Eurovision is one of the weirdest annual events that happens in the pop culture world. Starting back in 1956, countries from all around Europe (and Israel and Australia and... whatever, some countries) come together and send their best artists to compete in an amateur singing competition. At it's best, the performances are off-the-wall level insane. It's the perfect subject matter for a Will Ferrell movie, which is convenient, because that's exactly what he's creating for Netflix.
The film, aptly titled Eurovision, will be written by Ferrell and Andrew Steele, according to Deadline. A release date hasn't been announced for the film, but if we're lucky, we'll hopefully see it in time for next year's competition, which annually happens in May. The United States currently doesn't compete in the competition, but, who needs America these days anyway? Past winners have on occasion gone onto be insanely successful in the States and around the world. In 1974, ABBA locked in a win for Sweden, and in 1988 Céline Dion competed for Switzerland. As for every other year—well, sometimes the performance does more than words can.
Take for instance, this 2007 performance from Ukraine that is absolutely batshit crazy. Like, ok, sure. We have a robot grandma that honestly feels like she was ripped directly from a Will Ferrell movie anyway.
She unfortunately did not win. But the year before, Finland sent these skin demons to compete with a song called "Hard Rock Hallelujah," and they did win. To be honest, if you listen to the vocal alone, it's kind of ok, but I also can't get past feeling like they're going to gnaw on my scorched corpse. Welcome to Eurovision! Isn't that fun?
And finally, if you need something to purge that out of your head, here's a safe bet from this year's competition.
You can bet that Ferrell is going to err on the side of Finnish rock music than that German Ed Sheeran, which should make for something hilariously bizarre and dramatic, because just like at Talladega, if you're not first at Eurovision, you're last.
Justin Kirkland is a Brooklyn-based writer who covers culture, food, and the South. Along with Esquire, his work has appeared in NYLON, Vulture, and USA Today.
