BRUCE ROBINSON - ROBINSON: 'WITHNAIL PRODUCERS ONLY INTERESTED IN MONEY'

LATEST: Writer/director BRUCE ROBINSON is enraged Hand Made Films want to stage WITHNAIL + I in London's West End, insisting they are only interested in making cash. Robinson can't believe the production company, which made the original film in 1987, expects him to grant permission for a theatrical production, when he insists he hasn't even been paid his full director's fee nearly 20 years after the movie's release. Robinson says, "It's scandalous. The film of Withnail + I that I wrote and directed is what I wanted to say. "Anything ancillary to that seems to be an attempt to wring out an old teabag for money." Patrick Meehan, chairman of Handmade Films, accepts Withnail + I cannot hit the stage without Robinson's consent. Robinson adds, "He does not have the contractual rights to put Withnail + I on in the West End or the Outer Hebrides. "He would have the right to put on the play in the West End providing he had my agreement, in the same way as I could put it on if I had his agreement."