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Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant Writing a New Script

by Alex Billington
February 28, 2008
Source: BBC

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the two British masterminds behind the original "Office" TV show, are teaming up again to work on their first Hollywood script. Tentatively titled The Men at the Pru, the film is about "a group of 20-somethings in the early 1970s." While Gervais may be well-known for writing both "The Office" and the HBO comedy "Extras", in addition to starring in films like Night at the Museum and Stardust, he's never actually written a script for a feature length film, something which is quite baffling considering how brilliant of a comedian he actually is.

The BBC caught up with Gervais recently and talked with him about the initial details of the script. The aforementioned 20-somethings in the early 1970s "work for the building society and they're having a great time but it's about them coming of age and having to grow up." With an explanation that vague, I'm quite curious to eventually hear what The Men at the Pru is actually about. Gervais and Merchant have already been doing research, heading down to the Prudential headquarters and collecting old footage. "We're really getting excited."

Although Gervais and Merchant's script is the focus of this news today, it's not necessarily Gervais' actual first Hollywood screenplay. He is already working on a film titled This Side of the Truth, which he is writing and will star in, that will be finished before he goes back to work full speed on The Men at the Pru. Gervais admits that even he's "worried because it's a Hollywood movie and you don't get many chances to screw up with Hollywood."

If you aren't familiar with Ricky Gervais, whether it's his scripts or TV shows or his stand-up comedy acts, then he's someone you should definitely look into. He has a very unique yet hilarious British sense of humor that no one can match. While we don't really have a solid explanation of the story in The Men at the Pru, I am still excited to see what Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant can cook up in a feature length film.