It’s the biggest film about one of the biggest song contests in the world, and the Netflix production wasn’t just a hit amongst Eurovision fans, but also amongst the general public.
One year ago today, a feel-good musical drama about an aspiring Icelandic duo fighting to win the world’s biggest singing competition was released, and the fandom’s love for ‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’ began.
Let’s take a look back at everyone’s favourite Eurovision film.
The film
The feel-good comedy film is about two Icelandic small-town singers Lars Erickssong (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit Ericksdottir (Rachel McAdams), who together form the duo Fire Saga. They get an opportunity of a lifetime to represent Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest, where high stakes, scheming rivals and onstage mishaps test their bond.
‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’ is directed by David Dobkin, who has previously directed Shanghai Knights which starred Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson and Wedding Crashers which featured Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. The film has been written by Will Ferrell and Andre Steele.
We wont be spoiling the film for you though, you can still check it out on Netflix, which requires a subscription.
Review of the film
Even one year on, ‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’ is still a hilarious comedy film designed to give you a laugh, and still hits just right to give a feeling of nostalgia for the movie.
Last year the Aussievision team reviewed ‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’ and gave it an average of just below ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, 3.69 to be precise. That is a thumbs up. There are a few die-hard fans in the group and some not so much. Check out the teams' comments and scores here.
‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’ trivia
As well becoming the No.1 most watch film on Netflix across the world upon its release, the songs from the Eurovision film also charted across the world. ‘Húsavík’ reached No. 5 on the Australia iTunes chart with another four making an appearance. The soundtrack peaked at No.3 on the Australian iTunes album chart. You can check out where-else the song charted here.
In order to prepare for the film, Will Ferrell attended the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 as a member of the Swedish delegation, and was given access to follow the show from beginning to end, including the rehearsals.
Actual Eurovision contestants who appear in the film include John Lundvik (Sweden 2019), Anna Odobescu (Moldova 2019), Bilal Hassani (France 2019), Loreen (Sweden 2012, winner), Jessy Matador (France 2010), Alexander Rybak (Norway 2009, winner, and Norway 2018), Jamala (Ukraine 2016, winner), Elina Nechayeva (Estonia 2018), Conchita Wurst (Austria 2014, winner), Netta Barzilai (Israel 2018, winner), and Salvador Sobral (Portugal 2017, winner).
The film was originally intended to be released in May, 2020, to coincide with the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Following the competition’s cancellation due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the film’s release was pushed back to late June the same year.
The first single and promotional video for the movie, ‘Volcano Man’, was released on the same day as the 2020 contest was scheduled to take place, and saw its world premiere broadcast on Australia’s Eurovision broadcaster SBS during replacement program ‘Eurovision 2020: Big Night In!’.
When it comes to the Guinness Book of Records the film also broke the record for the longest held vocal note in a UK hit. In the song 'Húsavík', Molly Sandén holds a note for a whopping 18 seconds at the climax of the song. The song spent four weeks on the UK’s Official Singles Chart, hitting a peak of number 59 on 16th July 2020. This year the song was nominated for an Oscar but unfortunately missed out, but Molly Sandén left us with an amazing performance of the song in Húsavík, Iceland. You can check out more Guinness Book of Records related to Eurovision here.