Paul Potts' Life Story Hits The Big Screen

Britain’s Got Talent winner and opera singer Paul Potts has said it feels strange to see himself portrayed on the big screen by James Corden.

One Chance, which premieres tonight in London, is the story of Potts’ rise to stardom.

The film charts his journey from childhood to the moment he blew the BGT judges away with his rendition of Nessun Dorma on the first series of the show.

The former mobile phone salesman from Port Talbot in Neath said: “It was quite interesting to see James Corden try to take on Nessun Dorma and pick up some of my mannerisms.

“The strangest thing for me was seeing his mouth moving, but my voice coming out of it.”

Potts famously endured a tough childhood, persistently the victim of verbal and physical bullying.

Speaking to Sky News, Corden said: “This is about a boy who grows up in an industrial steel town and dreams of being an opera singer in a town where no one even listens to opera, let alone wants to be an opera singer.

“Through endless adversity and through so many hurdles that he has to jump, he doesn’t give up.”

Britain’s Got Talent has created some unlikely stars and unearthed some remarkable stories over the years, most notably in Susan Boyle.

Boyle is estimated to be worth £25m, has released four hit albums, performed for the Pope and appeared in a musical based on her life.

Ashleigh and Pudsey the dancing dog, Stavros Flatley, Spelbound, Diversity and George Sampson are all believed to have made in excess of £1m.

TV critic Toby Earle said: “These are people who wouldn’t have even got through boot camp on X Factor. They don’t look like pop stars.

“On Britain’s Got Talent you don’t have to look like a pop star to do well. There’s that underdog element to Britain’s Got Talent which gives it that edge of unpredictability.”

One Chance also stars Julie Walters as Potts’ mother, Colm Meanie as his father, Mackenzie Crook as his best friend and Alexandra Roach as his supportive and long-suffering wife.

The film opens in the UK on October 25.

Paul Potts' Life Story Hits The Big Screen