Ricky Gervais, the brash Briton who built a career on biting satire, is showing off his sweeter side.
I’ve got the swipes at fame and all those things out of the system, I think, and now it’s about things that really matter
Gervais stars in Derek, a comedy he wrote about a man who works in a retirement home filled with many characters in their 80s and 90s.
The creator of The Office mockumentary said the new programme featured flawed characters like the ones that were hallmarks of his earlier works, but was “sweeter”.
“It’s a show about kindness first and foremost,” Gervais told reporters and TV critics at a meeting of the Television Critics Association.
“There’s some more dramatic moments than The Office or Extras,” his show about actors looking for a big break, he added. “It’s sweeter. It still has the existentialism of The Office. There are still characters being daft, silly or nice.”
The show, which has already aired in Britain, will be released this spring on Netflix Inc., the subscription video service available in the US, Canada, Latin America and parts of Europe.
Derek stirred controversy in Britain when some critics complained that Gervais’s character, Derek Noakes, appeared to have a disability and was being mocked.
Gervais has denied Noakes is disabled or that he was being cruel, describing his character as “innocent, he’s childlike and he’s in awe of the world. He does the right thing. He doesn’t think about it”.
Gervais famously skewered the top names in Hollywood during three hosting gigs at the Golden Globe awards, one of the industry’s biggest celebrations of film and television.
Gervais said he conceived the Derek Noakes character more than a decade ago and thought about making him an autograph seeker, putting him in a setting that would provide another chance to satirise celebrity culture. But he decided against it, placing Noakes instead in a retirement home after being inspired by family members who work as caregivers.
“I’ve got the swipes at fame and all those things out of the system, I think, and now it’s about things that really matter.”
Gervais was not able to attend this year’s Golden Globes ceremony yesterday because he was to start work on the next Muppets movie. But he said he would miss the hosting gig.
“To be the most feared man in Hollywood for three hours is such fun,” he said.