Blades of Glory

Blades of Glory (2007)

Timing: 1:33 (93 min)

6.1/10
1862

6.274/10
17244

6.3/10
186000

All about film

Video 3

Photo 101

Actors and characters

Release date

2007-03-30

Country

United States

Production

DreamWorks Pictures, Smart Entertainment, Red Hour, MTV Films

Genre

Comedy

Budget

$61 000 000

Revenue

$145 708 642

Website

https://www.paramount.com/movies/blades-glory

Director

Josh Gordon, Will Speck

Actors

Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Jenna Fischer, William Fichtner, Craig T. Nelson, Romany Malco, Nick Swardson, Scott Hamilton
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld, John Jacobs, Marty P. Ewing

Operator

Stefan Czapsky

Composer

Theodore Shapiro

Artist

Gary Warshaw

Audition

Juel Bestrop, Seth Yanklewitz

Editing

Richard Pearson, Thomas Hayslip
All team (93)

• The preparation of the two lead actors and the choreography of the ice scenes in the film were overseen by renowned Canadian figure skater Sarah Kawahara, who trained world champions and Olympic medalists, and also staged world-famous ice shows. Her assistant was Lisa Marie Allen, a competitor in figure skating at the 1980 Olympic Games, who also appears in a cameo role in one of the episodes.
• Playing professional figure skaters required significant effort and long training sessions from Will Ferrell and John Heder. John Heder even broke his ankle during figure skating training in preparation for filming, and this rather serious injury to the actor caused an unforeseen delay in the project’s work.
• According to the flags of the countries raised at the awards ceremony at the World Championship, the medalists were athletes from the USA (the two main characters), South Korea, and Sweden. Figure skaters from South Korea have never reached the podium in the history of men's singles skating, and Swedish athletes last achieved this feat in 1929. Furthermore, this situation with four medalists directly contradicts the rules, and if two skaters were to share first place, both would receive gold medals, no one would receive silver, and only bronze would be awarded.
• The scenes of the World Figure Skating Championship were filmed at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
• The figure skating style of Will Ferrell's character is partially based on the performances of the famous Canadian figure skater, three-time world champion Elvis Stojko.
• Many of the elements performed on the ice by Chazz and Jimmy, such as lifting each other, actually belong to dance, not figure skating. Their inclusion in the program is not explicitly prohibited by the rules, and they have been performed by many famous figure skaters in official competitions. Accordingly, the situation where a television commentator would see something like this for the first time and be amazed is unlikely to have happened in reality.
• In the opening scene of the film, when young Jimmy first discovers figure skating as a child, the song “Time to Say Goodbye” by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli is playing. The same song was used during the performance of the compulsory program by German figure skater Katarina Witt in the film “Ronin” (1998).
• The hotel used to accommodate athletes at the Olympic Games in Montreal in the film is the famous “Habitat 67” building complex, built for the 1967 World's Fair. In reality, it never served as a hotel, but is a private condominium.
• Craig T. Nelson, who played the role of the coach, had previously appeared on screen in a similar role in the series “Coach” (1989-1997).
• The famous figure skaters appearing in the film include: Sasha Cohen, Scott Hamilton, Peggy Fleming, Brian Boitano, Dorothy Hamill, Nancy Kerrigan, Kyoko Ina, Yuka Sato, and David Pelletier.
• The loophole in the rules used by the two main characters is, in reality, a complete fabrication of the screenwriters. According to the rules of official pairs skating competitions, a pair consists of a man and a lady (lady being the accepted term for a woman in figure skating).