Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Student digs ‘need legal protection’
Stockholm, I’ve always been fascinated that the bank in Stockholm where the hostage situation happened that led to the term ‘Stockholm Syndrome” is still there.
“I always thought it would be a fascinating subject to do a kind of quasi-comic take on those events.”
Will has often spoken of his desire to film a movie in Ireland and that’s still something he hopes will happen.
He said: “If we can make it happen financially, I would love that. Adam Mckay has a house in Cavan and the two of us have often talked about finding the right project to make in Ireland.
“With regard to Eurovision, the ultimate thing was to show what a really big celebration it is.
“When you’re there as a person, it’s like ‘Sure, countries want to win, it’s a big deal, it means a lot’.
“But at the same time, we were struck by the fact they are just excited to be a part of the process and there really is a shared community backstage.
“One journalist said to me in a really serious way, ‘This is how the EU is supposed to work, all of these neighbours in harmony’.”
The Netflix movie was originally meant to be aired in May, immediately after the real Eurovision, but did not happen this year because of coronavirus.
Will added: “We were going to have the premiere in Europe in conjunction with the show and we thought it would be really fun to share it with the Eurovision crowd.
“But, hopefully, this is a nice substitute for those who are missing this year’s show.
“It’s insanely ironic that his year, the actual real Icelandic act were one of the favourites.
“It was so funny to see that and we had very similar hairstyles. They also did a really flattering cover of our song Volcano Man which is on Youtube and is very cool.
“Hopefully, they will have a chance for next year, fingers crossed.
“Like Ireland, Sweden has won too many times and we loved the idea of another smallish country coming from the outside and Iceland seemed perfect.
“It was interesting to imagine a subplot about what if a country of 300,000 people won the contest and they had to host it. We set up a jeopardy subplot that made it very interesting.”
Will’s production company had been in talks with Eurovision’s organisers since 2015, when they met in Copenhagen.
He said: “It was always going to be a comedy, as well as a love letter to the thing itself. All credit to the organisers, they totally get every aspect of what they are doing.
“They embrace the kitsch factor, along with the earnest artistry of what everyone is trying to do.
“They were wonderful partners and, thankfully, they were very happy with what we did, which pleased me.”
LOS ANGELES YESTERDAY
BETTER legal protections are needed for students and their accommodation, a TD said yesterday.
Independent TD Mattie Mcgrath said many undergrads face demands for deposits and rent upfront.
This is despite the fact that colleges have not given clarity about physically attending classes in September.
Mr Mcgrath said: “So many students got badly stung last term as they had paid months of rent up front which was vacated early as a result of coronavirus and yet their accommodation providers refused to offer them refunds.”