tobyyoung.co.uk

Langan Speaks

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Here's Sean's account of his three-month kidnap ordeal in the Daily Mail and the Observer.

Sean Langan

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I saw my friend Sean Langan last night (pictured here enjoying a drink with John Le Carre at a wedding in France last year). He flew back into London yesterday, having been held captive for 12 weeks in the Tribal Areas that divide Pakistan from Afghanistan. Everyone who knew about his incarceration agreed to keep it out of the media until he was safe, reasoning that if the story became public the stakes would be raised and that might delay his release.

In the Theatre, No One Knows Anything, Either

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Afterlife, the new play by Michael Frayn, is not a success. A meditation on the life of Max Reinhardt, the great Jewish impresario, it incorporates dozens of scenes from Everyman, a medieval morality play that Reinhardt staged at the Salzburg Festivalin 1920. This continual switching back and forth makes for an unsatisfactory experience.

Q & As

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I did a couple of Q & As about the movie recently. You can read them here and here.

Big Brother 9

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Will the current series of Big Brother be the last? It looks that way, in spite of the fact that it continues to do well in the ratings. Last Sunday's episode was watched by 3.2 million people, around the same number the show was attracting at the same stage last year. The problem with Big Brother is not that it no longer holds a mirror up to society, but that it still does.

Sky Arts interview at Hay-on-Wye

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

ES Diary

Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

It wasn't until Stephen Woolley handed me the microphone that I realised I was expected to say something. Stephen is the producer of How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, the forthcoming film of my autobiographical book, and we were holding a small press event in Cannes for British and Australian journalists. The plan was to show them a couple of clips from the film and then answer questions.

Because they Cannes

Sun, 25 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Last week I attended the Cannes film festival and since returning I have been trying to work out what the point of it is.
On the face of it, this isn't a difficult question. It is an opportunity for filmmakers to sell the distribution rights to their projects in various foreign territories. To take just one example, that is why the producers of There Are Dark Forces, the documentary about the Diana inquest, decided to show a 20-minute extract from their unfinished film to a succession of journalists.

Adventures in Cannes

Sat, 17 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Just back from Cannes where I was promoting the forthcoming film of How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. You can read about my adventures here or see some video footage of Simon Pegg, Stephen Woolley and me promoting the film here.

New Poster for How to Lose Friends

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100