Q&A: Toby Young

WWD: Have you seen the movie? If not, will you see it or attend the premiere, to which Toby said he’ll invite you?

Graydon Carter: I’m not sure of the date of the premiere, but I believe I have a previous engagement.

WWD: How do you feel about Jeff Bridges playing you?

G.C.: I was hoping for someone with a more developed pectoral region and more chiseled features for the part of the editor. But in a pinch, Jeff will just have to do.

WWD: Toby says you once described the book as an unauthorized biography of you. Is that true? And how accurate of a portrait did you find it?

G.C.: As a fictional work of nonfiction, the book has few peers.

WWD: The movie and, to some extent, the book portray a magazine that is under the thumb of celebrity publicists who first police access to the stars and then actually approve copy. How close is that to Vanity Fair’s reality?

G.C.: Plus, the publicists have to assign and edit the stories, and tell us how they like their coffee. The really good ones sell advertising, too.