THE paparazzi is jostling for pole position outside a swanky London hotel – their huge camera lenses straining for a glimpse of Miley Cyrus beyond the plate glass doors.

It’s the morning after the UK premiere of her first film, Hannah Montana: The Movie, which is already breaking box office records in the States.

And judging by the screaming fans who turned out to welcome the 16-year-old star in Leicester Square, it looks as though Montana mania is about to hit the UK too.

The Walt Disney fi lm is based on the hit US sitcom about a young pop star who wants to live an ordinary life unaffected by her stardom.

By day she’s just a normal high school student, but when she dons a blonde wig at night she becomes an all singing, all dancing teen superstar.

It’s a sort of superhero story for young girls but you really need to be aged between six and 14 to appreciate it.

(My ten-year-old daughter is a huge fan and has all the Montana merchandise, including that wig.) But the film is far more enjoyable than the sitcom and Miley Cyrus makes both characters so likeably harmless it’s hard not be charmed.

The same is true for Miss Cyrus herself. Yes she’s confident and loud but she’s also funny, focused and, considering she’s achieved global fame at such a young age, she’s got her feet on the ground too.

“It’s been kinda weird growing up in front of everyone so it’s important to surround yourself with good people who help you to keep everything in perspective,” she explains.

She’s often self-deprecating too and confides that director Peter Chelsom did a great job touching up any shot that revealed her “cankles”.

“It’s like a leg and an ankle all in one,” she explains.

“But you could easily end up picking yourself apart when you watch yourself on fi lm so it’s important to look at the whole picture and not to just focus on yourself.”

The film is about how Miley became Hannah and takes you back to her roots in Tennessee which is her home town in real life too.

In fact it’s difficult to know where the facts end and fiction starts at times.

The contrast between made-up Hannah and fresh-faced Miley is a welcome change to the usual format although Miley admits she took some persuading to be filmed without her make-up.

“I wanted my spray tan and hair extensions but Peter wasn’t having any of it!”

Miley, who comes from a Christian home, says one of the things she’d miss most if she were stranded on a desert island would be her Bible.

And there doesn’t seem to be any danger of her ‘doing a Britney’ and going off the rails either as she appears to have a genuinely close relationship to her family.

Her father is country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, who also plays her dad Robby Ray in the film, and they share an obvious comfortable bond.

“Our relationship in real life is pretty close to what you see on screen,” he says in his slow Southern drawl.

“I’m pretty laid back as a dad because I trust her. She’s got a great head on her shoulders. I try to be a friend to Miley – I know that’s not everybody’s parenting style – but she’s got enough common sense."

Unlike some celebrities, Miley isn’t too cool to admit she enjoys being famous either.

“I’m still in school and learning about places like Rome, Madrid and the UK so instead of just reading about them I get to actually go there which is really great.”

And if all that’s not enough to establish her as a good role model for impressionable young girls, she leaves us with this thought.

“Life is a climb. It can be a struggle getting to the top and the drop to the bottom can be pretty quick, so you have to take it step by step each day and make sure you never forget where you came from.”