For better or worse, David Brent is staging a comeback later this year – that rockstar dream isn’t going to fulfill itself, after all – via The Office spinoff Life on the Road, and it’s been revealed today that Ricky Gervais’ faux-documentary will be distributed around the globe by Netflix.
Written and directed by Gervais, the funnyman confirmed those release plans while appearing on the Opie With Jim Norton Show – as relayed by Variety – pointing to Netflix’s built-in audience as a major factor. Anticipating the digital launch, Gervais stated, “I’d rather 20 million people see it than half a million people see it in cinemas, do you know what I mean? Because I want to do tours off the back of it. So for me, it’s great.”
As for the adventure that awaits one David Brent, here’s what Gervais had to share:
“[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.
“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.”
Rickey Geravis will whisk David Brent out of The Office for a Life on the Road when the comedy hits select screens across the UK, Australia and New Zealand in August, followed by a debut on Netflix at some point thereafter.
