STACK #143 Sept 2016

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CINEMA INTERVIEW

It’s been over a decade since we last caught up with bungling boss David Brent, star of mundane mockumentary The Office . He’s had plenty of time, then, to become a tampon rep, form a band with a former member of Razorlight, pen some tunes and take off on tour… BRENT’S BACK

D espite Ricky Gervais’s success across a number of projects in the worlds of television ( Extras, An Idiot Abroad ), cinema ( The Invention of Lying, Cemetery Junction ) and stand up, the 55-year-old Berkshire-born comic will always be best remembered for his cringe-worthy antics as The Office ’s David Brent – the useless middle manager of a suburban paper company with an unquenchable thirst to be liked, and the unfortunate habit of putting his foot firmly in his own mouth. “There’s a lot of me in Brent and vice versa, we’re intertwined in many ways,” explains Gervais. “I was always an idiot who wanted to make people laugh. We both seek approval, we both need validation from our peers, and we both possess egos that make us giant idiots sometimes – but who doesn’t relate to that?” Now, thirteen years after the cameras stopping rolling at Wernham Hogg, Brent is back, and this time he’s traded the small screen for the silver variety. Brent is going out on tour with his fictional band Foregone Conclusion – and apart from swapping the paper trade for the life of a toiletries rep, not much has changed about Gervais’s alter-ego. “He’s still unintentionally offensive, he still wants to be loved,

the big screen is indicative of the change in how the world views celebrity from “the time of the quaint docu-soap with people who were happy with their fifteen minutes” to the “ferocious” world of modern fame. “You have people on The Apprentice , Big Brother and The X Factor saying, ‘I will

The Office

destroy anyone who gets in my way.' He’s not equipped for that harsh world of alpha males, the dog-eat-dog,” says Gervais of Brent’s quest for recognition. “He’s a 55-year- old tampon rep who’s cashing in every penny he’s earned to make his dream happen. He’s no longer just pratting around an office – this is next level tragic.” Gervais’s decision to return to Brent after all these years may well come as a surprise given his He’s a 55-year-old tampon rep who’s cashing in every penny he’s earned to make his dream happen

Extras

2013 gave Gervais the opportunity to give fans of Brent a glimpse of where their favourite middle-manager is now. “He was managing this young rapper and came out with the unforgettable political reggae anthem, Equality Street,” says Gervais of Brent’s musical return to our screens. “While writing that, I wrote another six or seven songs for him – we had this new life for David Brent, away from The Office .” And Gervais is content with the possibility of disappointed fans in favour of focusing on his favourite character. “They’ll go to this thinking it’s The Office: The Movie and they

and would settle for being liked,” explains Gervais. “And he believes, really believes, that fame will be the best thing that could ever happen to him.” The biggest change between

• David Brent: Life on the Road is in cinemas now, and reviewed on page 26

past declarations that bringing back The Office would see him “accused of flogging a dead horse.” The chance to reprise the role for Comic Relief in

The Office and Life on the Road , however, is the scale. Gervais’s decision to take Brent’s misadventures to

will most likely not be happy,” he laughs, “And I’m ok with that.”

An Idiot Abroad

SEPTEMBER 2016

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