Ricky Gervais received an offer to make ‘The Office’ movie after two episodes of the TV series.
The British comedian – who co-wrote and starred in the award-winning sitcom – was afforded the chance to put his most iconic character on the silver screen almost as soon as David Brent appeared on TV – but he delayed the movie to pursue his other ambitions.
Ricky, who stars in ‘David Brent: Life on the Road’, shared: "I had a backlog of things I wanted to do next, and I didn’t want to do a movie then.
"I was offered a movie after the second episode of ‘The Office’ went on TV but I turned it down."
After ‘The Office’ TV series finished, Ricky turned his hand to a number of other projects, including stand-up comedy and the series ‘Extras’.
But having realised those ambitions, Ricky has gone back to his most memorable on-screen character for the much-anticipated new movie.
He told the Observer newspaper: "I wanted to do everything else first, and once I’d done everything – once I’d done ‘Extras’ and my standup – I thought, ‘Why not? I can do it now.’ I don’t worry that people say, ‘He’s only got one thing.’"
However, Ricky is keen to stress that the new movie is not a sequel to ‘The Office’, pointing out that it does not include the rest of the original cast, such as Martin Freeman and Mackenzie Crook.
He said: "I was very clear about that, that would be mental. I’d never do that with the same actors.
"The guy from ‘Sherlock’ and … you know what I mean? I know I’ve been in other things, but the narrative that it’s the same people, in the same office, at the same desk, after 15 years in Slough? Ridiculous."
Ricky Gervais reveals origin of David Brent: Life on the Road
