STACK April 2016 Issue 138

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18 APRIL 2016
CINEMA
WHERE EAGLE DARES
"T hat’s what being chubby with glasses
will do for you!” laughs Welsh actor
Taron Egerton, brushing off the fact he’s
practically unrecognisable in his latest film, Eddie
the Eagle.
As a slick novice spy in the 2014 box office hit
Kingsman: The Secret Service, Egerton achieved
overnight fame and millions of adoring fans.
Uncomfortable with his pin-up status, he happily
adopted a jutting chin, bottle-glass specs and
geeky persona for his role as Britain’s unlikely
ski jumper Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, who
captivated the world at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
“Nerdy people are likeable,” Egerton, 26,
insists when STACK meets with him in Los
Angeles. “It was always going to be a tightrope
walk, making Eddie relatable and human and
three-dimensional.”
But the ice quickly melted after meeting
with the real Edwards, “I just tried to imbibe
and absorb a little bit of who he is. He’s a very
different guy now. He looks nowhere near as
characterful as he did back in the late
'80s. But it was lovely to hear him talk
about ski jumping because his passion
for it is totally infectious and that was the
whole key.”
As much as Egerton wanted to please
Edwards, his real mentor – both on and off screen
– was Hugh Jackman, portraying a fictitious, hard-
drinking former ski jumper who reluctantly takes
Eddie under his wing.
Taron Egerton embraces his inner nerd to play Eddie 'The Eagle'
Edwards, the real-life underdog sporting hero who captivated the
world at the 1988Winter Olympics. By Gill Pringle
“Hugh is such an incredibly life-affirming,
positive, enthusiastic person. He’s addictive to be
around because he’s so wholly positive,” he says.
“Hugh is a sickeningly good skier! How irritating
is it, how good Hugh Jackman is at everything!?
Absolutely everything!”
Prior to shooting Eddie the Eagle on location in
Germany, Egerton had never skied in his life. “I
came out a couple of weeks earlier and tried to
learn to ski and fell over an awful lot,” he admits.
“It was really fun and then I ended up on a red
slope, which was a source of pride for me. But
when we started shooting, an email came through
saying how nobody’s allowed to ski – at all – for
fear we might injure ourselves.
“For sure, I won’t be doing the 90 meter jump
in this lifetime. You have to do it every day from
the age of four just for it to be safe. It’s why Eddie
kept hurting himself.”
Eddie the Eagle is in cinemas on April 21
A s a fledgling improv
comedy performer, Melissa
McCarthy created a
red-haired, overly made-up character
named Michelle Darnell whom she
described as a “megalomaniac
narcissist”. Unable to shake off her
creation, 15 years later, Darnell takes
centre stage in McCarthy’s latest
comedy, The Boss.
A colourful
financial guru
who fills
stadiums with
her admirers,
The Boss
sees Darnell
shamed and
sent to prison for
insider trading, and
forced to rebuild her
image with the help of her one-time
assistant, Kristen Bell.
As mistress of her own comedy
empire, McCarthy squirms at female
stereotypes, “I think a confident
woman who knows what she wants
and asks for it is labeled as pushy or
aggressive, but when a man does it,
he’s considered to be really good at
his job,” she argues.
If her Darnell alter-ego is easy
to laugh at, then McCarthy turns
serious when STACK meets with
her. “I think it’s good to know that,
at the end of the day, you’re in
charge of your own behaviour. Do
you excel? Do you try hard? Do you
work as hard as you can? I like the
concept that you can adjust your
‘You’re in charge of your destiny’,
attitude.” Gill Pringle
The Boss is in cinemas on April 14
WHO'S THE
BOSS?