Classical music sensations The Priests have revealed that a keenly-anticipated Hollywood movie about their unlikely rise to fame has finally got the green light.

The multi-platinum selling trio, who are currently on a tour of the US and Canada, first spoke about the film two years ago in an interview on The Late Late Show.

But since then there had been little progress, leading to fears that the project had failed to attract a major production company.

However, the singers, who are all full-time clergymen from the North, said firm moves are now underway to make the movie - though fans hoping to see the clerics on the silver screen are likely to be disappointed as they don't plan to star in it themselves.

Writing on their website, they said the film, which will be called 'Raising The Roof' is currently in pre-production in Hollywood.

Meanwhile, the talented trio have admitted that life on the road in their latest 17-date North American tour is anything but glamorous.

The singers  - Fr. David Delargy and brothers Fr. Eugene and Fr. Martin O'Hagan - are travelling between gigs in a cramped tour bus and staying in run-down motels.

Speaking about the accommodation after a gig in remote Lindsay in Ontario, Canada, earlier last week, Fr. Delargy said:  "The choice of accommodation is limited.  Very limited.  Totally limited in fact.

"There's only one establishment in town capable of taking in paying guests - The Kent Inn.  It's a one-storey clapboard motel - the kind you see on American TV shows - where you access your room directly from the car park without going through reception."

However, Fr. Delargy told his legions of fans that he's well used to roughing it, having once crashed out under a tree and on another occasion, in a public phone box.

Writing on his tour blog, he added:  "Of course it's [the poor accommodation] not a problem for us in the least.  And I really mean that.

"We're not on holidays here.  It's bigger than any room at home.  Anyway, I've often spent the night in a small tent, once under a tree in a car park in Heidelberg and once, believe it or not, in a telephone box in Zurich.

"Compared to that, this is pure luxury."

The trio, who have recently been re-signed by their label Sony, have enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame in the past five years.

Their eponymous first album sold over three million copies, making it the fastest-selling classical debut record of all time.