British actor and director Dexter Fletcher (Sunshine on Leith) takes on the career of Michael “Eddie” Edwards, famously the first British ski-jumper ever to enter the Winter Olympics at Calgary in 1988, in the brilliant Eddie the Eagle.
Taron Egerton (Testament of Youth) stars as Edwards, who from his Gloucestershire childhood fosters the seemingly unlikely goal of becoming an Olympic athlete, despite lacking any obvious sporting skill. Though he can’t get funding to train he somehow sustains epic quantities of self-belief and the strength to persevere. Eventually employing the services of a hardball coach (enjoyably played by Hugh Jackman), he never loses his determination to prove himself.
Scripted by Simon Kelton and Sean Macaulay, and produced by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass), it’s a very British production about a very British hero – perhaps the ultimate underdog – that’s full of undeniable warmth, wit and considerable crossover appeal.