Eurovision Song Contest Movie: Do Will Ferrell & Rachel McAdams Really Sing?

[Nergal]

 

 

 

Do Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams really sing in Eurovision Song Contest? The Netflix comedy revolves around the European Broadcasting Union's famous singing competition, but it turns out that one of the lead's vocals are from a Swedish pop singer. There's also a meta twist that connects to the real-life Eurovision Song Contest.

Directed by David Dobkin, Eurovision Song Contest follows an Icelandic singing duo known as Fire Saga, consisting of Lars Erickssong (Ferrell) and Sigrit Ericksdóttir (McAdams). Young Lars and Sigrit are inspired by the Swedish group ABBA, and as the pair grows older, the Húsavík locals dismiss Lars' musical dreams, but do see potential in Sigrit, if only because of her pleasant demeanor and charm. Fire Saga ultimately earns a spot in the Iceland Song Contest because of a technicality and manages to reach the Eurovision Song Contest through another technicality, one that involves the deaths of several musicians. Along the way, various industry figures acknowledge the fact that both Lars and Sigrit do indeed have vocal talent - or at least they aren't "horrible."

As Fire Saga, Ferrell and McAdams are credited with five performance numbers in Eurovision Song Contest. Their characters perform "Ja Ja Ding Dong" for Húsavík locals twice during the film, while "Double Trouble" is similarly performed multiple times as the main Eurovision song. Fire Saga also performs "Happy," "Volcano Man," and the emotional anthem "Húsavík (Hometown)." For all of those tracks, Swedish singer Molly Sandén is credited as the third artist, providing the vocals for McAdams' character.


In Sweden, Sandén rose to fame during the late 2000s. She represented her native country in the 2006 Junior Eurovision Song Contest and released her solo debut, Samma himmel, in 2009. She then reached #1 on the Swedish charts with her 2012 sophomore release, Unchained, and recently, Sandén released her fourth solo album, Det bästa kanske inte hänt än, in May 2019.

Sandén reportedly learned about her Eurovision Song Contest opportunity while hungover in Los Angeles when she received a call from collaborator Arnþór Birgisson, who produced a "crazy song" for a Netflix movie. Sandén has stated that she'd like to become “the Swedish Taylor Swift," but had to take a different musical approach with Eurovision Song Contest by singing like a young musician with something to prove. She was hired by Netflix after recording "Double Trouble" and also because her tone complemented McAdams' real-life singing voice.

For Eurovision Song Contest, Sandén is credited on the official soundtrack as "My Marianne," which is part of her real birth name: Molly My Marianne Sandén. Currently 27 years old, Sandén finished third during her Junior Eurovision Song Contest appearance, and later competed three times in the Swedish event Melodifestivalen. Eurovision Song Contest on Netflix credits "Molly Sandén" during the closing song credits.

 

[CGTitan]

It's obvious that they had to dub over Rachel McAdams. They needed a voice of vocal range to better the performance. I mean it's basically like in Singing in the Rain, when they had to dub Debbie Reynolds over Jean Hagan, even though that was a plot device, because Hagan's character could not speak or sing well.