He’s the Russian megastar known for his unique swerve on style, lavish stage shows and total belief in himself. And now Philipp Kirkorov has caught the attention of Hollywood, providing inspiration for the actor Dan Stevens in the Netflix movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
Philipp, who has dominated Forbes Russia‘s list of the highest-paid pop stars in recent years, has been thrilled to read that Dan turned to Philipp’s performances when preparing to play Alexander Lemtov — the fabulously wealthy Russian singer in the movie.
Speaking to a Filipino entertainment journalist, Dan said: “[The character] is sort of loosely based on a Russian singer called Philipp Kirkorov and his opera-pop style with some outrageous costumes.”
As you can read in the Insta post above, Philipp is thrilled to know that Dan “was studying my style and manners to work on the image which he shares with pleasure in his interviews!”
“I invite @thatdanstevens to join our Eurovision #DreamTeam next year to see and enjoy this unforgettable contest from the inside! And I will also wait him on my show during my world tour.”
The Dream Team, of course, refers to Philipp’s long-term Eurovision work with collaborators including songwriter Dimitris Kontopoulos, stage director Fokas Evagelinosand creative director Ilias Kokotos
We can see Philipp’s influence elsewhere in the film, too. One of the most talked-about scenes in the movie is the “Song-a-long”, which comes when Dan and several former Eurovision stars — including Loreen, Jamala, and Bilal Hassani — break out into a medley of song at his lavish residence.
This makes us think of Philipp’s birthday party in Lisbon, where he invited all of the Eurovision 2018 delegations and several members of the press to enjoy an evening of food, music and an eight-tier birthday cake. Besides singing his hit “Mood Color Blue”, he enjoyed a guest appearance from Sergey Lazarev, who flew in to celebrate his friend’s big night.
Are you hoping to see Dan Stevens at Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam? Do you think that he should appear on-stage as a backing vocalist or backing dancer? Which other stars from the world of Eurovision do you think should inspire characters in film? Shout it out below!
Thanks I am very proud of my cousin Dan. Being a massive ESC fan since childhood i was stoked he was going to be in the movie. hahaha
I personally got rather Alex Sparrow and “Get you” vibes from “Lion of love” performance, especially by that long note in the intro of the song, but this reference seems legit too.
But why was he doing that actually?
I remember he used to do Russian covers of old Eurovision songs. He should do one for Lion of Love
You should definitely check out his “Playing With Fire” Russian version in a duet with Kamaliya too. It’s called “Igra s ognem” (I first tried to write the title in Cyrillic but it turned into question marks lol). Last time I heard it in 2011 I think, but the Russian lyrics from the chorus are still stuck in my head.
How come Philipp’s own entry for Russia back in 1995 was so bad?
Somebody pointed out that there’s a certain irony to Will Ferrell’s character not believing in elves, considering one of his most famous films has him as a man being raised by elves. There’s also Pierce Brosnan playing a guy who hates ABBA and how it reminds him of a wife he no longer has.
Is that really a main character, though? 😀
Lets see if he would be happy about making the character gay! hahaha
Yeah, given the final “twist” I’m surprised Kirkorov appreciates the entire situation.
The close friendship of Dan’s character with the Greek singer reflects 100 percent
to Philipp’s long-term work with the Dream team .
My favorite part of the movie is when stars sing together. We need something that glamorous in eSc but ELINA deserved her own moment in the sun, not just an intro for Conchita.
I thought it was my least favorite moment because it was pure fan service and dragged the movie down. Big reveals will mean nothing for somebody who’ve never seen the contest.
It’s pretty hard to succeed perfectly at making Eurovision Fans and American Comedy Fans totally satisfied. But I think this movie, in overall, succeds to do it. As a sincere fan of Eurovision, I was pleased to the comedy side, which is not unrespectfull of the Song Contest. It’s possible also that, if a non-fan and a Eurovision-fan watch the movie togheter, the latter doesn’t understand why the first laughs (exemple, scene where people giving money to Sobral after is outdoor performance).
LOL I thought of three different Russian male artists when I watched the film. I wonder what would those artists think when they watched the film.
Manny the Movie Guy always get to the good stuff.
When I saw Dan’s performance in the film, I definitely thought immediately of Kirkorov but I missed the Greek link! Credit to Dan for both the research and the end result. A highlight of the film for me.
I feel like the irony of a flamboyant Russian singer who’s tight with Greeks may or may not be lost on him.
Kirkorov has such a sense of humour and proves that he doesn’t even care about gossips regarding his private life.