It's still the only script to make me cry...

Producer was blown away on his first reading of Billy Elliot

- BY JEREMY ARMSTRONG

MAKING the iconic British film Billy Elliot had seemed as likely as its hero from a coal mining family becoming a ballet dancer.

It is staggering to believe but the low-budget film, which is 25 years old and has made a fortune, struggled to find financial backers.

The inspiring £2.8million drama and the stage show spin-off has taken £900m, with a production about to open in South Korea.

Yet one man realised the potential when Geordie-born Lee Hall's script landed on his desk at Working Title Films.

Producer Jon Finn, whose grandad worked in the pits in Easington, Co Durham, where the film was set, said: "That script arrived fully formed.