Opening the festival this year with exclusive screenings, director David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada, Hope Springs) brings to the silver screen the remarkable rags to riches story of Paul Potts, the shy winner of the first season of Britain’s Got Talent.
A bullied shop assistant by day and an amateur opera singer by night, Paul Potts (James Corden) has no real way of making it out of his small town and into the exclusive world of his beloved art. Aside from his doting mother (the wonderful Julie Walters), and later on his wife (Alexandra Roach), nobody supports Paul’s frivolous dreams – particularly his metal-worker father (Colm Meaney), in whose footsteps he was urged to follow. But Paul’s revenge comes unexpectedly in the form of enormous success, when after applying for Britain’s Got Talent his undeniable talent wins him the competition and launches him into overnight stardom.
One Chance is a superb, celebratory crowd-pleaser perfect for opening this year’s inaugural festival, with a gorgeous performance from the affable James Corden as an inspirational nobody who dared to follow his dream against all odds.