From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blades of Glory
Official movie poster
Directed by	Josh Gordon Will Speck
Produced by	Ben Stiller Stuart Cornfeld John Jacobs
Written by	John Altschuler Craig Cox Jeff Cox Dave Krinsky Story by Busy Philipps
Starring	Will Ferrell Jon Heder Will Arnett Amy Poehler William Daniels Jenna Fischer William Fichtner Romany Malco Nick Swardson Rob Corddry Craig T. Nelson
Music by	Theodore Shapiro
Cinematography	Stefan Czapsky
Editing by	Richard Pearson, Max Coyne
Distributed by	DreamWorks/Paramount
Release date(s)	March 30, 2007
Running time	93 mins.
Country	USA
Language	English
Gross revenue	$142,108,832 (worldwide)
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Blades of Glory is a 2007 figure skating comedy motion picture directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck starring Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Fischer. The movie was released on March 30, 2007 by DreamWorks (through Paramount Pictures). It is rated PG-13 by MPAA, and 12 by BBFC. It was released on DVD and HD DVD on August 28, 2007.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Reception and box office 5 Real skaters on set 6 References to figure skating in the movie 7 Figure skating elements in the film 8 References 9 External links

At the 2002 World WinterSport Games, rival world-class men's singles skaters Chazz Michael Michaels "an ice devouring sex tornado," (Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy, "skating's little orphan awesome," (Heder) compete fiercely for the gold. When they tie for first place, an argument on the awards podium begins. It quickly develops into a brawl. Having disgraced their sport, they both receive a lifetime ban from men's singles competition. Jimmy's billionaire father, who had adopted him from the kindly Father St. Pierre (Remy Girard) in a bid to have a champion son, disowns him and leaves him on the side of the road.

Three and a half years later, as the two are working menial skating-related jobs, Jimmy learns of a loophole in the ban: he is banned only from singles skating and can still compete in pair skating or ice dancing. He contacts his old coach but is unable to find a female pairs partner. Jimmy's search for a partner leads him to Chazz, and his coach convinces the two of them to form the first same-sex pairs team. (In a deleted scene available on the DVD, it is revealed that Chazz's rivalry with Jimmy stems from Darren MacElroy having adopted Jimmy over Chazz.)

The reigning pairs champions, the brother-sister team of Stranz and Fairchild van Waldenberg see the new pair as a threat to their dominance and begin to conspire against Chazz and Jimmy. The pair blackmail their sister Katie into spying on the new duo. In the process, she becomes acquainted with Jimmy and begins truly to care about him.

Although Chazz and Jimmy are initially disgusted by each other, they eventually develop a mutual respect for one another. They compete at the United States Figure Skating Championships and earn a chance to compete at the WinterSport Games once again, this time as a pairs team, with no argument in any way, shape or form.

Chazz and Jimmy’s coach informs them that, in order to win the finals, they will need to perform a technique that has never been performed successfully before. The technique, called the Iron Lotus, is an extremely complicated maneuver that Coach developed years ago while he was still training pairs. However, it is also extremely dangerous: the only known attempt of the maneuver has taken place in North Korea and resulted in the man decapitating the woman. Nonetheless, they decide to attempt it, and they begin to train. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Katie, having become enamored of each other, begin an awkward relationship with some help from Chazz.

Having trained and perfected their routine for months, Jimmy and Chazz have become friends. Seeking to exploit this new friendship, Fairchild commands Katie to disrupt the duo by having sex with Chazz, threatening to harm Jimmy physically if Katie does not comply. Katie invites Chazz to her room, where she tries to seduce him. Chazz refuses to have sex with Katie, citing his friendship with Jimmy as the reason, but cannot resist fondling Katie’s breasts. Jimmy witnesses this and is outraged at Chazz's and Katie's betrayals.

The next day, Chazz and Jimmy are both kidnapped and restrained, separately, by Stranz and Fairchild, who are determined to prevent the two from competing. While handcuffing Jimmy in a bathroom, Fairchild reveals that Katie never actually had sex with Chazz. Chazz escapes but is pursued by Stranz through the city: the pursuit is on ice (with skates) at first but is then continued through streets and stores (this is awkward because they both continue to wear their skates). Stranz shoots at Chazz with a crossbow, but misses and hits a snowman mascot instead. Jimmy, in a men's bathroom, also escapes (albeit in a more disgusting way, as he is forced to lick toilet paper resting on a bathroom floor to get the key).

Both Chazz and Jimmy arrive separately in the ice rink just in time to compete. Chazz and Jimmy reconcile quickly and begin their routine, which has a "science fiction theme" and features the musical theme of the Flash Gordon movie of 1981. Fairchild, seeing the two doing extremely well, throws a pearl from her costume onto the ice. Chazz trips over the pearl and breaks his ankle, which renders him unable to perform his role for the Iron Lotus. Jimmy then offers to switch parts with him. Although they have never practiced the other's roles, they perform the Iron Lotus perfectly (Jimmy just barely misses Chazz's neck by a "hair".) Jimmy and Chazz win the competition, Jimmy reconciles with Katie, and Stranz and Fairchild are arrested for kidnapping the pair, shooting an "international icon" with a crossbow, and breaking Chazz's ankle. Stranz and Fairchild begin arguing, then kiss each other incestuously. Then Chazz and Jimmy fly off into the sky and create a new constellation resembling the crotch grab routine done earlier in the film.

Actor	Role
Jon Heder	Jimmy MacElroy
Will Ferrell	Chazz Michael Michaels
Will Arnett	Stranz Van Waldenberg
Jenna Fischer	Katie Van Waldenberg
Amy Poehler	Fairchild Van Waldenberg
Craig T. Nelson	Coach
Nick Swardson	Hector
Romany Malco	Jesse
Rob Corddry	Bryce
William Daniels	Commissioner Ebbers
William Fichtner	Darren MacElroy

All of the scenes at the National Championships and "World Wintersport Games" were shot at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. The outdoor chase scenes were shot on-location in Montreal. The building used for athlete housing in Montreal was the unique Habitat 67, built for Expo 67.

And parts of the movie were filmed on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, the world's longest skating rink.

The film was delayed for a small undetermined period of time when Jon Heder broke his ankle while doing a skating program for the movie.^[1]

At one point in the film, Jon Heder's character answers a reporter's question in perfect Japanese. Heder actually does speak fluent Japanese, having spent two years in Japan as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The film had favorable reviews, earning an 8.5 from its Movie Crab review, scoring 70% "Fresh" in Rotten Tomatoes, and the critics' consensus was that "Blades of Glory successfully milks its one-joke premise into a feature-length comedy".^[2]

Some critics stated that the plot is that of a typical Will Ferrell movie and that Jon Heder is essentially replaying his Napoleon Dynamite persona.

The movie grossed $33,014,202 on its opening weekend in March 30- April 1.(3,372 theaters, averaging $9,790 per screen), beating out Disney's Meet The Robinsons for the #1 movie. It made $22.5 million in its second weekend, losing only 32% of its audience and retaining the #1 spot. As of December 3, 2007 the film has made $118,245,842 in America and $26,264,403 in the Foreign market place. Its worldwide tally is $144,510,245.

• Sarah Kawahara - Main Choreographer
• Lisa Marie Allen - Asst. Choreographer
• Sasha Cohen - Herself
• Scott Hamilton - Himself/Commentator
• Peggy Fleming - Herself/Skating Official
• Brian Boitano - Himself/Skating Official
• Dorothy Hamill - Herself/Skating Official
• Nancy Kerrigan - Herself/Skating Official
• Chad Brennan - Will Ferrell's skating double
• Ethan Burgess - Jon Heder's skating double
• Patrick Hancock - Will Arnett's skating double / Will Ferrell's skating double #2
• Tiffany Scott - Amy Poehler's skating double
• Todd Sand - Addl. skating/Jon Heder
• Ryan Mckinnon - Stunt Skate Double
• Scott Irvine - Stunt Skate Double
• Armen Saakian - Stunt Skate Double
• Akop Manoukian - Stunt Skate Double
• John Zimmerman - Stunts/Himself
• Kyoko Ina - Stunts/Herself
• Yuka Sato - Stunts/Herself
• Jamie Sale - Stunts/Herself
• David Pelletier - Stunts/Himself
• Benjamin C. Oberman - Skating Consultant
• Jonathon DePaz - On-ice Camera Operator
• Judy Blumberg - Amy Poehler's coach
• Susan Austin - Will Ferrell's coach
• Dawn Porter - Jon Heder's coach
• Julie Brault - Skating Coach (Montreal)
• Matt Evers - Skate Tree #1

1980 Olympian Lisa Marie Allen was not only the assistant skating choreographer on this movie, but she also appears in the film as the blond "Sweater Mom" who gets licked on the face by Will Ferrell's character during his Stockholm solo.

Blades of Glory is filled with allusions to famous and iconic moments in figure skating, as well as other figure skating films.

• Due to problems with the 6.0 systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISU_Judging_System#Previous_judging_system, Chazz and Jimmy are forced to share a gold medal (see 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal). As well, the next time those Games are contested, the ISU Judging System is used.

• Chazz and Jimmy are given a life-time ban from singles skating, as Tonya Harding was.

• At the beginning of their Nationals "Fire and Ice" program, Chazz and Jimmy kneel on the ice facing each other and writhe backwards and forwards. This is taken from the beginning of Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean's iconic Bolero free dance from the 1983/1984 season. Their free dance at the 1984 Winter Olympics received straight 6.0s for artistic impression.

• Stranz and Fairchild plot to injure Jimmy "below the knee and above the ankle", referencing the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.

• Jimmy's peacock costume is modelled on Johnny Weir's iconic The Swan costume from the 2005-2006 season, complete with glove.^[3] Weir says he is flattered by the parody^[4].

• The Iron Lotus is a parody of the Pamchenko from The Cutting Edge.^[5] Both moves are physically impossible to perform.

• During the World Wintersport Games, the standings briefly flash across the screen. Many of the names refer to famous skaters, most of whom are not pairs skaters, and in many cases, the male name is in the position of the female name (female is always first). The standings (presumably after the short program, although all scores are higher than any score ever posted in the short program) are as follows:

Pairs Figure Skating
Rank	Name	Nation	Score
1	Stranz/Fairchild	United States	158.33
2	Michaels/MacElroy	United States	154.28
3	Sokolova/Plushenko	Russia	127.59
4	Zhang/Li	China	120.13
5	Abulhanov/Roman	Russia	116.63
6	Lambiel/Stoechli	Switzerland	112.88
7	Suguri/Tomita	Japan	106.67
8	Concharov/Grushina	Ukraine	104.99

• A few of the lifts Chazz and Jimmy perform are dance lifts, not pairs lifts. These are not illegal in pairs competition, and have been performed by many skaters in international competition, and therefore would not be something Scott Hamilton had never seen before. (Unless Hamilton has never watched ice dance.) Despite what Coach claims, there is no specific lift named a "dance lift". Rather, the term refers to a variety of lifts performed in ice dancing.

• The Iron Lotus is made up of the following elements:^[5]

• A headbanger lift (illegal to perform in eligible competition)
• A backflip by the released partner (illegal to perform in eligible competition)
• A butterfly by the releasing partner

In the movie, the move is performed by Chad Brennan in the place of Will Ferrell, Ethan Burgess and Todd Sand for John Heder.^[5]

• The so-called "loophole" does not exist. International Skating Union regulations state that a pair team on the senior (Olympic) level is made up of a man and a lady (note that "lady" is the official terminology for a female skater).^[5] While there are "similar pairs" (pairs made up of two men or two women), such pairs do not compete in ISU competitions. However, Chazz and Jimmy could have competed together in a synchronized skating team, or at a non-ISU event such as the Gay Games that includes similar pairs.

• Breznican, Anthony (2007-02-05). Heder, Ferrell skate for comedy gold (HTML). USA Today. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
• Tolson, Shaun (2007-03-11). Leap into Hollywood: Local skater subs for Will Ferrell in comedy ‘Blades of Glory’ (HTML). Boston Herald. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.

• Official Website
• Blades Of Glory
• Blades of Glory at the Internet Movie Database
• Blades of Glory at Rotten Tomatoes
• Blades of Glory at Metacritic

• Blades of Glory soundtrack Questions, answers and other music information.
• Blades of Glory movie trailer
• RealMovieNews new production stills
• Gay Panic at the Ice Rink: Interpretation of the film's gay subtext.

Preceded by TMNT

Box office number-one films of 2007 (USA) April 1 - April 8, 2007

Succeeded by Disturbia