Toby Young Interview
How do you feel about how much they changed your story? They did take a lot of liberties with what you wrote.
Toby Young: "I think they needed to do that in order to turn the book into a film. I was originally hired to adapt it and even though they didn't decide to go with me, they hired someone else to do it - well the producers hired someone else to do it - the treatment I came up with was actually quite similar to the finished film. I too proposed turning it into a romantic comedy. So I think they've made absolutely the right decision. And I'm not one of those, you know, highbrow authors who thinks that only a completely faithful adaptation of my book would work. I'm grown up enough to realize I know enough about film that things are going to have to substantially change in order to be turned into a film."
You said the treatment you did was actually close to this one. Why didn't they just go with your treatment then?
Toby Young: "That's a good question. I think I'm still wondering that to this day. I think that the producers, Steven Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen, felt that they would have to bring in another writer sooner or later. You know it's very unusual, a film that's actually written by one writer and they thought, 'Let's do it sooner rather than later and get this project properly underway.' I think they didn't want to kind of wait for me, a first time screenwriter, to come up with something that may or may not have been any good and miss the opportunity to kind of get going on it straightaway."
Were there changes you look at now and wonder why they were made? Like, they had you actually kill the dog...that type of thing?
Toby Young: "No, actually funnily enough there was a big debate during production whether or not we should kill the dog. And I thought it would be funnier if when the dog, when we see in the final part of that in which the dog going up on the gantry outside - behind the window that Simon's leaning against - I thought it would actually be funny if the dog suddenly came alive in the handbag on the gantry, slowly barking but you wouldn't be able to hear the barking because of the double glazing. But actually in the end I think it probably was the right decision to kill the dog. The director really didn't want to kill the dog and, you know, almost threatened to resign if we killed the dog. But in the end he was persuaded that killing the dog was the right way to go. And I saw the film with 1,500 people at the premiere on Wednesday and the dog's death got a huge laugh."
But the funny thing is, now you'll always be known as the guy who killed the dog. People who haven't read the book don't know that dog actually lived.
Toby Young: "Yes. You know, I think if people haven't read the book and they're basing their opinion of me entirely on the film I can live with that, because there was the equivalent of dog-killing incidents in the book that didn’t make it in to the film."
How does it feel to be on the receiving end of questions now instead of getting to ask them of celebrities?
Toby Young: "Well, you know, I'm trying not to let it go to my head rather. And in that respect Simon Pegg is a very good role model. When we'd stepped out together onto the red carpet at the premiere and the flash bulbs started popping, he turned to me and said, 'Don't you just hate this?' And, you know, I can't say I'm at that point yet but I'm working on it."
Is it true they kicked you off the set?
Toby Young: "No, it's not true. I mean I think my presence on the set wasn't particularly welcome. There's a saying in Hollywood which is being the writer on the set of your movie is like being a dad in a maternity suite. And, you know, I didn't even write the film. I wrote the book the film is based on so I'm like the dad's best friend in the delivery suite, and the midwives didn't want any tips from me on how to deliver the baby."
"You know, there was an incident in which I was overheard by Kirsten Dunst's assistant saying something to Steven Woolley, one of the producers, about her performance in a particular scene. And it wasn't a critical note in any way. I wanted the producer to tell the director to suggest that she do something else, just because I thought if she did this other thing it would make the scene even funnier. And, you know, if anything, it was a critical note about the director saying he hasn't given her enough direction in this particular scene. And as I said, Kirsten's assistant overheard me saying that to Peter and then relayed it to Kirsten, and Kirsten then asked the director if it was really necessary for that creepy bald guy to be hanging around. But it wasn't…she wasn't having a kind of prima-donna hissy fit and she did not ask for me to be banned from the set and I did not subsequently get banned from the set. But the director let me know that it might be a good idea not to come back too often."
Did you come back after that?
Toby Young: "I did come back after that to film my cameo which if you blink you'll miss, by the way. It's that small. But I don't blame Kirsten for not wanting another chef kind of hanging around suggesting how the pot should be cooked. If I was writing a profile of Kirsten I certainly wouldn't want her breathing down my neck telling me what to write."
It's funny because I've seen this story relayed before in a couple of print articles and it does make her come across as kind of a diva demanding you off the set. But that does not sound at all like what happened.
Toby Young: "No, that really isn't what happened and she didn't behave like a diva during the making of the film at all. She couldn't have been sweeter."
