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Movie Biz Catches McPheever

Tue., Jun. 5, 2007 12:24 PM PDT by Gina Serpe

These are the kinds of Kat calls a girl could get used to.

American Idol alum Katharine McPhee has signed on to make her feature film debut in the dark independent romantic comedy The Last Caller.

Guess following in Jennifer Hudson's footsteps is a little more tempting than following in Taylor Hicks'?

"This is the first thing that I read that I really wanted to do," McPhee told the Hollywood Reporter of her premiere role. "I'm up for a couple of big studio projects, but they weren't starring roles. I wanted to start off doing something a little different. It's something that a lot of people wouldn't expect me doing."

The 2006 reality show runner-up has been paying lip service to the film world almost since losing to Hicks, stressing throughout her Idol promotional post-mortem that she was as interested in showcasing her wares on the big screen as she was on the radio.

As it is, the 23-year-old's hopes her film effort will go down in the Idol annals as more Dreamgirls than From Justin to Kelly. However, unlike those other Idol-powered flicks, McPhee's role will not require any singing.

The Last Caller instead is touted as a coming-of-age tale about a self-obsessed woman, played by McPhee, who searches for meaning and love in her life. The wannabe thespian herself described the character as "definitely a little darker than me."

The film, which has a reported budget of between $5 million and $8 million, is scheduled to begin shooting this fall in New York.

While Last Caller will mark McPhee's first time in movies, she has already logged tube time beyond Idol. In February, she made a cameo appearance as herself in Ugly Betty. Several weeks earlier, she turned up in an Webisode of the YouTube series lonelygirl15.

Last summer, shortly after the fifth season of Idol wrapped, reports surfaced that McPhee was one of the prime contenders for the lead in the long-gestating Wonder Woman movie, though she quickly shot down those rumors, telling Entertainment Weekly that taking on the role, should it be offered, would be a "huge mistake."

McPhee's eponymous debut album has sold 330,000 since debuting at number two in February. She is scheduled to show off her singing chops at a Hillary Clinton fundraiser on Wednesday.

In the meantime, however, McPhee isn't the only Idol alum looking for some post-show success.

While season five cohort Kellie Pickler is busy milking the promotional circuit with her newly enhanced assets, fellow finalist Lisa Tucker is continuing her own thespian run. Tucker recently starred in a pilot for Fox, the half-hour drama Born in the USA, which was not on the network's new schedule at last month's upfronts, but which is still reportedly in the running as a potential midseason replacement.

Music-wise, finalist Elliot Yamin saw his self-titled album debut at number three on the Billboard pop charts last month, and in April, Bucky Covington's self-titled album debuted at number one on the Billboard Country charts.

But Chris Daughtry, the season five fourth place finisher, remains the most successful of the lot. His debut album, Daughtry, has sold more than 2.5 million copes and remains a Top 10 fixture.