Comedy / Drama (Withnail)

“I” is a paranoid, out of work actor played by Paul McGann, and REG plays Withnail, his eccentric, self-absorbed roommate – also an out of work actor. They live in a squalid bed-sit and the film is set in the last months of 1969.

Needing to “get away” from it all, mainly their drug dealer, rats and unpaid rent, they take a holiday at Uncle Monty’s country cottage.

The holiday is a disaster and Monty appears in time to try and get a leg over the very pretty “I”. The story is told from “I’s” point of view and is hilariously funny.

This film is an absolute must for any REG fan. A cult classic, and the “big break” REG was always waiting for.

Best REG line: Fork It!!

To check out some Withnail And I trivia just click here.

And to check out some of the "continuity mistakes" from Withnail And I just click here.

Horror (Giles Redferne)

A warlock escapes from 1691 Boston to 1991 LA, with a local witch-hunter (played by REG in a very dodgy outfit) in full time-warp pursuit. Julian Sands plays the dashing and very nasty Warlock, hunting for the Grand Grimoire, which is basically Satan’s Bible. REG must stop him at all costs and they drag poor Lori Singer into the mess. It’s a rare heroic role for REG, and highly entertaining.

Best REG lines (according to Theresa and April): “It lies in finding that damned book and thwarting a vile beast of a man who shall not rest until God Himself is thrown down and all of creation becomes Satan’s black, hell-besmeared, farting hole!!”

Also good is when he’s on the plane and the stewardess says “Can I take that for you, sir?” and he says “Over my rotting corpse!”

Drama (Writer / Director)

REG makes his directorial debut in this film which was also written by him. The film took over five years to get from page to screen and is Richard’s story of growing up in post-colonial Swaziland.

Best REG line:

Comedy ("Batman"/Godfrey)

REG appears in two sketches. The first a take-off of Jane Austen "role" – a batman to Alan Rickman’s General at Waterloo.

The second was a take-off of ER set in WI (that’s the Woman’s Institute) complete with American accents. REG played Godfrey – a man whose rhubarb preserve fails to make the grade and is forced to gatecrashing the jumble sale topless, donning a large hat with lipstick smeared around mouth and brandishing knitting needles!

Has to be seen to be fully appreciated!

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Twelfth Night – a.k.a. Twelfth Night: Or What You Will

Comedy (Sir Andrew Augecheek)

What a darkly seductive Twelfth Night Trevor Nunn has made, full of beauty and surprise. His glowing “Illyria” has a real, not a fairy-tale, feeling; there is the sense of real danger, real loss, real heartache to even its most preposterous excesses. And of course, because it’s Nunn, head of the Royal Shakespeare Company for so long, the lines have snap and savor and a blessed clarity. The first surprise is the age of his headstrong romantics, his muddled women who fall for other women in men’s disguise; his men who don’t notice that the guy they’ve been hanging out with is really a girl. He’s made them barely out of their teens, lovers-in-innocence, very young and very toothsome.

REG has a small part as the befuddled Sir Andrew Augecheek who is in love with the very beautiful Olivia, played by Helena Bonham Carter.

Read a lengthy article about the film if you like. Here’s Georgia’s rundown of the film.

Brother and sister Viola and Sebastian, who are not only very close but look a great deal alike, are in a shipwreck, and both think the other dead. When she lands in a foreign country, Viola dresses as her brother and adopts the name Cesario, becoming a trusted friend and confidante to the Count Orsino.

Orsino is madly in love with the lady Olivia, who is in mourning due to her brother’s recent death, which she uses as an excuse to avoid seeing the count, whom she does not love. He sends Cesario to do his wooing, and Olivia falls in love with the disguised maiden. Things get more complicated in this bittersweet Shakespeare comedy when a moronic nobleman, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and a self-important servant, Malvolio, get caught up in the schemes of Olivia’s cousin, the obese, alcoholic Sir Toby, who leads each to believe Olivia loves him. As well, Sebastian surfaces in the area, and of course there is Feste, the wise fool, around to keep everything in perspective and to marvel, like we the audience, at the amazing things happening all around.

Best REG line: “I can’t tell you what the play is about; you’ll have to ask some of the intelligent actors”