TEHRAN -- Producer Manuchehr Mohammadi and director Mohammad Rahmanian have withdrawn their application for the production license of “Seven Earths and One Sky”, ISNA reported on Saturday.

The director of the acclaimed play “Fans”, Rahmanian had penned the screenplay based on Mostafa Mastur’s novel “Pig Bone and Leprous Hands” and shooting was to begin in late July.

The Farabi Cinematic Foundation, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, has found fault with the adaptation and refused to grant a production license to the film.

“We hope that the Farabi Cinematic Foundation expresses carefully and with more prudence its views on the literary works picked up for cinematic adaptations,” the producer and the director said in a statement.

“It seems that the foundation’s definition of a cinematic adaptation of a literary work fundamentally defers from the accepted rules and regulations of this field… We hope that the connection between cinema and literature is managed in such a way so as to avoid wasting the time and money of artists and ruining their reputations,” the statement noted.

“Fans” stars Parviz Parastuii, Mahtab Nasirpur, and Habib Rezaii were to act in “Seven Earths and One Sky”, which was to be Rahmanian’s debut film.

“Fans”, a play about the soccer maniac Shelton family set in 1960s Manchester, was warmly welcomed during its Tehran performances last autumn. It was also staged in Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver in early June.

Rahmanian’s theatrical credits include “Interview”, “Bridge”, and “The Horses”.