Will Ferrell, Ricky Gervais To Visit Dunder-Mifflin

The Steve Carell Exit Tour just got a little more star power. Will Ferrell has signed on to do a multiple episode arch on The Office as a visiting branch manager from Dunder-Mifflin’s main office. Quipped writer Paul Lieberstein, “We found Steve Carell when he was nothing but a movie star and we turned him into a television star. We are proud to continue The Office’s tradition of discovering famous talent, and we hope that once America gets a good look at Will, they’ll see what we see: tremendous raw sexuality.” Could Ferrell secretly be Michael Scott’s replacement? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. At least it’s a reunion of this winning team.

In other Office guest star news, be sure to tune in tonight to see a brief appearance by none other than David Brent himself. Ricky Gervais, the man who created the original British show, will reprise his role for a brief cameo. No word on what it will entail, but this has been a long time in the making, so it’ll be worth it either way.

So How About That Ricky Gervais Controversy?

Most of our coverage of the Golden Globes came via Twitter, and our analysis of Ricky Gervais’s second stint as host was limited to a brief “Ricky Gervais killed it in his intro. Tha man doesn’t care who he pisses off.” Well, turns out he pissed off a lot of people, especially Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk. Gervais took a couple of big shots at people both in the room and out of it, notably making big jabs at The Tourist (which prompted a scathing look from Johnny Depp and probably a voodoo curse from Angelina Jolie), Tom Cruise (who he referred to as being gay, “probably”), Tim Allen (which pissed off co-presenter Tom Hanks), Robert Downey Jr. (referring to his stints in jail and rehab), and the antics of Charlie Sheen. So how did Ricky get away with it? By not sharing his jokes with the HFPA before the show. Berk responded to the controversy, saying, “”I had absolutely no idea what Ricky was going to say so anything I heard was at the same time you heard it…He definitely crossed the line. And some of the things were totally unacceptable. But that’s Ricky.” Berk seemed uncomfortable addressing Gervais on stage during his brief speech, and he’s not the only one voicing his distaste with the Twitterverse exploding yesterday with responses to the edgy performance. Gervais defended himself yesterday, saying, “Everyone took it well and the atmosphere backstage and at the after show was great…I was allowed to choose who I would introduce in advance. I obviously chose presenters who I had the best jokes for. (And who I knew had a good sense of humor.)” He added that he didn’t think he was going to be invited back next year, which seems like the obvious call.

So what are we to make of this? Honestly, I don’t know who was expecting Gervais to come out and give the normal dull awards show banter, especially after he did almost the same thing last year, albeit not quite as mean spirited. Gervais has always pushed the envelope Damon Lindleof may have said it best when he tweeted, “In case you forgot what made David Brent so brilliant, it’s that he made us feel unsafe, uncomfortable and unable to look away.” If you want someone to talk about how great The Tourist is, you should have hired someone with a lighter reputation. In the end, this looks like it might be the end of Gervais career as an award show host, which means we can look forward to many more years of bland, boring Hollywood schmooze fests.

Golden Globes Recap

As the Golden Globes come to an end, here are a few notes regarding the ceremony.

Ricky Gervais: Little used, but very, very funny. Loved the pot shots at everyone, as well as the promotion of both The Office and The Invention of Lying. Hosts of these award shows are really overblown, they really only get a monologue to do their thing, but Ricky definitely spread some great jabs throughout the night.

Losers of the Night: Neil Patrick Harris got burned again. Fortunately, this time wasn’t to John Cryer, but by John Lithgow for Dexter. NPH will get a statue someday, but this really seemed like it was going to be the year. While Up was a fantastic film, it’s a little sad that The Fantastic Mr. Fox didn’t win. Like with NPH, it lost to a worthy opponent, but still. Modern Family also got the shaft in favor of the far inferior Glee. Sure Glee has a good message about being true to yourself, but Modern Family clearly blew the other shows in the category out of the water.

Winners of the Night: Michael C. Hall got a great win coming right on the heels of his announcement that he had cancer. It was also great to see Big Love get a win with Chole Sevigny taking a statue for her role as Nikki, the uptight Mormon sister-wife. There weren’t really any big winners that captured strings of awards, with Dexter winning two awards for acting (John Lithgow, Michael C. Hall), Crazy Heart winning for Best Song (T-Bone Burnett) and Actor (Jeff Bridges), and Avatar coming away with one for Best Director (James Cameron) and Best Picture, Drama. It will take home several more statues come Oscar time, as there are more statues to win.

Surprising Winners of the Night: As much as it disappoints me to say it, Sandra Bullock came out on top in a category full of several highly touted contenders. I guess sometimes movies made with the purpose of winning someone awards do what they’re supposed to. The Hangover also came away a surprise winner, beating out the more highly critically acclaimed Julie & Julia and It’s Complicated. Robert Downey Jr. wasn’t a huge shock, but he still beat out several big names.

Most Disappointed Loser: Based on camera shots, it’s a three way tie between Quintin Tarantino, Sandra Bullock (for Supporting Actress, she won later), and, surprisingly, Jason Reitman, who looked pretty pissed when he lost for Best Director and Best Picture.

Best Acceptance Speech: Robert Downey Jr., hands down. For a guy that’s been to hell and back, it’s great to see him in good humor. Martin Scorsese also had a great acceptance speech for his lifetime achievement award, deflecting a lot of the praise to the people he worked with and those that inspired him. And, damn, I want to see Shutter Island.

Biggest Trend: As we discussed when the nominations came out, there was a leaning towards the popular over the critically acclaimed. Juliana Marguilies, Glee, The Hangover, and Sandra Bullock took home awards over other nominees with a stronger critical pedigree. This isn’t to say that these weren’t completely undeserving; there’s a good reason why a lot of people enjoy them. It’s still surprising when a movie like The Hangover beats out two Meryl Streep movies.

David Brent Coming to Dunder-Mifflin?!

There’s not too many details, but for fans of both versions of The Office it’s worth mentioning. Michael Ausiello is saying that there was an unconfirmed rumor floating around yesterday that Ricky Gervais was seriously considering bringing his best known character, David Brent, to the American version of The Office. These rumors come up every once and a while, but apparently at a press event promoting HBO’s new animated version of his popular podcast, Gervais hinted that perhaps he’d be making an appearance at Dunder-Mifflin next season. Think about it: David Brent AND Michael Scott? That’s going to be an uncomfortable, yet amazing episode (if it happens). Like I said, there aren’t many details, but it’s nice to hope right?