Last week at Sundance, Fox brought director Dexter Fletcher’s Eddie the Eagle as this year’s secret screening. For those of you who aren’t up on your British Olympian history, the film tells the story of unlikely British ski jumper Michael “Eddie” Edwards (Taron Egerton), who enlists the help of a rebellious has-been coach (Hugh Jackman) to try and make the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, finding fame and adoration despite finishing last in the 70-meter and 90-meter jumps. Produced by Matthew VaughnEddie the Eagle is one of those great feel-good stories about a true underdog and I absolutely recommend checking the film out when it opens February 26th. For more on the film read Perri’s glowing review.

Shortly before the secret screening, I sat down with director Dexter Fletcher for an exclusive video interview. He talked about being at Sundance, working with producer Matthew Vaughn, what he learned from friends-and-family screenings, how he views the film as a “fictionalized version of a true story”, the uplifting tone, and more. Check out what he had to say below.


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Dexter Fletcher:

  • 0:18 – Fletcher reveals how he found out about his film screening at Sundance.
  • 1:20 – Talks about the uplifting tone of the film.
  • 2:40 – Describes his film as a “fictionalized version of a true story” and reveals his creative process behind it.
  • 3:55 – Reveals the length of his first cut compared to the final runtime.
  • 4:45 – Talks about his editing process, which skewed more towards tightening up the film rather than deleting whole sequences.
  • 5:45 – Jokes about working with producer Matthew Vaughn.
  • 7:00 – Talks about what he learned from friends-and-family screening.
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Image by 20th Century Studios
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Image by 20th Century Fox

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