LONE STAR STATE KUDOS GET THE MEMO

Austin Film Society fetes ‘Office Space,’ Brooklyn Decker and John Lee Hancock

Mike Judge’s workplace satire “Office Space,” which celebrated its 20th anniversary last month, was a bonafide box- office flop when it grossed a measly $10.8 million in 1999. But once the comedy was discovered on DVD and cable, “Office Space” became a cult sensation, spreading such concepts as “flair” and “assclown” across pop culture.

The now- classic comedy will be celebrated at the upcoming Texas Film Awards, presented by the Austin Film Society, where it will be inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame. Judge and the cast will reunite for a screening and panel March 7 in Austin.

“Office Space,” which marked the live-action directorial debut of Judge, best known at the time for the animated TV series “Beavis and Butt-head” and “King of the Hill,” revolves around everyman Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), who works as a programmer at a company called Initech where he hates his job and is constantly bothered by his odious boss Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole).

“The main message of the movie is, you got to give yourself permission to do the things that make you happy even if it’s going to disappoint your employer,” says Livingston, who is currently playing an executive who commits suicide in ABC’S “A Million Little Things.”

For the past 20 years, he says: “People come and tell me that the movie changed their life. It’s like after seeing the movie, it gave them the confidence to get out of whatever it was they were doing that was making them miserable and move on to something else. I only hear from the people for whom that worked out, but hopefully there’s not too many that regret it.”

Judge says he gets the same reaction from fans. “I haven’t had anyone say they quit their job after watching the movie and wound up on welfare,” he adds.

So why didn’t the subversive comedy catch on in 1998?

Judge believes “Office Space” bombed because “it was a hard movie to make a trailer for — hard to market in general. And the trailer wasn’t great. I mean, it was a weird movie at the time.”

He began to notice the tide changing when he overheard people talking about it at a Blockbuster in Austin.

“Then I started hearing from the actors that they were getting recognized a lot. It was a slow build. Then around 2003, Fox wanted to do a sequel. If someone had told me that was going to happen on opening weekend in 1999, I would’ve thought they were just making fun of me.”

‘Office Space’ bombed because it was a hard movie to make a trailer for — hard to market.” Mike Judge