• The Hollywood Reporter, Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:15 AM

In a telling example of how an idea can migrate from TV to the Internet to the movie theater, the story of a rags-to-riches reality star is moving ahead at Paramount.

The project, about the life of opera singer Paul Potts, will be co-produced by "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell. It tells the story of Potts, a mobile-phone salesman, whose operatic performances on last year's "Britain's Got Talent" TV show bowled over the judges, including Cowell, and became a YouTube sensation. Eventually, Potts released an album.

Billed as "the ultimate underdog story," the film is expected to be a comedy-drama that tracks Potts' hard-luck story up through his "Talent" performances. It is Cowell's studio debut.

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