Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Ferrell (left) has lots of classic Eurovision performances to draw on
The announcement that Will Ferrell is making a comedy about Eurovision for Netflix is (Europop) music to the ears of many a fan of the annual song contest.
The Hollywood star is said to have been introduced to Eurovision by his Swedish wife in 1999 and he even attended this year’s event in Lisbon.
Ferrell will star in the feature film, which he is co-writing with long-time collaborator Andrew Steele.
One Twitter user called the pairing of Ferrell with Eurovision “a match made in heaven”, while another said she “[couldn’t] wait for Eurovision to get the Will Ferrell treatment”.
The Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast in the US for the first time in 2016, but the country remains largely unfamiliar with the weird and wonderful world of Eurovision.
It’s unclear yet whether Ferrell will himself sing – but the star has a diverse and plentiful bounty of comic riches to draw on.
To help him get started, here are just nine of the many Eurovision moments that could provide inspiration for the film.
1. Viking theme
As a general concept, a strong contender for Ferrell’s film has to be plotting the journey of a corpse Viking ensemble playing heavy metal. It’s got lots of comic elements – the men dressing up, the over-the-top nature of the performance, the kitschness of the concept.
When this actually happened in 2006, Finnish group Lordi only went and won the whole thing.
2. Animals are always a hit
If the thought hasn’t already occurred to him, Ferrell should really consider opening his act with a naked man and a holographic wolf howling, like Belarus did in 2016.
3. Bridal theme
Alternatively, Bosnia’s 2008 performance had a strong start when it opened with four women dressed as brides, followed by a man who popped out of a dirty laundry basket.
4. Vampires are a Eurovision favourite
Dracula is a regular theme at Eurovision – and one that’s been frequently hammed up in comedy sketches. Perhaps the trope is already too tired for Ferrell – but not for Romania in 2013 or Ukraine at this year’s contest.
5. Bring the drama
Eurovision has had unscripted drama in the form of stage invasions. This year’s UK entrant, SuRie, suffered from a protester storming the stage, but sometimes – as happened with Spain’s entry in 2010 – members of the audience just want to join in with the performance. Don’t we all?
6. Go for it with the dancers
In terms of backing dancers, the sky is the absolute limit. How about including a man in a hamster wheel like Ukraine did in 2014?
BBC