MOST people would cringe at the thought of their father being portrayed on screen warts and all, especially if he’d been a controversial public figure and, perhaps, a less than perfect parent.

Not for Adrian Laing, son of RD Laing, the world-famous counter-culture psychiatrist and, with his seminal 1960 book The Divided Self, which revolutionised attitudes towards mental health; a major player in the profounder end of the swinging ‘60s academic assault on ‘the establishment’.

His reaction to the planned Ettinger Brothers Production biographical film, also called The Divided Self, about his father is typically direct: “I can’t wait to see it!”

As a high-flying lawyer and family man, Adrian Laing is about as far removed from the damaged or cowed son of a famous personality whose public notoriety transcended his own subject area. But he is protective of his father’s legacy in all its many positive and negative shades, with his watchword being ‘fairness’ in any appraisal of RD Laing’s reputation.

What makes the Ettinger Brothers Production different is that the screenwriter David Griffiths has used Adrian Laing’s biography, RD Laing: A Life of his father as primary source material, giving him reassurance that his ultimate portrayal on screen will indeed be ‘fair’.

However, that won’t detract from the fact this film will be a rollicking roller-coaster ride through RD Laing’s life. Set in a framework of a US lecture tour RD made in November-December 1972, such was his ‘I don’t give a damn’ behaviour that the roadie Danny Halperin found it difficult to keep up, in spite of previously being minder and fixer to outrageous bad boy heavy rockers including The Who.

Although his father walked out on the family and was largely absent from Adrian Laing’s life, by his 20s he was old enough and bright enough to confront courageously his father about his shortcomings and reach a rapprochement to form a mature relationship.

This doubtless helped to settle emotional scores and view his father’s character more equably. Adrian Laing concludes: “I’m caught in a bind that as a dad RD needed a good slapping and yet as a humanitarian and philosopher he deservedly lives on.”

Did father and son have any characteristics in comment? “We did share, fundamentally what, I’d call a ‘celtic spirit’, or sensibility. It’s not a spiritual characteristic more of a restrained pugilism liberated when excessive alcohol is imbued.

“That’s most Scots and Irishmen really. I did remind my dad I was born in Harlow and my mother was mostly English which prompted one of his furies in my direction: ‘You’re effing 100% Scottish. What the eff are you talking about? A dog born in a stable isn’t an effing horse!’.”

Besides RD Laing’s lasting influence on mental health thinking, his grip on the artistic imagination is also considerable. Already plays and films have sought to portray him, by writers including Patrick Marmion and Ian Pattison, with Scottish actors including David Tennant, Mike Moran, Alan Cox and Billy Mack.

“Any actor portraying my father should listen to his family and children. The challenge is not to mimic him as a method actor, but to capture his spirit.

“David Tennant asked to see me after I’d seen his portrayal of my dad and wanted my opinion. I said: ‘It’s not your fault … you did quite a good job!’ The Tennant film, as Adrian explained in a review for the BBC, was deeply flawed and very disappointing.

“Nobody yet has ‘pulled the sword out of the stone’ to really capture him, but I believe there is somebody out there who could do it. That’s why we’re still going because we believe the definitive film about my dad is yet to be made.

“Using RD’s six-week US tour is the best way to dramatize his life on film and show people what he was about in a wild buddy-road movie. We’re very lucky to find the right script writer in David Griffiths, who through a dynamic flow conveys the vitality and wildness of this man of many contradictions, yet who had this incredible ability to connect with very disturbed minds.

“I know a film will mean my personal view will be filtered and compromises made to reflect the creative input of the director and talent. I accept that, absolutely.

“The script has been seen by many specialist people and universally praised. Sandy Johnson, the director lined up for the project is brilliant with the most amazing track record in bringing incredibly diverse material to the screen.”

In spite of all the books, plays and screen versions about his father which have directly or indirectly by association involved Adrian Laing’s time and mental effort, it is a surprise to hear that he doesn’t miss him since he died.

“No, I don’t miss him. I loved him as my dad, but he was hard work. He had his time and played the role of RD Laing to the full.”

All the ideal elements, in fact, for the engrossing and stimulating film that The Divided Self promises to be.