Madeleine movie reports dismissed

Madeleine was last seen on 3 May 2007 in a resort in the Algarve

Madeleine McCann's parents have denied reports they are planning to make a movie about her disappearance.

Writing on his online blog, Madeleine's father Gerry McCann said speculation about a film deal was "simply untrue".

However, he did confirm there had been talks with a production company about making a documentary on the couple.

He said projects were assessed to see if they could help find Madeleine, who disappeared in Portugal, just before her fourth birthday, last May.

'Simply untrue'

Writing on his blog on Tuesday, Mr McCann said: "Some of the media coverage today has been at its worst since Kate and I were declared arguidos [formal suspects].

"We can categorically deny that we are considering a movie about Madeleine's disappearance. This is simply untrue.

"We are approached by a huge number of media outlets regarding a myriad of projects, only a tiny proportion of which we agree to.

"Each proposal is considered on whether it is likely to have a positive effect, either directly or indirectly on the search for Madeleine."

The media are making money out of the situation themselves and we feel it is only fair and right that some aspect of that should come to the fund to help find Madeleine Clarence Mitchell

He added that there had been a "preliminary discussion" with a production company about a documentary on the issues the family had faced since the disappearance of their daughter.

The McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said on Tuesday that there had been a meeting in December with the IMG film company, the firm behind the award-winning documentary Touching The Void.

He said the McCanns themselves had not attended the meeting, which discussed the possibility of making their daughter's disappearance into either a film or a TV drama.

Mr Mitchell said: "The media are making money out of the situation themselves and we feel it is only fair and right that some aspect of that should come to the fund to help find Madeleine.

"In this case we have had one meeting before Christmas. It was between myself, one other person and representatives from IMG."