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Simon Cowell Plans 'Billy Elliot'-Style Movie About Opera-Singing Talent Quest Entrant With Bad Teeth; In Other News, Pop Has Eaten Itself
Posted by Clem Bastow at 3:34 PM on March 5, 2008
Simon Cowell clearly has both a) too much money and b) too much time on his hands, as his latest little game to amuse himself is to put wheels in motion for an Inspirational™ flick about one of his discoveries, "opera singer" Paul Potts from Britain's Got Talent. (If you have no idea who or what this is, see his audition here. Then get a real one up ya!)
Just briefly, we'd like to continue today's unintentional and slightly worrying theme of opera-related stories put in our two cents, which is that Potts is not an opera singer, and rather a shower singer who happened to be able to finesse a largely imitative cover of Nessun Dorma and a few other light classics (see also: Damien Leith), and that there's more to a compellingly cinematic story of reaching your dreams than unfortunate dentistry and a boring day job.
In any case! Here's what Cowell has to say about it all:
The singing sensation has gone on to sell 3million copies of his debut album "One chance" and is set to headline 65 concert dates in 13 countries.Who do you think Simon "Not At All Interested In His Own Navel" Cowell will request to play him?Cowell told Daily Variety: "That particular day was one of the worst, the acts were just terrible, we were fed up and on comes this guy with a funny little suit and bad teeth who looked very nervous.
"I can remember looking at the other judges, with that 'here we go again' feeling. We had 2,000 people in the audience, and I'll never forget how much the room changed when he began singing."
Cowell's UK based production company, SyCo, will team up with Hollywood to develop the film, who endorsed the project after watching a YouTube clip of the singer.
"Most of these calls result in absolutely nothing, but this company got that it's another 'Billy Elliot,' a story anyone in the world can understand."
We'd like to see the project handballed to Lars Von Trier, who turns it into a gritty tale of a hard-knock life touched by the beauty of music but ultimately crushed by tragedy, starring Ray Winstone as Potts and Clive Owen as Simon Cowell - but we're more likely to get Simon Pegg as Potts, Steve Carrell as Simon Cowell, directed by the Wayans Brothers and with cameo appearances by Jessica Simpson, Jade Goody and Andy Dick.
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