It can’t be easy having played a character once described as “the most barking British presence in the movies ever”, but Richard E Grant has nothing but fondness for Withnail, of Withnail and I fame; the manic, alcoholic, permanently resting actor with a penchant for lighter fluid, who first pill popped his way across film screens in 1986, launching Grant’s career in the process. Ten years on Bruce Robinson’s Withnail and I is deemed a classic cult film, with a re-release earlier this year entering the national film charts as number 13.

I first came across Richard E. Grant browsing in the Royal National Theatre bookshop, which seems apt as he confesses to reading a lot and gives a favourable mention to Rose Tremain, author of Restoration. “I have read everything that she has written.”

A soon to be published author in his own right, his forthcoming film diaries With Nails, published in May by Picador, chronicles fir film work, including time spent hanging out in Hollywood with a multitude of celebrities, and promises to be very gossipy, witty read. How did the idea for the book come about?

“When I was working on the Robert Altman film Pret-A-Porter two years ago, the Arts Editor from The Observer contacted me and asked if I could write a diary of the film, not knowing that I kept diaries anyway. Because of the successful way they were received, I got a literary agent who asked me to write about the making of Withnail and I.”

To read more from this cool old article that Pat managed to find, click here. Thanks Pat!