A BRADFORD postman turned moviemaker has lined up actress Julia Robert's big brother, Eric, for a role in his latest film.

Ian Reed, 49, from Wyke, is the man behind The Dark Return Of Time, a supernatural mystery thriller which he says will be shot in Paris early next year.

Mr Reed, who grew up in Allerton as a latch-key kid with a dad doing time in jail, now has his own film company and says his tough Bradford upbringing drove him to make the big time.

From working as a postman, to becoming a hotel manager then running his own property companies, he started looking for alternative investments and followed his passion for films into the movie industry.

"It's all been quite a rollercoaster ride from my early days which weren't easy," said Mr Reed, who has six other films shortly to go into production and has about 20 already under his belt, having acted in some himself.

His company, Reed Film Production & Entertainment, based from home, has successfully secured the £500,000 funding he needed to go ahead with making The Dark Return Of Time, based on a novel of the same name and created by author R.B Russel.

The star-studded cast will also feature Russian supermodel Gia Skova, British actor James Cosmo, known to millions in Games of Thrones, and singer Olivia Lawson, who was knocked out of BBC's The Voice show this year and will be making her acting debut.

Hollywood idol Eric Roberts will play Dennis Bennett in the movie after agreeing to drop his usual daily fee of £15,000 to just £1,000, revealed Mr Reed, who puts his shrewd business skills down to his Yorkshire roots.

Investors in the film can at least expect to get £3 or £4 back for every £1 they invested, plus a red carpet invite and a chance to star in his movies with their names in the credits, he said.

In The Dark Return Of Time, Dennis Bennett's son Flavian comes to visit his father's British bookshop in Paris hoping to leave his troubled past behind but soon after arriving, he witnesses a violent crime.

A mysterious customer, Reginald Hopper, may be implicated. Hopper involves Flavian in his search of a rare and strange book called The Dark Return of Time, which he thinks is the key to unlock his past. The plot thickens when a young woman called Candy Smith believes Hopper is a villain and asks Flavian to help expose him.

"The futures and past of these three characters collide in an explosive and shocking denouement," said Mr Reed, who expects the film to take about 15 weeks to make in all before it is released on DVD, blu ray and selected cinemas and theatres.

After that, it will be sold overseas and to film streaming services such Love Film and Netflix. It will also be offered for sale to any aircraft, cruise ship and hotel that flies the British flag, said the father-of-two who went to Rhodesway School.