SO many people die in the novel Rod Glenn is turning into a film that he has obscured the fact the location is based on Haydon Bridge.

The tag line to Sinema: The Northumberland Massacre is ‘Welcome to Haydon. Population 392...391...390... ‘ and that’s the reason he relocated it to somewhere near Rothbury.

“It is loosely based on Haydon Bridge,” said the actor and author, “but much of it had to be made up, because of all the bloodshed!”

The novel itself topped one of Amazon’s best-seller lists in 2011/2012 for several months and it just begged for a celluloid version.

Rod and the production company behind him,called AbandonHope, are now seeking the funds, including sponsorship from local businesses, to turn the feature film into reality. It will be shot exclusively in the North-East.

“We’re currently casting the principal roles and talking to a few well-known North-East actors,” he said.

“I will be playing the lead role, the serial killer Han Whitman. He does what he does as an experiment, to see if he can kill and then go back to leading a normal life.

“He’s not a damaged person in that he’s had a happy childhood and has a good job and he’s otherwise a nice guy - readers tell me they find it hard to dislike him and that’s been part of the interest.

“Essentially it’s me/my character, but with this killer side added. Several friends got in touch with my wife after reading the book to say ‘Are you still happy to be with this guy?’”

His laughter is reassuring, particularly when you’ve just discussed the catalogue of television and film roles he’s played of late. They include parts in Ripper Street, The Fairy Flag, Fury and The Hollow Crown.

He’s burly in stature and possesses some military experience, including several years as a Royal Military Police reservist, training in close protection and surveillance work, and a stint as a personal bodyguard in London, so more often than not he’s cast as the tough guy.

In one of his real-life roles, he was proprietor of The Computer Shop on Hexham’s Hencotes, until he sold the business (last summer) to two members of staff.

By then it was just getting in the way of the writing and acting career he really wanted.

“My life is split between them 50:50,” he said. “I started both at a very early age.”

From first school onward, he was in all the plays and ultimately studied performing arts at North Tyneside College of Further Education.

The years in which he matured as both a reader and writer were just as drama-laden. “I was always an avid reader, from about eight years old, and started reading horrors and thrillers earlier than I should have done.

“I had a very vivid imagination too, even in my dreams. I’d wake up in the morning and think ‘that’s a good idea for a story’, so I started keeping a notepad by my bed.”

His school compositions always ended up as either science fiction or horror stories and blessed with a supportive teacher, he began writing his first novel when he was 15.

He said: “It took another 13 years and about 10 re-drafts, which totally changed it from that first naive story, but it was eventually published in 2006 as The King of America.

Sinema: The Northumberland Massacre was written as a stand-alone book, but subsequently turned into a trilogy, mainly due to the shed-load of emails he received from fans keen to know what happened to Han Whitfield after his murder spree.

“So I wrote Sinema 2: Sympathy for the Devil and people just ate that up,” said Rod. “I didn’t leave a cliffhanger this time – Han actually dies at the end – but I managed to resurrect him.

“I was chatting to a friend with similar interests and a chance comment made me realise ‘my God, I know how I can bring him back’.

“Basically an assassins’ guild steals him back from the brink of death and the bloodshed continues in Sinema 3: The Troy Consortium.

“I don’t have any intention of writing a fourth!”

AbandonHope is busy making what will be both the trailer for the film and the taster that will hopefully appeal to would-be sponsors. Filming is scheduled to start for real in November.

Rod said: “It involves a huge cast, multiple locations, including many in the Hexhamarea, and a gripping snowstorm finale, so we expect this to be the largest independent feature film the North-East has ever seen.”