Having portrayed recently deceased Factory Records magnate Tony Wilson as a pretentious, yet lovable blow-hard in the film “24 Hour Party People,” Steve Coogan has written the requisite and affectionate eulogy titled, “Why Tony Wilson Will Never Leave Me,” for the UK Guardian.
Is it a mea culpa for this douche-portraying transgression? Apparently the two became rather buddy-buddy when they promoted the film together in 2002.
Coogan wrote: “It’s almost impossible to describe Tony in a sentence, you end up with a long list of adjectives – some of them paradoxical. But let me have a go: Lyrical, poetic, unselfconscious, very self-conscious, unsentimental, a bit sentimental, uncynical, enthusiastic, Teflon-coated, vulnerable.”
Early on, before the film was made and Wilson was shown the script, he wisely recognized fiction always trumps fact. “If it’s a choice between the truth and the legend, print the legend,” Wilson said, quoting John Ford.
This might be the best quote: “Put simply, he showed it wasn’t poofy to wear nice clothes and use long words.” It’s a great read.