Has Toby Young finally learned how to win friends and influence people? Apparently not.
Last week, we were told at the Cannes Film Festival that Toby Young's book, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, is being adapted into a film starring Simon Pegg (of Shaun and the Dead) and Kirsten Dunst.
The book, which was all about his disastrous efforts to make a success of himself at Vanity Fair magazine, has earned him more adulation for being a flop than success at Vanity Fair ever could have.
But has it made him a better person?
Hmmm.
A few days later, he was quoted as saying he was disappointed that Pegg was playing him in the film and not someone 'bigger'. Pegg promptly responded with a dig about how self-promoting Young is. But when I spoke to Young afterwards, he was frothing with fond words for Pegg and added his anti-Pegg sentiment was meant "ironically".
"The truth is," he said, "I absolutely adore Simon and love hanging out with him, but I'm a bit embarrassed to say that in this case, my feelings aren't reciprocated." He then went on to pour venom over his journalist brethren who "don't get irony" and quoted a line in Kingsley Amis' memoirs: "Memo to writers and others: Never make a joke against yourself that some little bastard can turn into a piece of shit and send your way."
You make it sound like I was just back-tracking, after being nobbled by the film's publicist or something, when, in fact, I really was being "ironic". To put it in context, a journalist at the press conference in Cannes asked me how I felt about Simon playing me and I said, "I was a bit disappointed, actually. I really wanted Brad Pitt, but, for some reason, the producer thought he'd be inappropriate." It was a gag -- and it got a laugh, believe it or not. I immediately followed up by saying that I was absolutely delighted when I heard that Simon had been cast -- which, of course, I was. I mean, I may be an idiot, but I'm not such an idiot that I don't realise Simon is the best possible person to play me. Who on earth would be better? No one.
Just to add to my miseries, you've gone on to misquote the comment I emailed to you which should have read, "The truth is, I absolutely adore Simon and love hanging out with him, but I'm a bit embarrassed to say that in case my feelings aren't reciprocated." You've added a "this" and a comma and succeeded in completely changing the meaning. The whole point of emailing you the quote was so there was no way you could garble it when you then re-printed it, but, somehow, you've managed it anyway.
Posted by: Toby Young | Tuesday, 20 May 2008 at 01:06 PM