Barlow’s ode to the Eighties

Take that s t ar Gary Barlow has assembled a line-up of eighties pop stars to write and perform songs for the forthcoming film about Winter Olympics hero eddie the eagle.

the movie stars taron egerton as British ski j umper eddie edwards — who, despite his ineptitude, charmed millions with his pluck and courage at the 1988 Calgary Games — and Hugh Jackman as his ski mentor.

It has been scoring high marks at recent test screenings, and will be released here in the spring.

Director Dexter fletcher and producer Matthew Vaughn met with Barlow during pre-production and said they wanted the film’s score and soundtrack to reflect the era it’s set in.

‘ Gary has become l i ke the George Martin of this album,’ joked Vaughn, referring to the legendary Beatles producer.

alison Moyet, OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark), Ultravox, ABC, Howard Jones and spandau Ballet are all in discussions about contributing songs to the soundtrack album. some will sing their own numbers, while others will have theirs performed by different artists.

‘Gary has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He knows a lot of the participants and has a great knowledge of the music of the eighties,’ Vaughn added.

Barlow has been working on eddie the eagle in between helping to put together the Girls musical with tim firth, which will begin its tour at the Grand theatre, Leeds from November 14.

Over in New york, Broadway musical finding Neverland, for which he and eliot kennedy wrote the score, has become a big hit.

When I visited the eddie the eagle set, I was knocked out by how egerton was able to transf orm his f acial f eatures to resemble eddie’s, with minimal help from make-up. I was also struck by how heartwarming and poignant the footage I saw was.