Still, Madonna and Brad Pitt both approached him at Live8 and said they'd be in it And Tom Cruise has put his hand up, too. ("There's baggage there," he says.)Merchant says he'd like to see them have a go at drama. "In five years' time," says Gervais, "the only place I want to be is in a room with Steve Merchant, working on a new project."The last time I see him, he's sat behind a table in Waterstone's signing copies of More Flanimals. The shop's employees make sure everyone who joins the queue has purchased a copy of the book Inevitably, people have snuck in other things, too. As he approaches Gervais, one young man whips out the dastardly 2006 Office calendar (all proceeds to charity)."Where did you get that?" asks Gervais, aghast.
"Is it on sale already?"Then he catches himself and does that great big laugh.'Extras - Series 1' is out on DVD on 31 October. I am sitting on a wicker sofa eyeing a brown statuette of a cat when a "miaow" signals Tracey Emin's arrival at her studio in London's East End "Hi, I'm Tracey," she says warmly, extending a hand This is a good start. The last time we met, her conversation didn't extend much beyond "miaow". We were in a taxi on the way from a gallery opening to a dinner, and Tracey, who was in a state of some refreshment, insisted that everyone else in the car produce their own miaows. A Swiss gallery director was reluctant to do so, but Tracey was having none of it "Let's hear your miaow," she kept repeating Eventually he managed a reply "I am not a cat," he said stiffly. "I am a dog." It is a different Tracey Emin who arrives this bright morning.
Not Tracey the binge-drinking party animal with a cigarette permanently attached to her lip. Nor is it Tracey the artist, famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) for her unmade bed and her tent embroidered with the names of everyone she's ever slept with. This is Tracey Emin the author. Strangeland, "the intimate memoirs of one of the most acclaimed and controversial artists of her generation" (according to her publisher), may be her first proper book. But since she was 18 Tracey has always written; four huge boxes of thoughts, stories and jottings have gone into producing this volume."I do most of my writing in the swimming pool," she confides "Loads of people ask me how I can go swimming every day They think it's boring." Not Tracey, though "I swim really slowly, like a turtle. And every stroke I take is a complete sentence, whether it's a letter I'm writing to someone or a story, like about Frida Kahlo being a captain in Star Trek. She's there with her first lieutenant, Jose, who's a monkey, and Trotsky, her henchman.
