Hitting back

I’m SITTING in London’s Heathrow airport, recovering from several days of a grueling UK press junket to promote my film “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People.” So imagine my confusion, having just seen Chris Lee’s article on Toby Young (“Misbehaving Works for Him,” Sept. 28) in which Lee cites my declining to be interviewed for his piece as being “ . . . certainly not a vote of confidence for the film.” Pardon the indelicacy, but where does Lee get off?

Before this trip abroad, I was juggling a week of stateside screenings and interviews, as well as deadlines for guest columns I was writing. In the midst of all this, I received a publicist’s e-mail requesting an interview for a Times article, not on my film, per se, but about Toby Young -- the author of the memoirs upon which Peter Straughan’s screenplay was loosely based. Unable to prioritize my time for an article about Young, I chose to pass on the interview. Lee’s presumption that this showed a lack of confidence in the film, which I have been working so hard to promote, was simply boneheaded and vindictive.

Robert Weide

Studio City

Weide is the director of “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People.”