'You're really going to be fine': celebrity cameos, toast (2010) and the British biopic
Journal article
Authors | Robinson, M. |
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Abstract | When a biopic includes a cameo appearance from the subject themselves, it can serve as a persuasive claim to authenticity: what more powerful endorsement is there than figures appearing in their own life stories? Less common is the interaction between the subject and their on-screen surrogate which occurs in Toast (2010), an adaptation of food writer Nigel Slater’s memoir. Slater himself appears in the film as a Savoy chef who offers his younger self (played by Freddie Highmore) a job in a London kitchen. This interaction visualises characteristics of the memoir genre, the meeting between a past and present self, and affords rehabilitation: in representing visually the memoirist as witness to their own traumatic past, the adaptation suggests a ‘working through’ of childhood traumas associated with an abusive father. Toast also hints at the cameo’s capacity to intervene in the memoirist’s past in a manner which reflects the ‘corrective’ possibilities evident in different forms of life-writing. In having Slater offer his younger self reassurance – ‘you’re really going to be fine’ – the memoirist embodies the caring father he himself lacked. In Toast’s telling, time really is a great healer, provided you are willing to exploit the potential of the cameo appearance. |
Keywords | Cameo; Toast; Memoir ; Biopic |
Year | 2024 |
Journal | Celebrity Studies |
Journal citation | pp. 1-15 |
Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
ISSN | 1939-2400 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2024.2357085 |
Web address (URL) | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19392397.2024.2357085 |
Publisher's version | License File Access Level Open |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 22 May 2024 |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 27 Jun 2024 |
https://repository.derby.ac.uk/item/q70qv/-you-re-really-going-to-be-fine-celebrity-cameos-toast-2010-and-the-british-biopic
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Publisher's version
You re really going to be fine celebrity cameos toast 2010 and the British biopic.pdf | ||
License: CC BY 4.0 | ||
File access level: Open |
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