A prankster whose bizarre online advert for a housemate-come-walrus inspired a Hollywood film has been flown to the States and made an associate producer.

Cult director Kevin Smith was so taken by Chris Parkinson’s fake housemate notice on Gumtree that he decided to make it into a film, called Tusk.

He managed to track down the Brighton performance-poet and earlier this month flew him on to the set all-expenses-paid.

The 32-year-old told The Argus he now hopes the film, which is set for release next year, will get a worldwide Brighton premiere.

He said: “It was quite incredible really. I was on the way to the airport at 4am on November 11 and by the afternoon I was on set in North Carolina.

“Everyone out there was just lovely. They kept saying things like ‘if it wasn’t for your freaky ideas then we wouldn’t be working on this film’.

“The special effects guy, who was doing some incredible things, just said to me ‘you’ve got one hell of a twisted mind boy’.”

The serial prankster’s fake Gumtree advert went viral when it was posted in June.

The advert featured a man who had befriended a walrus called Gregory while living on a remote island off Alaska.

Upon leaving he was said to be “heartbroken”.

The advert offered free rent in a Queen’s Park flat for anyone willing to wear a walrus suit for two hours a day.

Mr Smith, who is best known for his film Jay and Silent Bob, vowed on his weekly podcast to make a film of the bizarre prank.

True to his word he started filming just a few weeks ago.

Mr Parkinson, who is still recovering from jet lag at his Brighton home, said: “It has been a tiring week or so.

“We were on set for 14 hours a day before they flew me over to New York.

“I told him I’d never been to America before – in fact it was only the second time I’d been on a plane – so he said I must go and see New York.

“They paid for everything, it was incredible.”

Although not much can be revealed about the plot, the film is said to follow his original advert.

Mr Parkinson added: “It’s a bit more sinister. It’s kind of part horror part black comedy. It’s really funny though, they were still making changes to it when I was there. I even got to make a cameo appearance.

“The problem is I’m back now and telling all my friends about it and they think it’s just the next part of the prank.”

The film is set to be released in the second half of next year.