Verne Troyer appears to be a man of two halves. On the one hand, reacting to allegations that he had been ‘cracking on’ to Danny Dyer’s wife at the Pride Of Britain awards (of all places), Troyer mentions that he would ‘never disrespect someone by hitting on their wife’. However, he seems perfectly happy to ‘disrespect’ Mr Dyer by impugning his acting career, labelling him a ‘so-called-actor’ one that ‘I wouldn’t know who you were if you were standing in front of me’.
Ouch. Respect is clearly important to the actor – whose website smacks of ‘the street’ – but there is a difference between dissing your perceived inferiors and displaying the unflappable manners one would expect of a gentleman. Rise above it – and if you must be verbally abusive, make it about something more cutting than status anxiety. Get to the root of the man, and cut his legs out from under him – then walk to greener pastures, martini in hand.
Mr Troyer may have become a star through the Austin Powers movies, but his acting career is not significantly more impressive than Mr Dyer’s, whose cheeky chappie persona has often morphed into something more subtle in a surprisingly long list of films. Who’s right here is immaterial, as it’s impossible to know which side is telling the truth – but it’s a lesson in measured reaction.
Photo: Glenn Francis.
News hour, with Jerry Caesar 