Going full throttle to become the most calamitous British production of the last 12 months, Red Light Runners is battling to patch together its financing so shooting can resume this week.

The UK-based car chase heist film, starring Michael Madsen and Harvey Keitel, was about a month into its shoot when it was forced to close down two weeks ago.

That disaster was merely the latest calamity to beset the production, which fell apart late last year when financing operation Fierce Entertainment denied any involvement despite producer Clark Westerman's claims.

Before that, Westerman and Madsen had made headlines by announcing they were aiming to raise $12m through UK tax mechanism the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), a move which failed to raise the budget.

The story of a rogue CIA operative in London, resurfaced last month when it started shooting with Nigel Warren Green, Michael Wearing, Mark O'Sullivan and Marcus Vinton producing. No financing details were given, but a spokesperson said this week that the production collapsed this time because a private backer pulled out.

Roy Scheider, Cillian Murphy, Crispin Glover, Rich Hall, Kate Ashfield and Peter O'Toole also star in the project, once billed as a "posterchild" for the EIS scheme.

Nick Egan, whose background is in music promos, was directing from a script by Ralph Brown.