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First Look: Taron Egerton As Eddie The Eagle

‘Eddie the Eagle’ soars high as Taron Egerton appears in the upcoming biopic.

Taron Egerton stars as Eddie Edwards – the not-so-brilliant UK ski-jumper whose can-do attitude made him a worldwide sensation after he managed to represent Britain at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary.

And now there’s a sports drama based on the oddball hero.

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These first look images come via USA Today and depict Eddie the Eagle (played by Taron Egerton) alongside his trainer Chuck Berghorn (played by Hugh Jackman).

And it’s so ‘80s it’s unbelievable.

Re-teaming Taron Egerton with producer Matthew Vaughn, ‘Eddie the Eagle’ (directed by Dexter Fletch) is the dramatized story of Eddie’s Olympic plight… and it’s already gone down a storm at the annual Butt-Numb-A-Thon film festival.

“Here I am at BNAT17 with Taron Egerton doing the Eddie the Eagle swoop,” said film writer, Harry Knowles via Instagram. “You must love this film!!!”

And if ‘Eddie the Eagle’ manages to capture a tiny bit of the titular hero’s charm, it’s easy to see why audiences are going to love it.

Eddie Edwards, now 52-years-old, wasn’t a particularly good skier. But he managed to become the first ever UK ski-jumper to appear at the Olympic games. How did he fare? Well… to be honest, it wasn’t so great. In fact, he came last in every event and ranked a rather dismal 55th in the world by the end of the competition.

But as he explained to Smithsonian Magazine, it’s not all about winning…

“I was a true amateur and embodied what the Olympic spirit is all about,” he said. “To me, competing was all that mattered. Americans are very much ‘Win! Win! Win!’ In England, we don’t give a fig whether you win. It’s great if you do, but we appreciate those who don’t. The failures are the people who never get off their bums. Anyone who has a go is a success.”

And he certainly had a good go.

Will ‘Eddie the Eagle’ be true to the real-life story of Eddie Edwards? That’s something we’re not entirely sure about… after all, Edwards himself claims that it’s only about ten to fifteen percent true.

Even if he hasn’t actually seen the film himself.

Either way, Taron Egerton is an inspired choice to play the eternally optimistic skier… and he looks entirely too comfortable in all that ‘80s spandex.

Will ‘Eddie the Eagle’ soar as high as the original ski-jumper?

Perhaps… but it might do even better than that.

‘Eddie the Eagle’ heads to cinemas on 1 April 2016.

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Picture Credit: 20th Century Fox