Always Crashing in the Same Car
Paul has recently been filming this short film in London with Richard E Grant, the first time the two have worked together since Withnail and I, 20 years ago.
Without spoiling the plot, Paul has kindly offered a little background information to how the film came about.
"Last year at the Dinard film festival in Brittany I ran into an English director called Duncan Wellaway. He was screening his short, Letters Of Service, a rather beautiful film about an old WW1 veteran being cared for in a home and based on a true story. I loved it, and when he asked me to be in his next one I said yes. After he'd come up with a script we swapped ideas as to who might play the other main role and, more pressingly, where we might get the finance. After Steven Mackintosh turned the the role down Duncan sheepishly suggested I ask Richard E Grant, figuring that not only would he be great casting but also, given the Withnail cult, our combination would make raising the dough a whole lot easier. And that's how it happened. After Richard agreed Zoe Ball stepped in as producer and brought the renascent Handmade Films in to bankroll the project. Poetic, considering Handmade had made Withnail. This will be their first production since the eighties."
Whilst not giving away the plot of the film, Paul did say he and Richard play rivals at work, grown men that act like children. He said it was a "joy to work with Richard again, after twenty years he's sharp and funny as ever." Richard's wife in the film is played by Susannah Harker, who was in the play 'Little Black Book' with Paul in 2003.
