The Office’s Mackenzie Crook turned down the chance to reappear in Pirates of the Caribbean so he could focus on his BBC4 comedy, Detectorists.
Mackenzie rose to fame as Gareth Keenan in The Office, and went on to star as pirate Ragetti in the Hollywood franchise of Pirates.
He told Radio Times: “When it comes down to it, it’s a choice between doing a character again that I first did 12 years ago – and it’s a little part in a big Hollywood movie – or doing my own passion project.”
Mackenzie Crook’s TV show Detectorists won a Bafta for best sitcom in 2014 (Ian West/PA)
Detectorists documents the story of two friends who both love metal detecting, and scour the English countryside hoping they will find real treasure.
But the one place you will not find him browsing or scouring is on social media.
“People do go on about how skinny I am… You couldn’t get away with just focusing on a woman’s size these days, but it seems to be all right to do that (to a man). It makes me a bit cross sometimes.
“So when I go out, I am particularly recognisable, I think. The only person I hang out with who is more recognisable is Matt Lucas, who is recognisable from 100 yards away. And he gets it constantly… people taking photos or double-taking.”
Mackenzie says people still recognise him as Gareth from The Office (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA)
While he does get recognised thanks to his Office character, he said: “Gareth was an odd-looking bloke, with the hair… so therefore people will always think of me as a pale, unhealthy, pasty-looking weirdo.
“And people also hear a West Country accent when I’m talking, when there isn’t one. I am from Kent. My accent is Kentish.”
The latest in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Dead Men Tell No Tales, is due out in 2017.
Detectorists resumes on BBC4 on Thursday, October 24.
