West End Withnail & Jude

Cult film Withnail & I is to be turned into a West End show - with Jude Law lined up as a possible lead.

The stage adaptation of the 1987 movie, which starred Richard E Grant and Paul McGann as two drink-addled wastrel actors, is expected to premiere in London next summer.

It will be a co-production between HandMade Films, the company that made the original work, and theatre producer Laurence Myers, the man behind this year's stage production of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf ?.

Revealing details of the project today, HandMade's chairman Patrick Meehan said: "We're just about to start on casting.

"We were looking at Richard E Grant to reprise Withnail but we think he's too old. We have spoken with Jude Law's agent and we're waiting to hear. Paul McGann's past it for his role as well."

Richard Griffiths puts in an unforgettable performance as Uncle Monty, whose country cottage the two men visit.

A spokesman for Griffiths - currently on Broadway in The History Boys - said the actor had not been approached but added: "He is available next summer, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that he could be back."

Mr Meehan said the play would open outside London next spring before transferring to the West End. He promised it would stay true to the film script. "It is not going to be a musical. It will stick to the original," he said.