After fifteen years, Ricky Gervais is reprising his role as David Brent, the regional manager of a paper company in the U.K. in the original version of The Office. In the follow-up film David Brent: Life on the Road, which premieres on Netflix Friday, the insufferable boss is now a sales rep for a tampon company with an insatiable craving to earn back the 15 minutes of fame he was afforded when he was the star of a docusoap about his paper company.
Brent will be very much the same character: a self involved, delusional narcissist clinging to his glory days. But even Gervais will tell you that in the 15 years since playing the role that narcissism itself has changed. Gervais couldn’t help but compare David Brent to our current President of the United States, Donald Trump.
“It’s not enough now to be successful. You have to tell everyone you’re better than them and they have to agree with you.” And yet, “somehow Donald Trump’s got more in common with David Brent than he does Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt. He does want to be famous and loved more than do a good job. That’s what’s dangerous. He is a host of a reality show, who was given millions and now he’s on the biggest reality show the world has ever seen.”
Gervais, like many Hollywood elite is extremely skeptical about Trump, even calling him dangerous. As to how much David Brent will share with Donald Trump, we’ll have to find out next Friday. However the timing of this film is interesting in that the political landscape has changed, as does its mixture with entertainment, something that David Brent’s character can certainly identify with.
Here’s a trailer for David Brent: Life on the Road:
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