Eddie the Eagle (2015)

The story of Eddie Edwards, the notoriously tenacious British underdog ski jumper who charmed the world at the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Director:

Dexter Fletcher

Writers:

Sean Macaulay (screenplay), Simon Kelton (screenplay)

Stars:

Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Tom Costello

2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Costello	...	Eddie (10 years old)
Jo Hartley	...	Janette
Keith Allen	...	Terry
Dickon Tolson	...	UK Doctor
Jack Costello	...	Eddie (15 years old)
Taron Egerton	...	Eddie Edwards
Mark Benton	...	Richmond the BOA Official
Tim McInnerny	...	Dustin Target
Edvin Endre	...	Matti Nykänen
Mads Sjøgård Pettersen	...	Erik Moberg (as Mads Pettersen)
Marc Benjamin	...	Lars Holbin
Iris Berben	...	Petra
Rune Temte	...	Bjørn the Norwegian Coach
Hugh Jackman	...	Bronson Peary
Carlton Bunce	...	Old Jumper

Storyline

Inspired by true events, Eddie the Eagle is a feel-good story about Michael "Eddie" Edwards (Taron Egerton), an unlikely but courageous British ski-jumper who never stopped believing in himself - even as an entire nation was counting him out. With the help of a rebellious and charismatic coach (played by Hugh Jackman), Eddie takes on the establishment and wins the hearts of sports fans around the world by making an improbable and historic showing at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. From producers of Kingsman: The Secret Service, Eddie the Eagle stars Taron Egerton as Eddie, the loveable underdog with a never say die attitude.

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Plot Keywords:

ski jumper | coach | 1988 winter olympics | winter olympics | unlikely hero | 

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Taglines:

Win or lose, always aim high

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Genres:

Biography | Comedy | Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some suggestive material, partial nudity and smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK Germany USA

Language:

English German Norwegian

Release Date:

26 February 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Eddie the Eagle

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$23,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,084,682, 28 February 2016, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$15,785,632, 22 May 2016

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$44,128,165, 31 December 2016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hurwitz Creative, Marv Films, Saville Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to the Wikipedia webpage about the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, "one of the most popular athletes from the games was British ski jumper Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards, who gained infamy by placing last in both the seventy and ninety meter events finishing 70 and 53 points behind his next closest competitor, respectively. Edwards' 'heroic failure' made him an instant celebrity. He went from earning 6,000 pounds per year, as a plasterer before the Games, to making 10,000 pounds per hour per appearance afterward. Left embarrassed by the spectacle he created, the International Ski Federation altered the rules following Calgary, to eliminate each nation's right to send at least one athlete and set minimum competition standards for future events. Regardless, the President of the Organizing Committee, Frank King, playfully saluted Edwards' unorthodox sporting legacy, which would also be commemorated with a 2016 feature film, Eddie the Eagle."

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Goofs

When the British national team is introduced to the press, their skis are short, with cut sides and rounded tips. Those skis first appeared in the mid 1990's.

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Quotes

Janette: 90 metres, what is that in feet?
Terry: Well, about 300
[feet]
Terry: ... No, actually it's about 295
[feet]
Terry: .
Janette: Oh my God.

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Crazy Credits

During the end credits photos of the real Michael "Eddie the Eagle" Edwards are shown.

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Connections

Featured in Eddie the Eagle: Attitude Is Altitude - Filming the Ski Jumps (2016)

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Soundtracks

Hero in Your Eyes
(Howard Jones)
Published by Howard Jones Music Ltd.
Administered by Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Performed by Howard Jones
Courtesy of Howard Jones Music

User Reviews

Eddie the Eagle is no downhill crash; it flies with upbeat spirit and lands with a comedic tone.

As a Southern-Californian, snow might as well come from a different world. We receive at the most, a few flurries in the winter, but even then, it needs to be on a full moon on a leap year if it's not Tuesday. That said, we can still provide a wealth of athletes in sports that are played in the winter. Both local ice hockey teams, the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings, have won the Stanley Cup and are seen as some of the best hockey teams in America. Shaun White, famous snowboarder, hails from San Diego and Michelle Kwan, the figure skater, is from the L.A. area.

The lesson here is that a champion can come from anywhere. A good movie that provides this example is Cool Runnings from Disney. This portrays the country of Jamaica creating a bobsled team for the 1988 Winter Olympics. Though goofy and clearly not a realistic representation of what happened, the movie was upbeat about one following their dreams to become an Olympic athlete. What's interesting that today's movie was set during the same 1988 Olympics. Eddie the Eagle looks at an aspiring ski jumper as he tries to go fro the gold.

Ever since he was a young boy, Eddie Edwards has wanted to go to the Olympics, yet has little athletic skill. He tries his hand at several sports until he sees skiing as his best shot. As an adult, Eddie (played by Taron Egerton) seems to be doing well, he's not selected to join the British downhill skiing team due to his odd technique and just simply not being one of the best. He then sees that the country has not had a ski jumper in a long time, and decides to take advantage of that empty spot to secure a spot.

He packs his bags for Germany at the official training facility where his attempts to mingle with the other ski jumpers are met with laughter. While trying out the hills, he comes across alcoholic snow groomer Bronson Peary (played by Hugh Jackman). Eddie finds out that he used to be a part of the American Olympic team under the coaching of Warren Sharp (played by Christopher Walken). He takes pity and agrees to give Eddie the proper coaching. Eddie manages to win a local match that qualifies him to join the Olympic team. While the odds of winning are low, he's happy to be chasing his dream.

Eddie the Eagle sounds like your run of the mill sport biography and…basically is…but it's also self aware of that and has fun with itself. I can't think of another movie where ski jumping is portrayed and it looks really cool on a cinematic scale. The sport's high flying action allows for some impressive shots to prove that it was not computer generated.

Like Cool Runnings, it's also clearly not using the same story, given how silly a lot of the scenes flow. While it's not laugh out loud hilarious, it makes up by being just as upbeat as the latter. Taron Egerton is proving his worth as an actor, managing to be the perfect athlete and dweeb in one crazy experiment. You know his character is out of their element, but Taron makes him very likable. Hugh Jackman does well as his coach, more or less throwing in a lot of his charm and ability to play off the comedic writing to his advantage. Hugh gains cool points for his shot of ski jumping with a cigarette in his mouth.

Going into Eddie the Eagle, you really need to be in the right mood for it to hit you in the right spot.

I'll give this eight and a half ski jumpers out of ten. Those that want a gripping story of an athlete should look someplace else. But for those that want something upbeat like Cool Runnings and Rudy, then Eddie the Eagle should please you well enough. Despite the premise, this is no downhill crash; it's a flier that knows where to land.