"Maybe he's written this in some moment of drunken sincerity."

From the documentary Withnail and Us - insights from Bruce Robinson (director/screenwriter), Richard E Grant (Withnail), Paul McGann (I), and Ralph Brown (Danny).

The Movie

"It's a badly shot film; it's got great dialogue in it though."
Bruce Robinson
"Two actors, out of work actors, the end of the sixties. And they live in this certain squalor in Camden Town."
Paul McGann
"They go on, you know, a misshapen holiday into the countryside and everything goes arse over teacup."
Richard E Grant
"It's a lesson to all filmmakers everywhere that you don't need a good plot."
Ralph Brown
"I just found it amusing, it made me laugh: the predicament of the thespian in crisis."
Bruce Robinson

The Characters

"Bruce Robinson described this character [Withnail] as a lying, mendacious, cowardly, prancing, posing, utterly charming old darling."
Richard E Grant
"Marwood was like that little grain of sand - that little portion of your brain, your sense, you know, the one that gets you home when you're out of your head."
Paul McGann
"Danny is described in the, uh, in the stage directions as a - a wrecked, purple haired, drug dealing, wise fool."
Ralph Brown

Why we love Withnail and I

"Well I'm biased, you know, 'cause I'm in it, and 'cause I love it."
Paul McGann
"Because it's very very good, but I don't know why it's very very good."
Ralph Brown
"I have no idea, other than that I just assume there are people who have the same kind of sense of humor."
Richard E Grant
"People identify with something in there, not just, I don't think, the drink and the drugs and the laughs. I think it's a bit more to it than that."
Ralph Brown
"What I think it does do, um, Withnail, is touch that moment we've all had where we're all broke, all starving, all-aspiring, and all-knowing that it might not work in our lives, you know, and for one of 'em it does not, definitely, and for one of 'em it might."
Bruce Robinson