14/11 -08 Intervjuserie - Toby Young

“What is fame? The advantage of being known
by people of whom you yourself know nothing,
and for whom you care as little.” - Lord Byron

Som utlovat kommer här en intervju med den Brittiske författaren och journalisten Toby Young vars bok How To Lose Friends & Alienate People just filmatiserades och förhoppningsvis går upp på bio i Sverige snart.

How come you decided to turn How To Lose Friends & Alienate People into a film?

That is overstating it slightly. I decided to sell an option in the movie rights to Film4 and, five years later, a group of people associated with Film4 decided to exercise that option. I always hoped it would become a film for a variety of reasons. 1. The money. 2. The fame. 3. To satisfy my intellectual curiosity about how films are made.

Now, personally, I think the book is great and obviously you can't make a movie that sticks 100% to the story it's based on, but do you think that the film deviates too much from the original at times?

I made a decision very early on to try and make a commercial film, one aimed at a large audience. That may have been a mistake, but I don’t think that any major mistakes were made after that decision had been taken.

I wasn't expecting to see Simon Pegg in this film, do you think he does a good job portraying you?

Well, he always makes a point of saying he isn’t trying to portray me -- he’s playing a character called Sidney Young who is, perhaps, loosely inspired by me, but certainly isn’t identical with me. That said, I think he does a wonderful job.

I've read a few reviews in which the critic claims that some of the great and witty satire of the book is lost in the film, do you agree with that? If so how come you didn't keep it in?

It was a collaborative process. Sometimes I fought for things to be in the film and didn’t prevail; at other times, I was listened to. The fact that the filmmakers involved me in the process obliges me, I think, to take collective responsibility for all the decisions that were taken. By involving me, they were trusting me not to turn round afterwards and slag them off for not listening to me more. I don’t want to betray that trust by criticizing any aspect of the film.

How closely were you involved with the process of making this movie?

I was quite closely involved in pre-production, almost completely uninvolved during production, and only very slightly involved during post-production.

I really enjoyed the movie, it's a great and witty comedy and Simon Pegg is his usual comedic self, but how do you feel about it? Are you happy with it?

Yes, I am. I think it’s funny and sweet.

Alright, I reckon thats about it for the tough questions, why don't you tell us a little bit about the sequel to How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, namely The Sound Of No Hands Clapping?

How to Lose Friends covers the years 1995-2000 and The Sound of No Hands Clapping takes the story up to 2005. In that time I tried -- and failed -- to make it as a Hollywood screenwriter, got married, had children and settled into a career as a journalist, author and playwright in London.

Det var allt för idag, peace så länge!