Lee blasts movie's 'lies'

Stewart Lee has hit out at film distributors Warner Bros for twisting his words for their posters publicising A Mighty Wind.

Adverts for the Christopher Guest movie bears the quote: "The film's genius... American folk of the Sixties gets the Spinal Tap treatment", attributed to Lee writing in the Sunday Times.

But the former stand-up has branded the poster "lies", saying that he used the word 'genius' about Guest's classic This Is Spinal Tap - not the new film.

In an email sent to fans via his website, he said: "The enthusiastic quote attributed to me is comprised of something I actually said about Spinal Tap, with the grammar re-interpreted, and some words I didn't even write."

The line about folk getting the Spinal Tap treatment was part of the introduction to the original article, published on January 4, and would have been written by a Sunday Times sub-editor, not Lee, who is one of the paper's music critics.

In his e-mail, the Jerry Springer opera director added: "I think A Mighty Wind is OK, but don't go and see it if American Splendour, Lost In Translation or Cold Mountain are on at a cinema near you. You can see their hearts are in the right place. The end is a bit rubbish though."

Published: 22 Jan 2004