‘Eurovision is intoxicating!'

Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams on playing wannabe Icelandic pop stars in an ‘absurd’ new comedy

- Steven Perkins

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA

Available: Friday 26 June Runs: 122 mins NEW COMEDY

There was a huge Eurovision Song Contest-shaped hole in our lives last month, after this year’s event was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Thankfully, Netflix is stepping in to help with an original movie that offers something very close to an authentic Eurovision experience!

Will Ferrell (Elf, Anchorman) has co-written Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, in which he and True Detective’s Rachel McAdams play an Icelandic duo who enter the contest. But how did the Hollywood funny man come to make a film about such a quintessentially European tradition?

‘About 20 years ago, we were visiting my wife’s family in Sweden,’ explains Will, 52. ‘One evening her cousin said, “Shall we sit down and watch Eurovision?” I said OK, and we proceeded to sit there for three straight hours and watch the finals.

‘I could not believe what I was watching – it was the craziest thing I’d ever seen. The spectacle, the humour, the camp and the music – it was just intoxicating.’