YouTube sensation and Irish high king of a good night's kip Mattress Mick has said that a new documentary about his rise and fall and rise again had to be as true to life as possible.
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment, Michael Flynn, the bedding impresario, who adopted the Mattress Mick persona several years ago, said: "Mattress Mick is portrayed as a very happy character in his advertising and his marketing but behind Mattress Mick there is a story and it's told very well in the film - I'm a real guy. I had my difficulties, I had my sufferings."
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Watch our interview with Michael Flynn and Paul Kelly
The film, which is called Mattress Men and is directed by documentary maker Colm Quinn, centres on Paul Kelly, a part-time Mattress Mick employee who brings new life back to Flynn's failing business by turning him into a zany character who has since become a minor sensation as a viral YouTube hit.
When things take off, Kelly asks for a full-time job with MIchael. However, tension between the old friends soon arises.
"When Colm Quinn suggested we make this film, I knew my story would be told," Kelly told RTÉ Entertainment. "I also knew we has to be completely open and honest for this story to be told. There's a lot of things I'm not proud of. 90% of Irish people are going through the same struggle as I am.
"I had nothing to lose, only to gain in making this film. I knew this was a strong story of Irish people fighting back to make something of ourselves."
Read our review of Mattress Men here. The film goes on general release on October 7 and is also available on demand.
