Silence the hype and call ‘cut’ on this film

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“POTTSY Goes To Hollywood,” trumpeted the Echo headline. “Friends tip Crowe to play singer as his success story is turned into a film.”

Blimey, I thought, check the date. I must have missed something. But no, it wasn’t April 1.

There followed my celebrated impersonation of Victor Meldrew: I DON’T BELIEVE IT.

We’re talking Paul Potts, routinely described as Port Talbot’s “salesman-turned-singer” or, more misleadingly, “opera singer Paul Potts,” winner of Britain’s Got Talent with Nessun Dorma, maybe the only aria familiar to voters because Pavarotti made it the World Cup anthem.

I can see your archetypal Hollywood mogul getting the presentation.

“Opera star, izzee? Well, it grossed big bucks when Mario Lanza played that Neopolitan guy – Robinson Crusoe, was it?”

“No Boss. Enrico Caruso. Greatest tenor ever. Dragged up in Naples slum. Gave the record industry a kickstart. A hero to Italians all over the world. State funeral when he pegged it. And – “

Well, you get the picture. Caruso was not just a megastar. He was a mega-megastar. He was unique. And he had a past worth celebrating.

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