I found this movie on DVD from my public library. It is a very enjoyable movie inspired by real events, the theme is never giving up on your goals, most things are achievable if you work hard enough.
A key point to emphasize is the story here is "inspired by" the real Edwards and his exploits. He did go to the 1988 Olympics in Calgary (I remember it well, watching him on TV) as the first ever Alpine ski jumper from Britain and he did finish last in each of his events. But according to the real Eddie about 5% to 10% is factual, the rest made up for the movie.
Just a couple of examples, the movie depicts him starting jumping from scratch and going to Germany to learn. In reality he was quite experienced and almost made the British cross country ski team, then went to Lake Placid to learn to jump competitively. The movie has a character, Hugh Jackman as former American jumper Bronson Peary who teaches him jumping. That character is fictional.
Taron Egerton is very good as Michael "Eddie" Edwards. As the movie depicts from an early age he was fascinated by the Olympics and wanted to some day compete. In the summer Olympics. When it became clear he didn't have the athletic talent to do so he turned to ski jumping. There was no history of Britain having an athlete in ski jumping so he figured if he could demonstrate competence in a competition then he could go. And he did.
It is historically accurate that after the 1988 Winter Olympics, even though "Eddie the Eagle" was a big hit, the rules were changed so that in each event certain performance minimums had to be met to quality for an Olympic invitation. Eddie never could meet the new standards and was never able to compete in subsequent Olympics.
The movie is done in a very interesting and entertaining manner, thoroughly enjoyable.
A key point to emphasize is the story here is "inspired by" the real Edwards and his exploits. He did go to the 1988 Olympics in Calgary (I remember it well, watching him on TV) as the first ever Alpine ski jumper from Britain and he did finish last in each of his events. But according to the real Eddie about 5% to 10% is factual, the rest made up for the movie.
Just a couple of examples, the movie depicts him starting jumping from scratch and going to Germany to learn. In reality he was quite experienced and almost made the British cross country ski team, then went to Lake Placid to learn to jump competitively. The movie has a character, Hugh Jackman as former American jumper Bronson Peary who teaches him jumping. That character is fictional.
Taron Egerton is very good as Michael "Eddie" Edwards. As the movie depicts from an early age he was fascinated by the Olympics and wanted to some day compete. In the summer Olympics. When it became clear he didn't have the athletic talent to do so he turned to ski jumping. There was no history of Britain having an athlete in ski jumping so he figured if he could demonstrate competence in a competition then he could go. And he did.
It is historically accurate that after the 1988 Winter Olympics, even though "Eddie the Eagle" was a big hit, the rules were changed so that in each event certain performance minimums had to be met to quality for an Olympic invitation. Eddie never could meet the new standards and was never able to compete in subsequent Olympics.
The movie is done in a very interesting and entertaining manner, thoroughly enjoyable.