Iceland will have a starring role in Netflix’s upcoming movie about Eurovision, RÚV reports. American comedian Will Ferrell and Canadian actress Rachel McAdams will both play Icelanders in the movie, which may center around the fact that Iceland has never, in the 33 competitions it has taken part in since its debut in 1986 with ICY’s “Gleiðibankinn, or ‘The Bank of Joy,’ won Eurovision. (It has come in second place twice: in 1999, with Selma’s “All Out of Luck” and 2009 with Yohanna’s “Is It True?”)
Ferrell was introduced to Eurovision by his wife, the Swedish actress Viveca Paulin, who has herself worked on Eurovision’s national selection competitions in Sweden. Reportedly a huge fan of the song competition, he attended the event in Portugal in 2018 as research for the film; Rachel McAdams attended this year’s competition in Israel.
According to information obtained by RÚV, many of the character names are plays on Icelandic names, but purposefully made to be nonsensical. There will be a number of Icelandic actors in the movie, including Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson. Filming will begin in London early next week and may also take place in the North Iceland town of Húsavík in the fall. Icelandic film production company True North is overseeing shooting of the film in Iceland.
