Let Dan Stevens explain contest
In “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga,” Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams star as an Icelandic musical duo who aspire to represent their country in the movie’s titular event, a hugely popular international singing competition that is considered appointment viewing in basically every country outside of the U.S.
But Dan Stevens, who portrays their fellow Eurovision competitor, the flamboyant and ultrawealthy Russian vocalist Alexander Lemtov, is undoubtedly the film’s breakout star.
Stevens, best known for his role in “Downton Abbey,” first proved his vocal prowess onscreen in 2017’s “Beauty and the Beast” remake. But his power ballads from the Disney musical are child’s play compared with “Lion of Love,” his “Eurovision” character’s signature popoperatic anthem.
The instant classic is one of several songs written for the movie, including “Ja Ja Ding Dong,” a favorite around local pubs in Iceland, that were designed to become instant earworms — emblematic of the kitschy beats that compete at the actual event.
“The joke is that as terrible as a song like ‘Ja Ja Ding Dong’ might seem, there are songs like that, very often from Eurovision, that are just part of people’s childhoods,” Stevens says. “It doesn’t matter how terrible they are, they’re part of the culture.”
Stevens spoke about the enduring popularity of Eurovision and why most Americans still haven’t heard of one of the biggest events on TV.
How do you explain the event Eurovision Song Contest to people who aren’t familiar with it?
It’s kind of delightful to have that responsibility to make the North American continent aware of the biggest TV event on the planet that happens off their shores. It’s much more than just a song contest, really. It’s such an extraordinary pattern of both musical talents and glitz and glamour. It’s a real championing haven for LGBTQ. There’s often a country that will come with a protest element or some kind of statement with an underlying political context. And then there’s always a ridiculous element as well — some country will submit something that’s really off the charts.
How does the film find its balance between satire and paying homage to the event?
It’s very difficult to parody something that is already quite so bizarre. The movie is made with a huge amount of affection for the contest because it is something that, if you grew up in Europe, it’s just been part of your childhood.
So I think it’s more about finding characters within that microcosm, as Will does in figure skating (in “Blades of Glory”) or NASCAR (in “Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby”). He’s not out to take down figure skating or NASCAR. He’s looking at finding character parody more than taking down the whole institution.
Your character has a very distinct pop-operatic baritone voice. How did you find his sound?
Definitely running through Eurovision, there is a thick theme of Europop. And a big feature of that is the opera-pop crossover. Very often, it will produce a character like Lemtov. His spoken voice is very much based on some European characters I’ve met over the years. His singing voice, I would love to take claim for it, but in the end, we went with this Swedish baritone whose voice is similar to mine.