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."
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