If you’ve never been to Iceland but the town of Húsavík sounds familiar, it’s probably because you saw the movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams. The small town of 2,300, which was featured in the film, has launched its own humoristic Oscars campaign with the goal of earning a Best Original Song Academy Award for the song “Húsavík (My Hometown).” The song, sung by Rachel McAdams in the movie (McAdams’ voice was mixed with Swedish singer’s Molly Sandén), is an homage to the small fishing village and has come to hold great significance for the real-life townspeople.
Photo: EurovisionMuseum/YouTube
The Town of Húsavík, Iceland, Is Campaigning for an Oscar
On the official campaign website, the people of Húsavík penned a letter explaining why their song deserves to win.
The letter reads, “It would be a huge pride for the town of Húsavík to be part, through a song which bears its name, launched by a film which glorifies the power of music, of the biggest event celebrating the history and the value of filmmaking, and hence of modern storytelling.”
And it sounds like they actually have a shot. David Ehrlich, in his breakdown of the top Best Original Song contenders, wrote for Indiewire, “In a strange field shaped by throwbacks and throwaways, one absolute banger so obviously stands out from the pack.” He goes on to describe the song as a “climactic hyper-ballad that has to establish the lead characters’ feelings for each other, celebrate the sleepy fishing village they may not have outgrown, honor the the story’s general silliness, and hit you in the gut hard enough that you believe it might actually be worthy of winning Eurovision. ‘Húsavík (My Hometown)’ does all that and more.”
The people of Húsavík aren’t happy with a mere nomination, though. For them, it’s victory or nothing. You can tune into the Oscars on April 25 to see if this small fishing village’s dreams come true. 