THE tale of a baby born in a caravan in a snow storm who grew up to be the world’s richest gypsy has already captivated millions – so it’s no wonder Hollywood is now courting Alfie Best.
A documentary about his life, Gypsy Billionaire, is currently No1 in Amazon Prime’s European chart — beating Taylor Swift’s Eras World Tour and Tom Cruise’s Lights, Camera, Action.
And now there is talk of making a movie about mobile home tycoon Alfie, who is keen to see Brad Pitt in the lead role.
Alfie said: “I’m blown away. I sell caravans for a living. That’s not sexy.
“Who’d ever think that a humble mobile home park operator would have a documentary beating Tom Cruise and Taylor Swift?”
Alfie, at No 232 in last year’s Sunday Times Rich List, which valued him at £745million — though he is reckoned to have since topped £1billion — runs Wyldecrest Parks, which owns 119 holiday and residential parks from Aberdeen to Land’s End, a country club in Essex and a string of rental villas in Barbados.
He lives in a £6million mansion, has a £4.5million Airbus helicopter styled by Aston Martin — with the registration 007 — and a supercar collection worth £12million, including a £2.7million Bugatti Chiron.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, 53-year-old Alfie said: “When people hear the word ‘billionaire’ they think of grandeur beyond belief and when they hear the word ‘gypsy’ they think liar and thief.
“The two things don’t go together, do they? But the title is good — and true.”
Remarkably, Alfie admits he was not keen to make the documentary, which won plaudits when it was first shown at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival last May.
Critics among the 150 guests invited to a screening on Alfie’s £9million yacht, Wyldecrest, moored in the French resort’s swanky marina, raved about the film.
Alfie said: “It’s like looking through a rose-tinted glass at somebody else.
“I’m suffering with a bit of impostor syndrome. I didn’t expect it to do as well as it has done.
“I didn’t really see this as an opportunity, that is the truth.
“There was no budget for advertising but the documentary just keeps trending and trending. It seems to have hit a spot with the public.”
And he certainly didn’t expect Hollywood to come calling.
He said: “The documentary was made by Joel Van der Molen, and he called me to say, ‘We’ve been approached by one of the mainstream studios and they want to make a feature film’.
“It’s absolutely crazy but overwhelming, flattering and a bit surreal. If they do make the movie, or they don’t make it in the end, even to consider it is beyond belief.”
When I ask Alfie who he would like to play him in a Hollywood movie, he replied: “Come on, we’ve got to go down the road of Brad Pitt, he has already played a traveller.”
Brad, 60, was Mickey O’Neil — the gypsy fighter with the unintelligible Irish accent — in Guy Ritchie’s 2000 movie Snatch.
Alfie, who is married to Emily-Jane and has two children, Elizabeth, 29, and Alfie Jr, 26, joked: “Brad Pitt knows the culture. I’m going to invite him over, park him in a caravan outside the house. I’m going to sleep in my silk sheets, he is going to get an old blanket with holes in. There is no heating. He’ll be a true gypsy.”
Producer Joel first approached Alfie three years ago with the idea of making a documentary about his life and his views on the world.
Alfie said: “I really, genuinely didn’t want to, not because I am shy of a camera. I’d already had a success doing a programme called Undercover Big Boss (ITV, 2021), which was received really well. I’m not an actor, I’m not a celebrity, so I don’t want to give up my day job and try to become one, because I think I would fail. I thought ‘lightning doesn’t strike twice’ and when somebody says they want to make a documentary about the economy, your life and where you come from and how that interacts with the rest of the world, that makes you think, ‘Hold on, we’re punching above our weight here’.
“But Joel badgered me for about three months. I then decided, ‘OK, this is a man who is committed’.
“He actually said he was going to put his own money behind the documentary.” One of the talking heads in it is actress Claire Sweeney, a friend of Alfie and his family since they met in Majorca ten years ago.
He said: “She has been genuinely a rock. Whenever I’ve had problems in my life, Claire has been there, picked up the phone. We have a lot in common. She is one of the few actors who is a grafter.
“She will hate me for saying this, but she uses the phrase, ‘I’ve been grafting today’, and you don’t think of somebody in the acting profession using that terminology.” The feature highlights the problems of people on the housing ladder, young and old, and Alfie believes park living is a solution, providing cheap homes.
He said: “I told the inspirational story that I wanted to tell and the audience response is absolutely phenomenal.”
Documentary maker Joel, who is in the US talking to film studios, said: “Alfie’s story is unique and something I definitely wanted to tell — someone in the caravan on the side of the road becoming the most successful gypsy ever.
“It’s a significant British success story in modern times. I was surprised it hadn’t been done already. When Alfie speaks, he is so inspirational. I wanted to bring that to the world.
“We are getting so many wonderful messages and reviews. We have definitely struck a chord with the hearts and minds of millions of people in the UK, that’s for sure.”
Alfie said: “I hid the fact that I was a gypsy for a long time. Until 18 years ago I would never tell anybody I was a gypsy.
“Now I am proud. It has made me who I am — the Billionaire Gypsy.”
