Letters | 13 September 2008

Taking care of Toby

Sir: Kirsten Dunst never insisted that I ban Toby Young (Status anxiety, 6 September) from the set of How To Lose Friends & Alienate People. Toby’s piece stemmed from a recent article of mine in Empire magazine. In his opening paragraph, he says he learned from it that ‘the reason I was banned from the set of the film is because Kirsten Dunst insisted on it’. But Toby didn’t read my article before he wrote his.

For the record, Kirsten told me on set that Toby had given her a performance note. (Toby says she overheard him give a note about her performance to a third party. The difference is negligible and entirely unacceptable behaviour either way.) Kirsten, a true professional, whose performance was never anything other than spot-on, was understandably bugged, but not nearly as much as I was. When she politely asked if it was necessary that Toby continue to visit the set, I replied, ‘Consider it taken care of.’