Working Title buys boo.com film rights

The film company that produced Notting Hill has bought the rights to another tale of incompetent bumblers rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous - the boo.com story.

Working Title, which produced a string of hits such as Bridget Jones's Diary and Four Weddings and a Funeral, has bought the rights to the story of the rise and spectacular fall of internet retailer boo.com.

boo.com, set up by youthful entrepreneurs Ernst Malmsten and Kajsa Leander, burned through hundreds of millions of venture capital dollars before going spectacularly bankrupt.

The company's management soon became notorious for their lavish lifestyle, as they flew on Concorde and mixed with Hollywood stars.

The launch was delayed, and the site was so laden with high-tech wizardry that few computers could access it - so orders failed to roll in.

After setting up 20 offices across the world, the company went bankrupt.

Earlier this year Malmsten wrote a book about his experiences, entitled Boo Hoo: A Dotcom Story from Concept to Catastrophe, and Working Title has bought an option to turn the book into a film.

Earlier this year the film Startup.com followed the life and death of a lower profile internet company, govWorks.com.

A spokesman for Working Title said it is too early to speculate about casting, but Hugh Grant, who has starred in many of the company's most successful productions, clearly has to be an early favourite to play the role of Malmsten.

Who would you cast as Malmsten and Leander? William Shatner? Woody Allen? Dame Judi Dench? Madonna? Go on, indulge yourself! How about Sting? Answers on an email please.