Word: ghosts
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...which begs the question, is it worth the ghost hunt we've been on since September 11? There has not been a credible sighting of Osama bin Laden since he escaped from Tora Bora in October 2001. As for al-Qaeda, there are few signs it's even still alive, other than a dispersed leadership taking refuge with the Taliban. Al-Qaeda couldn't even manage to post a statement on the Internet marking September 11, let alone set off a bomb...
Even so, being in charge retains its appeal. Gervais did Ghost Town in part to help prepare for shooting This Side of the Truth, an $18 million film due out next year, co-starring Jennifer Garner, about a world in which he's the first person to lie. He financed it without a studio so he'd have control. And he's working on a movie with his writing partner on The Office and Extras, Stephen Merchant, called The Man from the Pru, about a group of twentysomething friends in 1970s England trying to escape from their poor, small town...
...ness of it cracks him up. "Paintings! That's great. They have to be very specific. Like 'Things Made of Clay.' It's a bit like This Side of the Truth, where there's a sign that says CHEAP MOTEL FOR SEX WITH A NEAR STRANGER." On the Ghost Town set, he'd do 15 takes of a scene, trying out different runs; here he flits among the artworks, making great jokes, most of which I have to promise not to print since they're about religious paintings and he's an atheist who likes to offend without hurting...
That boyish awe, which even his most detestable characters possess, comes out increasingly as earnestness, from the tear-jerking Extras finale to the touching moments in Ghost Town. In his stand-up, he starts with fat jokes, moves on to aids and then, when you're expecting rape for the comedy trifecta, spends an hour deconstructing fairy tales. "For a cynic and a misanthrope and the generally unpleasant persona that he projects, he's actually very sentimental," says David Koepp, who co-wrote and directed Ghost Town. "Which is usually the case with comics, but they're not always good...
...being a snob by assuming that the guard won't know. In the end, he decides it's best not to risk it. Gervais, whose comedy is all about pushing discomfort, is not fond of it in his life. "I'd love to take Ricky camping," says his Ghost Town co-star Téa Leoni. "It would be the most entertaining four days of my life. I think it would be the first time he'd have lit a fire or been out in the wild...