A DISABLED football fan has joined forces with a Harry Potter villain in a bid to film the story of his life.

Darlington supporter Paul Hodgson – known to fellow fans as Flipper – is attempting to raise almost £700,000 to make Acceptance.

The film will be directed by Sean Cronin, who played villains in the Harry Potter and James Bond franchises and also appeared in The Mummy.

It is an adaptation of ‘Flipper’s Side’, a book that explores the life of devoted Quakers fan Mr Hodgson, who was left wheelchair bound after being diagnosed with meningitis as a child.

The “darkly humorous” Acceptance will challenge stereotypes around disability while showing how Mr Hodgson’s illness and a tough upbringing failed to stop him getting behind his team.

To raise funds for the film, the team has turned to Growthfunders, a crowdfunding platform which allows project-leaders to offer rewards in exchange for investment in their work.

Mr Hodgson said: “Making a film of my life has been a long-standing aim of mine. In the late 90s, I wrote my book and it was very well received, and now I have a great team working with me on Acceptance.

“By using GrowthFunders, I hope to get the crowd involved, and I hope it won’t only be Darlington fans who invest. I have made a lot of friends supporting the Quakers up and down the country and this opens involvement in the film up to not only these people but anybody, whether they like football or not, and it is a great opportunity to get this film made.”

The film will be developed by Mr Hodgson’s company PIMM Productions, which screened its last film An Unfortunate Woman at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

For more information or to invest in the project, visit growthfunders.com.