PLANS for a bronze of Brief Encounter film director David Lean in Carnforth may well have hit the cutting room floor.

The late movie maker's daughter contacted Carnforth Station Trust to say that Lean had said, during his life, that he did not want a statue to ever be made of him. Instead, he wanted to be remembered through his films, Carnforth Town Council clerk Philip Charnley told the Gazette.

"As soon as the town council had been told that a statue of the director would be unacceptable to David Lean's family they withdrew their support," said Mr Charnley.

"The idea of the project was to honour David Lean, not to go against his wishes.

"A sculpture of anyone else associated with David Lean’s work would be acceptable to his family and so would possibly get the support of the town council. This means that there may yet be a sculpture, not of David Lean himself."

Mr Charnley said the situation was now with sculptor Laura Lian, who has her studio in Wells, Somerset.

"She has previously expressed an interest in a sculpture of Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson [the stars of Brief Encounter]. Nothing has been decided with regard to this."

Scenes from the black-and-white classic Brief Encounter were shot at Carnforth railway station in 1945, and the platform's refreshment rooms inspired one of the film sets. The movie scooped the Grand Prize of the Cannes Film Festival the following year.

David Lean won best director Oscars for Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and was nominated for Doctor Zhivago, A Passage to India, Great Expectations and Brief Encounter.

He died in 1991, and a celebration of his life and works runs at Carnforth Station Heritage Centre until December 31.