Britain’s Got Talent has already spawned one movie, with a film about mobile phone salesman turned singer Paul Potts already coming in 2013, with James Corden in the lead role. Now long gestating plans for a film about Susan Boyle are moving forward with Deadline reporting that Fox Searchlight has snapped up the rights to the stage musical I Dreamed A Dream, which is based on Boyle’s life.
The show toured the UK earlier this year, with Elaine C. Smith playing Boyle, and the singer herself showing up at the end for a song or two. The musical is described as a fairytale version of Susan’s life, starting with her being deprived of oxygen at birth, which causes lifelong learning difficulties. It then goes through her life, including the lack of a romantic life and family troubles (the death of a sister, etc.), before going through what happened with Britain’s Got Talent and the massive success of her debut album.
At the moment no screenwriter or director is attached, but the aim is to put together ‘a sensitive and honest biopic infused with music’. The original show is a jukebox musical, using well known songs, but it’s not known if the film will follow that.