veteran actor richard e grant plays the pre—eminent novelist, a man obsessed with finishing his latest work. but at what cost? if you're asking whether my son's death has inspired my writing, the answer is no, i will not be writing about his death, i will be writing in spite of it. i knew that we had a clever, witty script. i didn't know was how funny it was going to turn out to be in the edit. what richard brings, he made his name on withnail and i, the same sort of role that brings you comedy but complete tragedy, he can encompass both. it is one of his finest performances, he is splendid in it. the film has a very english feel to it but it was actually shot in hamburg in germany.