But look, the dawn is breaking, and the screen is filled with light! Eddie is Bronson’s chance to heal himself! And Bronson is Eddie’s chance to realize his dream! What a lovely and completely fictional thing. And here’s Bronson, all talent and no discipline, which has led, years later, to a life of self-abuse and self-loathing. He doesn’t exist, but he is played by Hugh Jackman.) Bronson had a chance to be the greatest jumper of all, but he squandered his natural talent through lack of discipline and character.Īha, the gears are fitting together: Here’s Eddie, no talent at all, but more heart and discipline than anybody. Turns out, the drunk is none other than Bronson Peary! (Never heard of him? Of course you haven’t. In the movie, he goes to Germany, where he meets a chain-smoking, down-on-his-luck drunk, whose job it is to maintain the ski ramps. This version presents Eddie ( Taron Egerton) as practically a novice skier and something close to a simpleton. At the Olympics, his exuberant spirit - his pure joy at being there - captured the imagination of the public, and he has remained a beloved figure in Britain ever since. His training had to be makeshift, because his family lacked money to back him, but he eventually traveled to Calgary, where he trained with two coaches and eventually made the team. An experienced skier, he decided to train to be a ski jumper because there were no British ski jumpers, and so it would be easier to qualify. Eddie Edwards was the last man cut from Britain’s downhill racing team. Too bad, because the reality was interesting enough.
Wasn’t that amazing?” And then we find out that no, they just took the name and a few details and changed everything else, including his history as a skier, his training, his personal relationships and even the details of his last Olympic jump. Otherwise, why rescue him from the fringes of history? And so we watch and think, “Wow.
Bronson peary movie#
The filmmakers set out to make a movie about Eddie the Eagle because he is an inspirational figure with a great story. Should this matter? Perhaps yes, perhaps no, but forget about should - it does matter, because it changes the experience. Yes, there was a fellow known as Eddie the Eagle, and yes, he looked something like the fellow who plays him onscreen, and yes he was an Olympic ski jumper - but everything else is just made up. Maybe it’s unfair, but I came away feeling cheated by “Eddie the Eagle.” It’s a jolly real-life tale about an underdog who made a splash at the 1988 Winter Olympics, and it does make you feel good, but it turns out that the film’s story is 90 percent fiction.