to make it in the music industry.” So how serious is this? Gervais is looking to ink a record deal to release material as David Brent and is rehearsing with a band to perform at charity gigs later this year. Now, none of this should really be a surprise as David Brent has always dreamed of music stardom (earlier this year, he dropped his video for the cringe-worthy “Equality Street“). The question remains whether or not the joke that he’s actually not all that talented can really sustain a whole movie (not to mention that making fun of the music industry is sort of tired at this point).
But this seems to be merely an idea on the edge of a plan at the moment. Gervais’ immediate projects include the stateside launch of his new series “Derek” on Netflix, and filming the second season for that show this fall. But can David Brent travel the same route as Alan Partridge? We’ll see.
As long as pop music is THIS bare, monotonous, aggressively dominated by producers and generally people with money to make stars and decide what goes on air, no jokes will be tired about the "pop industry" (even the expression, however dead-on, makes me angry… yeah I'm a hippy :D).
I wonder how involved Stephen Merchant has been in the David Brent revival.