An American film maker was inspired to shoot a documentary about the Island's most famous greeter-Johnny Barnes.

Matt Morris was in Bermuda in May working on the short film called "Mr. Happy Man".

He expects to submit the documentary to film festivals in the fall and said it could be shown around the United States as early as 2011. Mr. Morris admits he was fascinated with the 87-year-old who wakes up around 2.30 a.m. each morning and only misses one or two days a year.

The 27-year-old said: "I have never met someone who seems to be on just a higher plane of existence. The thing that really gets me (about Mr. Barnes) was I kept looking for something kind of relatable to me and thought what can I learn from him in terms of how do you devote your life to being that happy and how do you maintain that."

He asked Mr. Barnes if he ever had days when he was too tired to get up out of bed and wave to people beside Crow Lane in Hamilton.

"He just said 'no I never have a day like that. I go to sleep and wake up and God puts a song in my heart and I just give it away',"the documentarian said.

Mr. Morris first came across Johnny Barnes on Flickr, a site allowing people from around the world to share their photos.

He was amazed that someone could spend every morning of their lives greeting people and admitted:"I never heard of anyone doing that".

The documentarian began researching and was ecstatic when he learnt a short film of this magnitude had never been made of Mr. Barnes.

He contacted some people he knew on the Island and the rest was history.

He organised work permits, plane tickets and sponsors for the pricey project- and then approached Mr. Barnes to get his permission.

Mr. Morris said: "I called him up and it was one of those great things for me because when you have an idea for a film you are ultimately hoping it goes that way. Mr. Barnes said 'Good morning, I love you and I love your family, I will pray for you all.'

"And I said this is going to be good. Anyone that answers the phone that way, this is going to be good."

Mr. Morris worked with production company Panatel VDS Ltd. while on the Island. They are currently looking for people to give their thoughts on Mr. Barnes and his contributions for the documentary.

Interested parties can Email him at MattMorrisFilms@gmail.com or call Panatel on 296-4333.