The Eagle has landed
Source: Sydney Morning Herald ()
You might imagine that freezing weather would do strange things
to a man who once represented Great Britain in the Winter Olympics
and has spent half his adult life strapped to a pair of skis. But
Michael Edwards, the man the world once knew as Eddie “The Eagle”,
shrugs off the suggestion that an icy breeze and the promise of
snow make him a bit tingly inside. It’s been too long, he says.
He’s a family man now. But he will admit that, as winters go, this
year’s is a bit of a milestone.
Exactly 20 winters ago, Edwards was limbering up for a feat of
sporting majesty that is still talked about today. He had been
ski-jumping for just two years when he somehow managed to wangle
the chance to represent his country at the sport in Calgary. He was
Britain’s first Olympic ski jumper and he famously came last in
those 1988 Winter Games - by quite some margin. Yet no one, apart
from the upper echelons of Britain’s skiing community, seemed to
mind at all.
He jumped, he landed (with a bit of a thud) and, lo, a hero was
born.
But that is all in the past. This winter, The Eagle is ready to
soar again, and this time there’s little chance of the cheerful
44-year-old getting hurt - unlike the time of his worst fall, in
1989, when he landed on his face and fractured his skull,
collarbone and ribs. A project is about to begin that will once
more shove him into the spotlight. Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, the
movie, is go, go, go.
“I’ve seen about four drafts of the script and I can’t say I
really like it,” Edwards shrugs. “Steve Coogan’s playing me, but
isn’t he about 42? I was 24 when I went to Calgary.”
Coogan was reputedly holed up with the script, making “tweaks” -
changes Edwards hopes will eradicate slapstick and add more
reality. It’s a story that’s just begging to be told, and one in
which Edwards is cautiously optimistic of being portrayed not as a
fool but an enthusiastic amateur who worked his socks off to
compete in front of a global audience. …