Ricky Gervais' New Movie Special Correspondents Going To Netflix

Eric Bana stars in Gervais' remake of the French comedy Auburtin's Envoyés Très Spéciaux.

Eric Bana Ricky Gervais Ricky Gervais is underway on production of Special Correspondents, his remake of Frédéric Auburtin's Envoyés Très Spéciaux, a comedy about a journalist faking frontline war reports from the safety of his own home. In the do-over, the lead reporter is to be played by Eric Bana, this time hiding out about in an apartment in Manhattan and filing radio reports he's falsified with his technician who, it seems, will be played by Gervais himself. Netflix today announced that they've acquired the film for a worldwide premiere in 2016. This quote from Gervais came with the press release. "Having shaken up the TV industry, Netflix is about to do the same to Hollywood. It's great to be part of the changing future. Ted Sarandos is the new Godfather of entertainment and he made me an offer I couldn't refuse." Whether anybody will ever get to see Special Correspondents in cinemas remains to be seen, but this is one facet of Netflix's ongoing march into movie distribution that troubles me. Shouldn't films made for the big screen get the treatment they deserve? Special Correspondents French Once Gervais is done with Special Correspondents he'll get back to work on musical mockumentary David Brent: Life on the Road for BBC Films. That one's all but guaranteed a run in UK cinemas, I think, though I wouldn't be surprised to see it go straight to Netflix around the rest of the world.
Movie News Editor
Movie News Editor

Brendon Connelly has been a film writer since the early 90s, with time on the staff of Orbit Magazine, Slashfilm, Bleeding Cool, Den of Geek and many more. He's a long time teacher of film studies and practical filmmaking classes, and has directed music videos, commercials, short films and more. His favourite film is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, his favourite food is pancakes or crepes, and he tries to live his life by the teachings of Kermit the Frog.