In new film about Paul Raymond

Steve Coogan is to play London porn baron Paul Raymond in a new film, it has been confirmed.

He will star in Michael Winterbottom's comedy-drama King of Soho, alongside Anna Friel, Tamsin Egerton and Imogen Poots

Raymond amassed a £1.5billion fortune from adult entertainment, nightclubs – and investing in the central London property market.

Winterbottom previously worked with Coogan on 24-Hour Party People and A Cock And Bull Story.

Coogan said: ‘I'm very excited to be working with Michael Winterbottom again. Like 24 Hour Party People, we want to capture the life of an extraordinary man living in extraordinary times.’

Winterbottom said: ‘The King of Soho chronicles the colourful life and times of Paul Raymond, who began his career on stage as an end-of-the-pier mind-reader and ended his life the richest man in Britain. It's the perfect role for Steve Coogan.’

King of Soho It is being made by Winterbottom’s Revolution Films with Film Four and Coogan’s company Baby Cow.

The screenplay is being written by Matt Greenhalgh, based on Willetts’ biography Members Only: The Life and Times of Paul Raymond. Greenhalgh previously adapted a biography of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis into the acclaimed 2007 film Control.

Raymond’s Revuebar was also a significant venue in the early days of alternative comedy, as it was home to The Comic Strip troupe that included Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.

Nigel Planer once said: ‘The Raymond Revuebar was a strange place because in the interval our non-racist, non-sexist audience would walk into the bar where there were soft-porn videos playing. A most paradoxical venue.’

Published: 17 Feb 2012