One of the stars of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is at the centre of a row with a trade union over his invitation to the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).

 

The film union Bectu said the red carpet should not be rolled out for Malcolm McDowell, who appeared in the 1971 chilling crime drama, after a Scottish film crew claimed they were left thousands of pounds out of pocket when his pet project collapsed just days before shooting.

The union has written to festival organisers demanding that the invitation to McDowell be withdrawn.

Tho row centres of a film project entitled, Monster Butler, a £7 million crime drama based on the true story of Archibald Hall, a Glasgow-born butler, who killed five people in the 1970s.

McDowell had been developing the film for years and it looked on course to be filmed in Scotland three years ago.

McDowell was one of the producers and was meant to appear with fellow actor Gary Oldman.

The crew worked on it for months and elaborate sets were built at Gosford House in East Lothian.

Despite overdue wages, mounting bills and several postponements, crew continued working because McDowell gave personal assurances that they would be paid.

Paul McManus of the film technician's union BECTU said: "We did an investigation on the company in Canada and basically our lawyers advised that there was no money and no assets."

He said: "To see Malcolm return to Scotland to promote himself and his latest work is, quite frankly, grossly insulting to BECTU and its members. In our opinion the film festival has displayed a significant lack of sensitivity towards the freelance film community in Scotland by extending this invitation to him and we believe this should be withdrawn."

Mr Birt said he is owed about £7,000, but estimates suggest that unpaid wages and bills run to hundreds of thousands.

He added: "Some companies almost went bankrupt," he said. "The props company built the main set. By the time it all folded they couldn't afford to pay people to take that set back down. That set is actually still up to this very day."

He said he understood that the producers simply did not raise enough money to get the film made.

Abbi Collins, a stunt coordinator, posted on the film festival website: "Malcolm MacDowell made the point of assuring us at the production meeting, 'the money was in place to fund the film and pay us all, otherwise he would not be part of it.'

"He also didn't have the decency to put an apology in writing to any of us once it officially folded...Shame on the EIFF if they go ahead with this Q&A."

The film was being made by a Canadian company called Dark House Films, which has only one film listed on the Internet Movie Database - a little-seen horror film from 2011 called The Unleashed, which featured McDowell as narrator.

An EIFF spokeswoman said: "The festival really can't comment on his previous film as we were not party to what took place. Malcolm is coming to the festival to promote his new film Bereave and we look forward to welcoming him."

California-based McDowell, who played a young delinquent in Kubrick's 1971 movie, was unavailable for comment. The EIFF event will centre on the highlights of his "impressive career."