Creating the Strange World of Eurovision for Netflix’s New Hit Comedy
If you happened to be at the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv in May 2019, you may have spotted a few familiar faces lurking around backstage. But Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams weren’t just on the premises to take in the wildly popular festivities. The actors, along with the crew of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, were exploring for research purposes. And they were amazed by what they saw.
“We thought it would be a nice theater-size show,” production designer Paul Inglis (Blade Runner: 2049) tells Architectural Digest. “The sheer amount of staging and video screens and lighting was so big that it takes up half the space of the venue. The scale is breathtaking and it’s such a high-quality professional show. I was surprised.”
The high-stakes global singing and songwriting competition—which usually attracts an international audience of 200 million—is the centerpiece of the outrageous and surprisingly sweet Netflix comedy, which hit number one on the streaming service just days after its June 26 premiere. Inglis, along with set decorator Naomi Moore and their team, re-created the elaborate setup at the Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, England, over the course of four weeks. Among the challenges? Building the stage so it was a “one-to-one scale match” with the real deal; devising all the images on the giant LED video wall flashing behind each performance; installing all the lighting spectacles; and draping the scaffolding in black so the technical equipment wouldn’t be caught on camera.
The glossy and ultraextravagant production design befits the two main characters, who are small-town friends from Iceland chasing their childhood dreams by competing on the show. Ferrell’s Lars, obsessed with winning at any cost, sings while spinning in a giant hamster wheel during the pair’s semifinals performance. (Spoiler: It goes awry.) Inspired by a real act, “we tried to make the performance a flashy spectacle with a very sleek and shiny toy in the middle,” Inglis says, adding that Ferrell was game to perch himself inside the wheel. When McAdams’s Sigrit frets in the bustling artists’ area backstage, “we wanted her to look like a small person dwarfed by this big environment around her,” he notes.
Though the show was the result of hard work and movie magic, the cast and crew really did travel to Edinburgh to film in and around the city hosting the fictional version of the competition. (The SSE Hydro arena in Glasgow doubled for the exterior of the venue.) Ferrell and McAdams walk and talk by Edinburgh’s Ross Fountain and sit on a bench at Calton hill, looking out at the skyline. They also ride Segways on the hilltop. As for those mystical Icelandic elves who curse the movie’s villains? Their minuscule houses were built and set up in Scotland as well. “The houses were so popular that the crew treated them like puppies,” he jokes. “I think it’s my crowning glory.”
For the two heroes, home is where the heart (and the art) is. Inglis explains, “Lars has to understand that real pleasure comes from making music—and what ends up being the most important thing to him is their hometown. That’s what they end up singing about. So we had to make sure that this hometown was a place worth coming back to.” After scouting several locations in Iceland, they found what they were looking for in the village of Husavik. Thanks to its gorgeous coastlines and bright sky from the Northern Lights, “it felt very genuine and anchored in warmth and represented the essence of the story,” he says. “You’d rather spend time there than anywhere else.”
These days, Inglis is spending his time at home in England. The cast and crew aimed to premiere Eurovision at the actual Eurovision contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands, but plans were scuttled because of the pandemic. Still, he’s thrilled that fans around the world can get a taste, if not a few original notes, via the movie. “At least they had something to watch this year,” he says. “And people who have never watched it can see this and realize this film is about a subject that gives people a voice and a chance to enjoy themselves and feel celebrated. I think we’ve captured that.”
Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
