China in his hand

11:44am Thursday 13th December 2007

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A FILM starring Bolton actor Joe O'Byrne is taking China by storm - even though his movie debut is yet to be released.

The independent producer and actor, from Winter Street, Halliwell, is set to release his first movie, Diary of a Bad Lad, which will be on DVD in the UK in the spring.

But it is already making waves in China, where it has been doing the rounds on pirate DVD.

And Chinese website www.movie.kuaiche.com allows people to vote on the film.

So far, 5,392 people have said they like it, with only one disagreeing.

The film is about a frustrated filmmaker who attempts to make a documentary about a businessman he believes is involved in property rackets, prostitution, pornography, and drug-trafficking.

In 2005, it was named by the British Film Council as one of the top 10 UK films of the year and it was selected for entry to Cannes International Film Festival.

Former Smithills School pupil Mr O'Byrne, aged 48, who played one of the lead roles, is pleased with the success in China and hopes it will be repeated in the UK.

He said: "I am surprised and delighted that it has got a following in China - we didn't expect it to be released over there.

"Now we hope it will be successful in the UK but there are a lot of mountains to climb.

"It is very hard for films to get screened in the UK unless they have a huge budget and a known star, so a lot of creative indie films are not getting an opportunity."

Mr O'Byrne gave up his more lucrative job in retail management 10 years ago to pursue his dream of being a filmmaker.

He said: "It was a radical change but you are only here once so I decided to go for it."

Mr O'Byrne is currently working on his second film, Looking For Lucky, which he wrote and stars in.