David Brent: Life on the Road (2016)

David Brent: Life on the Road sees a documentary crew catching up with the idiosyncratic David Brent from the BBC2's mockumentary 'The Office.' When audiences were first introduced to Brent, the self-proclaimed "Friend first, boss second. Probably an entertainer third" dreamed of becoming a rock superstar. Twelve years on, Brent is now a traveling salesman chasing the dream with his band, 'Foregone Conclusion'. Assembling a group of session musicians who are just in it for the money, and a talented rapper Dom (Ben Bailey Smith) in an attempt to gain street cred, Brent cashes in his pension and takes unpaid leave in pursuit of his dream and one last shot at fame and fortune.

Info Tecniche e Distribuzione

Cast e personaggi

Dermot Keaney
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Ricky Gervais
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Mandeep Dhillon
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Roisin Conaty
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Alexander Arnold
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Diane Morgan
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Jamie Kenna
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Oliver Maltman
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NEWS E ARTICOLI

Netflix, uscite di Febbraio 2017

Directed, written by and starring Ricky Gervais, "DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD" is a feature length film which sees a documentary crew catching up with David Brent twelve years on from the BBC 2 mockumentary 'The Office'. Brent is now a travelling salesman, chasing his dream of rock stardom by self-financing a UK tour with his band, 'Foregone Conclusion.'

In addition to Gervais, the cast includes the multi-talented Ben Bailey Smith ("Midwinder of the Spirit', 'Law & Order') as Dom, most recently seen rapping in Brent's 'Equality Street' and writer/comedian Tom Basden ('Plebs', 'The Wrong Mans') as Dan, Brent's road manager.  'DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD" sees the introduction of Brent's new office colleagues including love-struck Pauline, played by Jo Hartley ("This is England', 'Not Safe For Work'), his 'comedic' partner in crime, Nigel played by Tom Bennett ('Phoneshop'), his office nemesis, Jezza, played by Andrew Brooke ('Phoneshop', 'Babylon') and his much needed therapist played by Nina Sosanya ('Love Actually').  Brent's drummer in his band 'Foregone Conclusion' is the incredibly talented Andy Burrows of 'Razorlight' and 'We Are Scientists' fame.

The cast also includes Kevin Bishop ('The Kevin Bishop Show'), award winning Roisin Conaty ('Impractical Jokers UK'), Diane Morgan ('Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe'), Ashley McGuire ('Derek', 'Miranda') and introducing Alexander Arnold ('Skins', 'Poldark') and Mandeep Dhillon ('24: Live Another Day', 'Some Girls').

"DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD" is executive produced by Alex Hamilton, Christine Langan and Duncan Hayes, produced by Charlie Hanson ('Cemetery Junction', 'Derek', 'Extras') and co-produced by Katie Mavroleon ('Marley's Ghosts, 'Pompidou').  Production Design by Anna Higginson ('Cemetery Junction', 'Endeavour'), Costume Design by Amanda Monk ('The Kennedys', 'Derek'), Hair & Make-Up Design by Claire Whiteley ('London Road', 'Skins') and Edited by Gary Dollner ('Veep', 'Phoneshop').  The Director of Photography is Remi Adefarasin ('Cemetery Junction', 'Pride & Prejudice & Zombies').  Original Music Lyrics by Ricky Gervais, Musical Arrangement by Andy Burrows with raps by Ben Bailey Smith.

THE EARLY DAYS

'The Office', first broadcast in the UK on BBC 2 on July 9, 2001, was created, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.  The programme was shot 'mockumentary' style and follows the day-to-day lives of office employees at a branch of the fictional Wernham Hogg Paper Company, based in the Slough Trading Estate.  Gervais also stars in the series as Regional Manager, David Brent, a man who is constantly seeking the approval of his colleagues and peers with often embarrassing and/or highly unsuccessful results.

'The Office' won the Best New TV Comedy Award at the British Comedy Awards in 2001 and in 2002; the series won the Best TV Comedy Award and Gervais, the Best TV Comedy Actor Award.   In 2003, 'The Office' was the first British Comedy in 25 years to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series: Musical or Comedy, and was the first ever to win one.  In the same year, Gervais was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series: Comedy or Musical for 'The Office', and the series also won a Peabody Award, international awards given by the Henry W Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication in Georgia, U.S., for distinguished achievements in radio and television.

When it was first shown on BBC 2, 'The Office' was very nearly cancelled due to its low ratings, but has since been regarded as one of the greatest British sitcoms of all time and has become one of the most successful British comedy exports. 

Hanson says "I think there were other mock documentaries before 'The Office', but 'The Office' was probably the one that really made it work on a global scale.  In some ways you want to move away from the 'mockumentary' style, but in so many ways, it worked for David Brent so we didn't want to completely ditch that style of filmmaking during production as it would have been odd to do a purely fictional movie about a character that the public considered 'real'."

Production started in London on Monday 16 November 2015 and the whole shoot was completed in 5 weeks, a very tight schedule.  Production worked with two cameras on most days, sometimes three depending on the scenes and volume of extras.   The idea was to try to film the concerts in one block for the first couple of weeks, almost like a real 'tour' and then move to the office and more intimate scenes in another block.  There were many different elements and logistical requirements from the two sides, especially with a production that moved so quickly

Filming took place in Central London, Camden, Watford and ended in Slough, an appropriate place to end considering it's Brent's home town. .  Slough is probably not the most exciting place in the UK for Brent to live, but it's real and it's what makes Brent who he is.   

TWELVE YEARS ON…

"DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD" once again focuses on the daily trials and tribulations of the socially inept David Brent.   Since Brent's departure from Wernham Hogg he has become a travelling salesman for the hygiene and cleaning company, 'Lavichem'.  His passion, however, lies with his music, so Brent self-funds a tour for his band 'Foregone Conclusion' in the hope that his dreams of becoming a rock star come true.

Gervais says 'this is a lot different to 'The Office' – this is a lot more about Brent's private life.  I always said I would never bring 'The Office' back and I never will. It would be a bit weird to revisit a sitcom with all the same people at the same desks after 15 years, it would be really hokey and sad!"  He continues, "Brent's slightly more confessional than he was in the 90's – in a good way. He's been through a bit of therapy and he's come out of it with his chin held high.  I think in the film we see slight changes, a slight evolution, a slight change of environment, but it's always out of the frying pan in to the fire.  He is his own worst enemy and he brings a lot of it on himself, but some of it he can't help.  He can't help his age.  He can't help where he was born.  He can't help how he looks.  He can't help some of those things that the world looks down upon him for, but he can help most of it!"

Brent's character still makes for truly excruciating viewing. He has a tendency to promote himself as an intelligent and politically correct middle-class man, but often demonstrates an unwittingly offensive attitude towards ethnic minorities, disabled people and women.  His various attitudes and faux-pas – cringeworthy and insulting as they may appear to the audience – are rarely malicious and are frequently the result of naivety and self-delusion combined with being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  His remarks are commonly compounded by awkward retractions once the interpretation of his comments has been realised. 

Even twelve years on, he still has a consistent need to be acknowledged as a cutting edge comedian, skilled in sales and music – but is still sadly perceived as pretentious, arrogant and awkward.  When asked how Brent is perceived in 2016, Gervais says, "Brent is like a Frankenstein of everyone I knew growing up and working with and he's just a very ordinary man who is trying to achieve something he's not capable of – and that's quite funny.  He has changed, he is older – some would say a little bit wiser, but we find out what's happened since his days on 'The Office'.  He's had a little bit of a breakdown, which was on the cards. It's about how he coped with it and how he coped with fame and how he's still obsessed with it and how he still wants it even though its not his friend – and nor is the camera.  He thinks it will be different." 

Producer Hanson adds, 'Brent's still the same character twelve years on which in many ways is why it's so sad that he hasn't progressed.  His rank at work is lower; he's no longer a manager.  He's been through personal trouble since 'The Office' finished and actually talks in the film about a breakdown he had post office and he's still living alone in a house that he bought years ago."

Gervais is insistent that Brent is not a bad person; "Brent's been sold a lie.  He's been sold a dream and he wants it and he hasn't quite got it, but what I like about him is he never gives up and we explore that quality in the film too.  He falls over for our pleasure, but he stands back up, dusts himself off and has another go.  I like him.  He's a bit of a man-child and he is clutching at straws, but I like him."

"Everything's wrong!" adds Hanson, "we see more of Brent's private life than we did in 'The Office' which makes him a sadder character.  He's much older, still single and still harbours this ambition to be a pop star.   It's tragic!  Even though Brent can sing, can perform – there's something just not right about it.  I think audiences will catch on to that quite quickly!"

Brent's new workplace, Lavichem, introduces a host of new characters including his comedic side-kick Nigel, the love struck shy colleague Pauline, his office nemesis, Jezza and of course, the iconic office receptionist, Karen who despite looking like she's been caught in the headlights, does actually feel a bit for Brent.

The office was about people turning 30 and 40 and what they were going to do with their lives, and now Brent's 55 and selling toilet products.  With the office environment and Brent's colleagues being such an iconic part of the TV series, Gervais and Hanson searched hard for just the right mix of actors and characters for the 'Lavichem' scenes. "We had to put a whole new team of sales people together and find a new receptionist for his new world in the office, nothing like those seen in the TV series.  We were looking for new talent," says Hanson.  "It didn't really cross our minds that they should be anything like the cast from the TV series because the characters were very different.   In many ways, they won't be as prominent as those in the TV series because they were a core of characters that had their own stories and their own arks throughout the series that became very important parts.  In the film, there's really only one story and that's how everybody relates to David Brent in the workplace – or on tour!  They all have to make their impact in a short space of time, so we opted for people who we thought would be good for Ricky to work with in terms of their improvisation skills or their ability to make him laugh.  The chemistry was very important."

Of Brent's new workplace, Gervais says; "Brent went from being the boss of people who liked him/tolerated him, to bottom of the pile.  He's almost bullied – he's amongst a group of silverbacks!"  He continues, "he's got one guy on his side who looks up to him, Nigel, who is a mini Brent!  It's Brent and Nigel against the world.  There's one person who likes him and he doesn't even notice it because he can't see the wood through the trees!"

Tom Bennett who plays Nigel and Andrew Brooke who plays Jezza had both worked with Gervais before on 'Phoneshop', but Hanson bought both Mandeep Dhillon who fills the shoes of Dawn, and Abbie Murphy a co-worker of Brent's to the mix having seen and admired their work.  Hanson says "I've worked with Abbie Murphy before and thought Mandeep was brilliant in '24', but the person that neither of us had worked with before was Jo Hartley.  We obviously knew her work from 'This is England' and then she came in for an audition and knocked it out of the park!  She's a great, classy actor – perfect for Pauline." 

Pauline is in Accounts and secretly admires Brent from afar.  She admires him for getting on and doing things and not just talking about them.  Hartley who plays her adds, "she is the lovestruck, love interest, but she's the only one who sees him truly.  

"Oh, we've also never seen anyone who is as awkward around women than Brent!" says Gervais.  "Women are his Kryptonite – they make him sweat and crumble!  "Everyone feels uncomfortable somewhere, but with Brent it's everywhere.  New people, new places; he wants acceptance.  He wishes he could hand out a business card that says 'humorous, clever…let's start there…'"

Despite the fact that "The Office' didn't really do Brent many favours in terms of public perception, he allows the cameras to follow him once again in DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD" because he truly believes that the crew filming his self-funded tour will do for him what Scorsese did with The Rolling Stones.  As you can imagine, in reality it's more along the lines of 'where is he now?', but Brent takes unpaid holiday and cashes in some of his pension to fund the tour for 'Foregone Conclusion' which inevitably sees him losing money, rather than making it.  Gervais says, "this guy had a little bit of fame at the turn of the century by being on a TV docu-soap and now what's he doing?  He's a real 'Z' lister, but in his mind he thinks he can do it and make it big.  He's still famous enough for people to remember he was a prat, but he's not famous enough to do anything with it."

The road on which 'Foregone Conclusion' travel in Brent's quest for fame and fortune, takes them to a series of awkward and empty gigs around Berkshire, Brent's home county. He hires session musicians to accompany him on the road as his band in addition to Dom, a rapper and Dan, his road manager.  Andy Burrows of 'Razorlight' and 'We Are Scientists' fame has collaborated with Gervais on many of the film's songs, a job he enjoyed immensely despite its departure from his normal genre and audience. 

"This is definitely a pinch yourself moment" says Burrows, "this marriage of reality and utter nonsense makes Brent a classic character."  Burrows and Gervais first met in a TV show green room when they were both guests, Gervais as himself and Burrows with his then band 'Razorlight'.  "He (Gervais) spent the evening at the show writing on my arm, so we got on quite well!" says Burrows.  "I didn't see him for ages after that, until I bumped in to him in my local high street.  Ricky asked me what I was up to and I reeled off a long and pointless CV to him of things I had done in the last five years, I had no idea he was thinking I may be a good person to put a band together for him!"  Two years on, Burrows and his band are appearing in "DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD" as his long-suffering band, 'Foregone Conclusion'.  "For the most part I'm sat at the drums which is pretty much what I do anyway, plus some scenes in a bar.  Which again, is basically what I do.  So far, acting is an extension of real life for me!"

Keeping a straight face during takes has proved slightly more difficult though, not only for Burrows, but the whole band.  "Some scenes were very testing and when you look around at the band, you can tell there's a borderline smirk about to happen!  It's tricky and it's tough not to laugh, but we've had quite a bit of practice over the years."  

The band 'Foregone Conclusion' was originally formed in Slough and was composed of Brent on vocals and rhythm guitar and Craig 'Mammogram' Monkford as his axe man/lead guitar player.  Brent is credited as lead songwriter on such classics as 'Spaceman Came Down', 'Freelove Freeway' and 'The Serpent who Guards the Gates of Hell'.  In "DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD", Craig is doing time, so his nephew 'Stu' takes over guitar.  Gervais loved doing the live gigs during production, "I got addicted!!  The band are so good, they're amazing musicians and I could just listen to them all the time, and even though the audiences were fake, it was just funny and exciting that the crew heard how good this band were together."

Gervais himself was in a band in his 20's and, having performed live, he brought some of his experiences to the big screen.  "The one thing that absolutely happened was in our first gig at the Bull & Gate.  We were on stage, did the sound-check, and the engineer said 'you might as well stay on lads, you're on now' and I said 'when are you opening the doors' and the engineer said, 'they're open'!  I said 'let's just do it as a free rehearsal and we ended up playing to the engineer.' It's what keeps it real for me!" 

Gervais continues, "The best things that come out of people are from writers or producers who have experienced these situations in real life.  I like making this world and the more reality based it is, the better. That's why I do so much fake documentary.   It resonates more with people who are so media savvy that they feel it's real.  When Brent gets caught out and he looks down the barrel of the camera, you feel it.  So much is non-verbal, so it's not necessarily about the words, but about the attitude.  Brent is a psychiatrist's dream!"

 "You can't blame the characters for being slightly embarrassed of being on stage with a 55 year old rep who falls over and says horrendous things, and sings horrendous songs," says Gervais.  "And I don't blame Dom for wanting to hang out with guys his own age rather than this weird 'uncle' who's basically paying him to be around and can't help mentioning his colour every time he walks in to the room."

The band unanimously dislike Brent in the beginning, but knowing how passionate he is on his quest to make it big, they soften slightly and instead of feeling disenchanted with his character, they start to feel a bit sorry for him.  "It's such a tiny moment in the film," says Gervais, "but he pays a couple of mates to have a drink with him – and it's huge for Brent, it's massive on screen and his world.  You can't have Brent punching the air in the end, it's just the tiny little victories – or potential victories – that keep him going.  It's hope, that's all it is!  You can keep beating someone up as long as there's a little bit of hope left."

The fictional 'Foregone Conclusion' were signed to Juxtaposition Records before Brent started his career in the paper industry.  In 2013 Gervais announced on Twitter that the band would be reforming and appearing in two shows at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London.  When the tickets went on sale on October 1, 2013 – they sold out in under one minute.  In May 2014, 'Foregone Conclusion' went on a UK tour, including two sold out nights at the Hammersmith Apollo.

During filming, Gervais announced that the soundtrack to 'DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD" will be released on Brent's label, Juxtaposition Records.   In addition to Andy Burrows writing songs for the band, Chris Martin from 'Coldplay' recorded a song for the end of the film with Brent which was, according to Gervais, 'F**king magical'.  "I played him the song," says Gervais "and he started laughing.  When I explained that the music was supposed to sound like Coldplay's greatest hits only better, Martin said 'I get it, I get it – you want me to help you take the piss out of me.'  And he did it.  He did a song that was so Coldplay – like Bowie in 'Extras', he gave us so Bowie, and it's just a great way to end the film."  

"Hmmm…" says Burrows when asked about Brent as a frontman.  "…how similar is the experience of having David Brent as a frontman to other things I've done?  I've been in bands with several different front men, I guess perhaps with one or two of them there may be some similarities!  Front men can be tough characters because what they have to do isn't necessarily natural, getting up and entertaining lots of people.  So yes, there are some similarities with 'Forgone Conclusion' and my real life band antics, but this one for sure wins the most ridiculous!!"

Gervais and Burrows collaborated on the musical arrangement for the songs in the film.  Gervais would send videos of songs and music via his phone to Burrows who would either play around with them a little bit or perhaps add some arrangement ideas.  "That's the extent of the collaboration between Ricky and I," says Burrows.   "I may have made up an ending here and there, but Ricky's just bought these awesome songs in that tend to go via me and a little garage band demo so that the band have something I can give to them and we can work out our harmonies.  It's all quite organic, despite the fictional comedy-ness of it, and we have recorded most of it as purely live so it's been very real.  A little weird when you're constantly reminded this is comedy because the songs are great and Ricky is such a great singer. And of course the band are brilliant – so we have to keep reminding ourselves that you're actually making a comedy record!"

The rest of the band is made up of brothers Steve and Michael Clarke and Stuart Wilkinson and they've all known each other a long time. Burrows says, "Stu and Steve all worked on the crew when I was drumming in 'Razorlight'. Stu was my drum tech, Steve did everything, he was a general dogsbody!  A few years after I'd left 'Razorlight' I did a solo record and we got back together as musicians this time.  I've been touring around Europe with my own songs with Steve and Stu in my band, then Steve bought Michael along which again all happened quite organically turned in to my band, which has now turned in to David Brent's band.  I think they're all far happier now."

"Steven and Stu used to be in a band called the 'Dum Dums' in the early naughties, but I'm not sure if any fans of 'Razorlight' or 'Dumdums' or my solo stuff would put two and two together and realise that 'Forgone Conclusion' is those blokes."  They certainly will now Mr. Burrows.

Travelling with Brent on the road is Dom Johnson, his fellow band mate and rapper.  "Dom goes along with Brent's plan to tour with him rapping because Brent offers him the opportunity to record his music, so he sees it as an opportunity," says producer, Hanson.  "What he doesn't bargain for is Brent interfering with his songs to the extent that he does and possibly make him less cool than a rapper should look.  Actually, not possibly – definitely makes him less cool than a rapper should look!  Naturally, Dom has to suffer being Brent's touring partner." 

On the casting of Ben Bailey Smith as Dom, Hanson says "Ricky first met him when Ben supported Ricky as Doc Brown on one of his tours in Scandinavia, watched his act from the side of the stage and got to know and like what he did."  Gervais brought Bailey Smith in to appear in an episode of 'Derek, which is when Hanson first worked with him.  "I'd seen him live as Doc Brown, but it was during our filming of 'Derek' that the Comic Relief sketch came up where Brent and Bailey Smith's character, Dom, did their first song together called 'Equality Street'.  

The concept for the character of Dom came up when Bailey Smith was a stand-up act for Gervais' tour of Scandinavia at the same time Gervais was working on 'Derek'.  "He was determined to crow bar me in to an episode together and created a character who was forced to work in the old people's home as part of his community service", says Bailey Smith.  "His thing is rap, but he's clearly not a 'street guy' otherwise he wouldn't even consider hanging with Brent.  Brent offers him an opportunity to showcase what he can do, albeit on songs that sound like Status Quo."

"You'll never find anyone as pleased as Brent about having a black friend," says Gervais of Ben Bailey Smith's character, Dom.  "Brent had all these ideas about managing Dom who has essentially become his sidekick."  Dom, who's slightly stuck in the middle, wants to be a friend to Brent, but also hang with the band that want nothing to do with the 55 year old wannabe.  "It's like hanging out with your Uncle who's picking you up from a party and ends up staying for a drink!" 

"Ben is a brilliant rapper, he started out doing rap battles – and I suppose it is a little therapeutic as a failed pop star in real life to sing!  It's clinically good for you, it excites all the right parts of the brain and it makes you feel better.  Like an endorphin rush!  I could have done it all day long, and I like to finish at 3pm – but sometimes, I just sang for the sake of it!"

"Brent is a cock-sure idiot.  Tragic."
                                     -Ben Bailey Smith, Dom

'Equality Street' basically formed a new dynamic between Brent and another younger character along with Dan, played by Tom Basden.   "He was somebody I'd seen do live comedy and I knew he was a writer as well, he's written a lot of TV comedy and plays" says Hanson.  "He was first seen in 'Derek' as the autograph collector in the shop in a scene that was scripted, but he and Gervais improvised and Tom made everyone laugh with his improvisation, which in turn, made all the other cast raise their game.  Ricky found him a delight to work with and again, in the video for 'Equality Street', Tom was the engineer in the studio."

Talking about the character of Dan, Hanson says "he's the realist who is always trying to steer Brent back in the right direction when he gets it wrong.  Dan tries to save Brent from throwing money at the tour when he sees tickets are not selling."  When we first meet Dan, he doesn't really have a lot of time for Brent, but by the end Dan and the band all feel sorry for Brent that it hasn't worked out.  They like and admire the way he doesn't give up and it's nice that they see underneath all his bravado that Brent is actually a nice guy."   Gervais adds, "You can't blame Dan for taking the money and thinking this isn't the coolest job in the world.  Dan's a cross between Simon Cowell on the judging panel and the audience watching.  He says it as it is, so even though he may come across as insensitive and curt, everything he says is right and it's good advice."

Brent's unusual approach to musical lyrics and his repertoire of songs consist of tunes and topics he thinks people want to hear.  "It's a shortcut to trying to get people to like him," says Gervais.  "For example, he'll write a song like Bruce Springsteen would write.  He'll try to write the songs like someone else did. 'Native American' is like a Neil Young song, 'Slough' is sort of like a Bowie song…a Sloughie…and 'Freelove Freeway' is like a Springsteen song.'

Gervais continues, "I guess he's always living a slight lie and always trying to be someone he isn't.  He's heard about political correctness and he desperately wants to be politically correct, but he doesn't quite understand what that is.  It's the delusion, it's the confidence – with verve – stupidity with arrogance is wonderful."

Ben Bailey Smith wrote the rap on 'The Lonely Cowboy' and tried to capture what a rapper might when forced in to writing metaphorically about the wild west – such a random angle to come from.  Smith says "when I got in to it and made it very passionate and po-faced, it was very funny to me."

When talking about the crass, inappropriate and derogatory songs sung by Brent in 'Foregone Conclusion', Gervais remarks on his favourite tune; I love 'Native American'.  It's such a reductive and wrong song, but lyrically it's on the nose – he wrote it from Wikipedia because he likes his songs to be factually accurate.  Take 'Slough'! It's just a list of things about 'Slough' that Brent knew already and found rhymes for.  If 'Slough' was a serious song, it would be a good song, I think musically it's quite beautiful, it's just undermined by singing about Taplow and Bray (with Hillingdon the other way)."

The 'Foregone Conclusion' tour isn't quite what Brent had in mind when cashing in his pension and taking unpaid holiday from his sales job at Lavichem.  "Brent's done his maths wrong," says Gervais.  "He's calculated expenses, but there's no income.  He's paying for demo tapes, he's paying for a PR person who isn't even a PR person; she works out of a garage.  He stays in hotels when it would be quicker and cheaper to go home after a gig and he's hired a huge tour bus that he's not even allowed on."  Brent wants the dream, but in "DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD" audiences will see Brent put everything in this one last push to make it, but ends up taking such a huge emotional beating, they won't know whether to laugh or cry.

On the up side, performing on stage has re-ignited Gervais' passion for it and has hinted at another possible tour. "We're definitely going to see Brent again because I actually want to do a real tour now, as Brent, with this band and with all the songs.  Honestly, I'm hooked!  I could do it every night… I could go out as David Brent every night and play in a band.  It's so much fun saying those horrendous things with a little goatee on!  Yeah…we'll see Brent again, it might not be on TV or in a film, but he'll pop up again.  When I say pop up – I mean sell out Wembley." 

"There could be a market for a David Brent, in a freak show kind of way.  I can imagine it becoming like a cult thing where people go just to see the guy who talks unbelievable nonsense on stage."
– Andy Burrows, Drummer

The band performed on stage all day every day for the first two weeks of production in venues in and around Camden such as Barfly, the Electric Ballroom and Dingwalls.  The cast and crew found it very difficult not to tap their toes along to the songs because, despite the awkward lyrics, the tunes are very catchy.  Burrows says "the thing with all of these songs is they're brilliant pop songs and god knows what will happen if these records come out – and how people will take them because it does make it confusing that the songs are great, they're all beautifully crafted, short and concise, brilliant chorus' and brilliant hooks, but all being delivered by this ridiculous character."

In the film, Brent shows a snippet of a video to a song he's written and shot called 'Lady Gypsy'.  The rip off David Essex look and classic boy meets girl video was filmed on Hampstead Heath during pre-production to take advantage of the nice weather before official production began in December.   "'Lady Gypsy' might be my favourite single scene of anything I've ever done", says Gervais.  "It's Brent at his best and he's so excited about it.  Just the fact that he wrote a song called 'Lady Gypsy'- I don't believe that happened.  I don't believe Brent just came across some girl from a Flake advert washing her hair in Didcot.  My favourite bit about it has to be the argument – even in his fantasy – he has an argument about buying heather!!"

"I really love 'Lady Gypsy' – I might get Sting to do that one!"
– Ricky Gervais, Actor/Producer/Director

"DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD" Producer, Charlie Hanson, has known Gervais for 14 years, often bumping in to each other at Teddington Studios whilst working on different projects.  "The first time we actually worked together was on the series 'Extras', followed by 'Life's Too Short' with Warwick Davies, 'Cemetery Junction' a feature film based on Gervais growing up in Reading in the 70's – co-directed by Gervais and Stephen Merchant, and then later we did 'Derek'."  

The one character, however, Hanson had not worked with Gervais on was Brent.  It wasn't until Comic Relief in 2012 when Gervais donned the Brent suit once again for 'Equality Street'.  Hanson recalls "I was in the room when he came in wearing the suit for the first time in a long time and he was having such fun as David Brent beyond what was in the script, and at that moment, I thought 'there's life in the character yet'!  I didn't know at that point that we'd be doing a film several years later, but I knew something was going to happen!"

'We brought together a team of people, some of whom Ricky and I have worked with before," says Hanson, "Award Winning DOP Remi Adefarisan lights beautiful movies and also did 'Cemetery Junction' with us and made it look terrific.  For this film, we're asking him to make things look dingy and grotty – not what he's used to.  He is very experienced and can work fast and be flexible, which is what you need when you film at such a fast pace."

Anna Higginson is the Production Designer, who has previously worked with Gervais and Hanson on 'Extras','Life's Too Short', 'Cemetery Junction' and 'Extras' and Costume Designer, Amanda Monk, has been with the team since 'Life's Too Short' and continued on to 'Derek'.  The new addition to the team is Make-Up Designer is Claire Whiteley. 

The challenge for the design team with this kind of documentary style shoot is that the experts have to design, but make it look like they haven't!  Despite the fact the film is scripted, the speed at which the production moves has proved a hard challenge for design departments to keep up with, and they all have to be ready ahead of schedule in case of any significant changes to the schedule or days and scenes moving around.  Production Designer Anna Higginson says, "keeping up with the schedule is a bit of a challenge. Ricky films very fast, but it's been a welcome challenge and a lot of fun.   We've had a lot of gig venues and a lot of dressing rooms in addition to multiple spaces in the same place needing to look like several different venues.  It was quite fast and furious for the first couple of weeks, but the Lavichem set is just as important because it's all very heavily dressed because it needs to look like it's existed for years and Brent's house is an insight to his personal life that we've not seen before.  You've certainly got to keep your energy up!"

Higginson adds, "to design a real life mockumentary but make it feel filmic at the same time is a really big challenge because you have got to get the level right.  It's heightening the reality to make it feel filmic and watchable on screen, but still have a colour palette so it looks beautiful but still remains very grounded and very real."  She continues, "every genre of job that you do has a different element to it and this project had to be approached in a different way.  It doesn't have the flamboyant, creative sets that other projects may have, but in a similar way it has to have its own interest."  Higginson admits to being a   'bit of a nerd when it comes to research and detail', but this can only be a good thing considering how real a mock-umentary has to look. "The detail is paramount for me," says Higginson.   "Everything needs to feel like it's grounded, it's got to have a back history to it.  Ricky likes his detail too and because I like that element of the job, the collaboration with ideas with Ricky makes it really fun."  

Higginson works closely with the DOP on set to ensure that they know what colour she's using, what the practicalities of the set are and when to bring it alive, if appropriate.  She also works closely with the Costume Designer to make sure colours of sets and costumes don't clash but ultimately, all departments on the film have to collaborate together to come up with the final look of any characters.  The Costume and Make-up Departments have a strong association with each other when it comes to creating the looks and personalities of the on screen characters.  Costume Designer Amanda Monk says, "we really need to have the same ideas, the same thought process, so we chat about each character and try to come with a cohesive person.  To create people who do not appear to have been stylised, but look stylish and organic.  There are layers to several different characters through their costumes, but the goal is to make their look as natural as possible."

Hair & Make-up Designer Whiteley says "This project is very specific because is it a fly on the wall documentary, there is a difference between free form and no form at all.  Brent's iconic look on stage is quite stylized, but there is a difference between that look and his every day look. I'm trying to apply make-up without making it look like anyone's wearing make-up!" 

Costume Designer Amanda Monk has worked with Gervais several times and adds, "trying not to create too much of a caricature that wouldn't be believable.  Not so much with David Brent, he's an existing character, but with some of the others I needed to turn the dial a bit to get a sense of reality rather than a sense of comedy sketch show."  Monk continues, "organic is definitely the way I work with Ricky; it's such a collaboration.  I read the script, talk to the actors and find the character."  On talking about whether Brent's character had changed much over the last twelve years, Monk says "twelve years ago, lots of people looked quite bad in their suits, you had to spend money to get a good suit. Now you can go to the high street and buy some really good tailoring really cheaply, so it has changed.  Trying to make somebody look 'not quite right' is harder than it was before because nice clothes are so affordable." 

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