Eddie The Eagle - Film - British Comedy Guide (original) (raw)

Eddie The Eagle. Image shows from L to R: Michael 'Eddie' Edwards (Taron Egerton), Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman)

Genre

Film

Released

2016

Stars

Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Keith Allen, Jo Hartley, Tim McInnerny, Mark Benton, Iris Berben, Tom Costello and more

Writers

Sean Macaulay and Simon Kelton

Directors

Dexter Fletcher and Vic Armstrong

Producers

Matthew Vaughn, Adam Bohling, David Reid, Rupert Maconick, Valerie Van Galder, Stephen Marks, Claudia Schiffer, Pierre Lagrange and more

Companies

Inspired by true events, Eddie The Eagle is a feel-good story about Michael "Eddie" Edwards, 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, 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.

Eddie's story is inspirational. Although he was never athletically gifted, from an early age he dedicated his life to achieving one goal: to become an Olympian. Eddie tried his hand at various sports and disciplines, before settling on downhill skiing. Having narrowly failed to make the British team at the Winter Olympics in 1984, he recalibrated and switched to ski jumping.

There were several problems here: Britain had never had a ski jumping representative at a Winter Olympics. And Eddie had never even attempted a ski jump before. He was heavier than most ski jumpers, all of whom started at a very early age, he had no funding, very little training and his terrible eyesight meant that he had to attempt jumps while wearing glasses that would dangerously mist up mid-jump. Yet his indefatigable spirit prevailed. Begging and borrowing equipment, Eddie was the sole British entrant at the 1987 World Championships, where placing 55th was enough to see him through to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada.

Calgary was where Eddie really took off, literally and figuratively. Although he placed last in both his events - the 70 metre jump and 90 metre jump - he became a media darling (he was quickly dubbed "The Eagle" by the tabloids) and something of a folk hero, famous for his unorthodox style, appearance and will to compete.

Eddie The Eagle - Official trailer

Stream and download

Additional details

UK certificate

PG

Duration

106 minutes

UK release

Friday 1st April 2016

Produced

2015

Distributors

Lionsgate

Production

Location

Camera set-up

Single camera

Picture

Colour

Broadcast details

Most recent repeats

View all 45 repeats

Recording details