Biggs film ‘planned for re-release’
A film co-written by Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs is set to be re-released after the makers found renewed interest in the story following the fugitive’s return to Britain last week.
A Prisoner of Rio is a semi-fictional account of Biggs’s life in Brazil and police attempts to bring him to justice.
The film, which stars Paul Freeman as Biggs and Steven Berkoff as the police officer pursuing him, flopped when it was when it was first released in British cinemas in 1988.
But the company which now owns the rights to the film - Movie Fan from Denmark - is hoping to cash in on recent events and re-release it for British television audiences.
The movie, which Biggs co-wrote with Julia Frantel was directed by Lech Majewski and also starred Desmond Llewelyn, best known for his role as Q in the Bond Films.
Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival the producer of the movie, Juliusz Kossakowski said as soon as he heard the news about Biggs’s return to Britain, he saw the potential for a re-release.
‘‘We were driving to Cannes from Copenhagen last week when we heard the news about Ronnie and we thought we have to get that movie back out.
‘‘Since we arrived here we have had a lot of interest from people who are fascinated by the story of Ronnie,’’ he said.
Penniless Biggs, who is now in Belmarsh Prison in London waiting to appeal against his sentence for the 1963 heist, still has rights on the film script and should the sale of the movie prove successful could receive royalties.
But under current law convicted criminals are not allowed to benefit from their crimes.
Prisoner of Rio, which was shot in the Brazilian city where Biggs has lived ever since escaping from Wandsworth Jail, contained a twist which the film makers claim proved the fugitive always intended to give himself up.
In the movie Biggs admits that the only way he could ever gain freedom would be to stop running and that the ultimate escape would be to get himself caught.
The film’s co-executive producer, Michael Lunderskov, said: ‘‘Ronnie has lived his life very intensely and now when he is unwell he has decided that the time is right to go home.
‘‘I believe this is something he has always planned because even in the film, which was written 13 years ago, he gave himself up and it was he who insisted we put that scene it in the script.’’
However the movie has a happy ending for Biggs after he escapes the law once again and remains in Rio.
Judy Totton, a public relations consultant hired by the Biggs family, yesterday announced that he was lodging an appeal against the remainder of his 30-year sentence.
‘‘We will now begin the process of preparing an application to the Court of Appeal inviting them to consider whether it is appropriate or necessary for Mr Biggs to serve a sentence of 28 years’ imprisonment,’’ she said.
Biggs will first have to ask the Court of Appeal to ‘‘exceptionally grant leave to appeal against the sentence’’.
He may, alternatively, ask the Criminal Cases Review Committee to refer the case to the Court of Appeal, said Ms Totton.
