Do you remember Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards?
Eddie Eagle was the first competitor to represent Great Britain in the 1988 Olympic in Calgary under the ski jumping Catagory. At the time, I was about a young girl and I vaguely remember the story.
I had an opportunity to see an advance screening of the movie and his story is quite inspirational. Although it does have one or two inappropriate scenes, the movie ultimately has a few great lesson everyone can learn, such as, following one’s dreams, determination, and self-acceptance. I plan on taking both of my sons to see the movie when it hits theaters.
After the screening, I interviewed cast “Eddie Eagle” Hugh Jackman” Bronson Peary”, Taron Egerton “Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards” and Director Dexter Fletcher. During the interview, they shared some intriguing facts that I thought you would like to know.
“I am so thrilled my kids are seeing a movie that finally says you don’t actually have to win to be a winner. You have to give with your heart, you have to give it all you got, and you got to love it and that’s enough. You don’t actually have to be LeBron James, you can be the school teacher down the road and be a winner.” – Hugh Jackman
Here is 7 fun facts about the “Eddie the Eagle” Movie
Never too Late
It took about 15 years before the production of the movie began. Director Dexter Fletcher states ” The script had been floating around for about 15 years. So, by the time the producer brought it to me, it was kind of sort of fully formed. I knew the story of Eddie from back in the day. I’m old enough to remember when he was there.”
Australian Folk Hero
Hugh Jackman remembered the story well and that is what drew him to the role. Hugh Jackman ” I was 19, I think, when Eddie jumped and in Australia we were captured by this guy. He became a folk hero in Australia.”
Finding Stunt Man
Ski Jumping is an extremely dangerous sport. As Stated by Mr. Jackman “One of the hardest things about making a movie like this is there is no stunt man in the world who can ski jump, it’s a really weird rare skill, and there is not one ski jumper who will crash because people die all of the time in this sport.” Director Dexter Fletcher “Since we filmed in German, we had this amazing second unit director, by the name of Vic Armstrong, and he was a stuntman in the ’80s on films like Raiders of the Lost Ark. So, he put together this team of German guys, all a bit crazy. They all just jumped off of this thing for hours and he came back with 90 hours of footage just from the 40-meter jump.
Becoming Eddie the Eagle
In orders to transform the handsome Taron Egerton into Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, film markets consider having him wear prosthetics. However, he opted out and chose a better alternative. Taron Egerton “I really, really, really didn’t want to do it. So I found a way of doing it without making a mess. Then we did a costume test of me walking around in my ski’s when we first got to Germany, and there was something about me marching around.”
Meeting The Legend
Both stars had an opportunity to meet the legend when he came out to visit the set. During our discussion, Hugh Jackman shared, “Yes, he came on set. We were at the ski jumps, and he was so bored by filming after two hours.” Taron Egerton went on to say, He is staring at the jump. He is 51 and he was like “I’m going up this afternoon, and I’m going to jump.”
Tears of Joy
When Taron first saw the film, he sat next to Eddie Eagle and was a bit nervous about how he feel about the movie.
Taron Egerton states, “I was shaking and wiping my eyes, and it was pretty brutal, but he loved it. He cried, he brought his friends and his family.” Mr. Jackman went on to say, “No, I was worried when he was crying at the end of the film, but, he absolutely loved it.”
A complete invention
In the movie Eddie Edwards father is one of his biggest obstacles, however, this piece of the story was a bit fictional.
Mr. Egerton “I feel bad for his dad. He said he was going to watch the film, but he was like, “I was there. I’ve made the move.”
Mr. Hugh ” I actually don’t know the story there. I’m sure like at some point my parents would be like “Really? This or the money?”, which is a real thing. I never went skiing. It was too expensive for my parents. But no, that was something made for the movie to give it an obstacle for Eddie.”
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