Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Short description
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga follows Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdottir, two musicians from a small Icelandic town who have performed together since childhood as the band Fire Saga. Lars has dreamed of the Eurovision Song Contest since he was a boy, and when the duo unexpectedly gets the chance to represent Iceland at the competition, they leave their local bar behind for an international stage. There, the pressure of the contest, rival performers and a series of mishaps put both their ambitions and their friendship to the test.
David Dobkin directed the film, which he made after The Judge and which came sixth in the directing career listed here. Will Ferrell and Andrew Steele wrote the screenplay, and Ferrell produced with Jessica Elbaum and Chris Henchy. Ferrell plays Lars, with Rachel McAdams as Sigrit, Pierce Brosnan as Lars's father Erick, Dan Stevens as the Russian contestant Alexander Lemtov, Jamie Demetriou as Kevin Swain and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Neils Brongus. It was released in June 2020 and runs 121 minutes.
The film is a comedy with music, made in the United States and Switzerland with Gloria Sanchez Productions, Gary Sanchez Productions and the European Broadcasting Union. On IMDb it holds 6.5 out of 10 from around 109,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.4 from roughly 1,600 votes. A critics' rating of 5.8 from 180 reviews places it somewhat below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Although Pierce Brosnan and Will Ferrell play father and son, their age difference is only 14 years.
- Will Ferrell became interested in the Eurovision Song Contest in May 1999 while visiting his wife's relatives in Sweden, where the family tuned into the broadcast. Since then, Ferrell has always watched Eurovision, and in 2014, he even traveled to Copenhagen for the final.
- In 2018, Will Ferrell attended the Eurovision final in Lisbon as part of the Swedish delegation.
- At the beginning of the film, during the scenes set in 1974, Lars's father (Pierce Brosnan) and his friends are drinking bottled beer in front of the TV. In Iceland, beer was banned until March 1, 1989 (which is now celebrated as Beer Day), meaning that Lars's father was involved in smuggling.
- The first promotional video for the film – the music video "Volcano Man" – was released on May 16, 2020, the day the Eurovision final was scheduled to take place, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Molly Sandén sings for Sigrid (credited as My Marianne), and Eric Mjönes sings for Alexander Lemtov. Will Ferrell performed his own parts.
- One of the film's producers, Yoon Wool-san, served as the executive supervisor of Eurovision from 2011 to 2020.
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